Confidentiality

When a patient enters the hospital, they entrust our staff with a variety of information, some of which is very personal.

If the patient does not feel they can trust us with their personal information, they will not trust us to care for them. It’s vital that there are no barriers to patients receiving the care they need. 

For this reason, maintaining patient privacy is as important as the medical care we provide at the hospital. It is the responsibility of every person in the hospital to maintain patient privacy and confidentiality at all times and in all matters.

The way we accomplish this is by sharing patient information only with those who are involved with a patient’s care.

Job shadowing offers you the opportunity to spend time on-the-job with a practicing healthcare professional. In the course of this experience, you will likely overhear and observe confidential patient information.

We expect all student observers in the hospital to maintain the same level of confidentiality as we expect of our staff.

To prepare yourself to meet this expectation and prevent the disclosure of any patient information, review the following statements regarding confidentiality:

• Information concerning the diagnosis, prognosis, condition, care or treatment of patients shall be held in strict confidence.
• The obligation of maintaining and protecting confidentiality extends to the information within patient charts and records.
• Under no circumstances shall any patient information obtained during this experience be discussed with anyone.
• Privileged information regarding any employee or information regarding hospital business arrangements shall be held in total confidence.
• All non-employees shall be required to sign confidentiality statements upon the first association with the hospital.
• Any violation of confidentiality will result in immediate termination of career exploration experience and the notification of your school.
• It is a breach of confidentiality to share information you have learned in the course of shadowing with family members, friends, or anyone outside the hospital.
• It is your responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of all matters learned while participating in the Career Exploration Program.

Remember...what you see here, what you hear here, must stay here when you leave here!