Letter to the Editor by Meere on "Health Information Privacy Protection: Crisis or Common Sense?"

May 20, 2002
in response to Health Information Privacy Protection: Crisis or Common Sense? by Joanne K. Kumekawa, BA, MBA (September 30, 2001)

Dear Editor:

I write in response to Kumekawa's article, Health Information Privacy Protection: Crisis or Common Sense. The need for security measures and regulations is obvious as the use of electronically-stored and transferred information is expected to continue and increase in the health care field. The second ethical standard in the 1985 Code for Nurses (American Nurses Foundation, Committee on Ethics, 1985) stated, "The nurse safeguards the client's right to privacy by judiciously protecting information of a confidential nature." It will be imperative that I understand the policies regulating the protection of patient's electronically-stored information in order to protect the privacy of the patients I will be working with. This article has provided me with additional knowledge about the ethics surrounding privacy of patient information. It will help shape my professional practice and protect the fundamental rights of my patients.

Ronda Meere
BSN student
Armstrong Atlantic State University
Savannah, GA

Reference:

American Nurses Foundation. Committee on Ethics. (1985). Code for Nurses with Interpretative Statements. Washington, D.C.: American Nurses Publishing.