Define and provide examples of privacy, security, and confidentiality concerns related to the use of technology in health care.

Prepare a 2-page interprofessional staff update on HIPAA and appropriate social media use in health care.

Introduction

Health professionals today are increasingly accountable for the use of protected health information (PHI). Various
government and regulatory agencies promote and support privacy and
security through a variety of activities. Examples include:

Meaningful use of electronic health records (EHR).
Provision of EHR incentive programs through Medicare and Medicaid.
Enforcement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules.
Release of educational resources and tools to help providers and
hospitals address privacy, security, and confidentiality risks in their
practices.

Technological advances, such as the use of social media platforms
and applications for patient progress tracking and communication, have
provided more access to health information and improved communication
between care providers and patients.

At the same time, advances such as these have resulted in more risk
for protecting PHI. Nurses typically receive annual training on
protecting patient information in their everyday practice. This training
usually emphasizes privacy, security, and confidentiality best
practices such as:

Keeping passwords secure.
Logging out of public computers.
Sharing patient information only with those directly providing
care or who have been granted permission to receive this information.

Today, one of the major risks associated with privacy and
confidentiality of patient identity and data relates to social
media. Many nurses and other health care providers place themselves at
risk when they use social media or other electronic communication
systems inappropriately. For example, a Texas nurse was recently
terminated for posting patient vaccination information on Facebook. In
another case, a New York nurse was terminated for posting an insensitive
emergency department photo on her Instagram account.

Health care providers today must develop their skills in mitigating
risks to their patients and themselves related to patient information.
At the same time, they need to be able distinguish between effective and
ineffective uses of social media in health care.

This assessment will require you to develop a staff update for the
interprofessional team to encourage team members to protect the privacy,
confidentiality, and security of patient information.

Preparation

To successfully prepare to complete this assessment, complete the following:

Review the infographics on protecting PHI provided in the
resources for this assessment, or find other infographics to review.
These infographics serve as examples of how to succinctly summarize
evidence-based information.

Analyze these infographics and distill them into five or six
principles of what makes them effective. As you design your
interprofessional staff update, apply these principles. Note:
In a staff update, you will not have all the images and graphics that
an infographic might contain. Instead, focus your analysis on what makes
the messaging effective.
Select from any of the following options, or a combination of options, the focus of your interprofessional staff update:

Social media best practices.
What not to do: social media.
Social media risks to patient information.
Steps to take if a breach occurs.
Conduct independent research on the topic you have selected in
addition to reviewing the suggested resources for this assessment. This
information will serve as the source(s) of the information contained in
your interprofessional staff update. Consult the BSN Program Library Research Guide for help in identifying scholarly and/or authoritative sources.

In this assessment, assume you are a nurse in an acute care,
community, school, nursing home, or other health care setting. Before
your shift begins, you scroll through Facebook and notice that a
coworker has posted a photo of herself and a patient on Facebook. The
post states, “I am so happy Jane is feeling better. She is just the best
patient I’ve ever had, and I am excited that she is on the road to
recovery.”

You have recently completed your annual continuing education
requirements at work and realize this is a breach of your organization’s
social media policy. Your organization requires employees to
immediately report such breaches to the privacy officer to ensure the
post is removed immediately and that the nurse responsible receives
appropriate corrective action.

You follow appropriate organizational protocols and report the
breach to the privacy officer. The privacy officer takes swift action to
remove the post. Due to the severity of the breach, the
organization terminates the nurse.

Based on this incident’s severity, your organization has established a task force with two main goals:

Educate staff on HIPAA and appropriate social media use in health care.
Prevent confidentiality, security, and privacy breaches.

The task force has been charged with creating a series of interprofessional staff updates on the following topics:

Social media best practices.
What not to do: Social media.
Social media risks to patient information.
Steps to take if a breach occurs.

You are asked to select one or more of the topics and create the content for a staff update containing a maximum of two content pages. This assessment is not a traditional essay. It is a staff educational update about PHI. Consider
creating a flyer, pamphlet, or PowerPoint slide. Remember it should not
be more than two pages (excluding a title and a reference page).

The task force has asked team members assigned to the topics to
include the following content in their updates in addition to content on
their selected topics:

What is protected health information (PHI)?

Be sure to include essential HIPAA information.
What are privacy, security, and confidentiality?

Define and provide examples of privacy, security, and confidentiality concerns related to the use of technology in health care.
Explain the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration to safeguard sensitive electronic health information.
What evidence relating to social media usage and PHI do interprofessional team members need to be aware of? For example:

How many nurses have been terminated for inappropriate social media use in the United States?
What types of sanctions have health care organizations imposed
on interdisciplinary team members who have violated social media
policies?
What have been the financial penalties assessed against health care organizations for inappropriate social media use?
What evidence-based strategies have health care organizations
employed to prevent or reduce confidentiality, privacy, and security
breaches, particularly related to social media usage?

Notes

Your staff update is limited to two double-spaced content pages.
Be selective about the content you choose to include in your update so
you can meet the page length requirement. Include need-to-know information. Omit nice-to-know information.
Many times people do not read staff updates, do not read them
carefully, or do not read them to the end. Ensure your staff update
piques staff members’ interest, highlights key points, and is easy to
read. Avoid overcrowding the update with too much content.
Also, supply a separate reference page that includes two or three
peer-reviewed and one or two non-peer-reviewed resources (for a total of
3–5 resources) to support the staff update content.

Additional Requirements

Written communication: Ensure the staff update is free from errors that detract from the overall message.
Submission length: Maximum of two double-spaced content pages.
Font and font size: Use Times New Roman, 12-point.
Citations and references: Provide a separate
reference page that includes 2–3 current, peer-reviewed and 1–2 current,
non-peer-reviewed in-text citations and references (total of 3–5
resources) that support the staff update’s content. Current means no older than 5 years.
APA format: Be sure your citations and references adhere to APA format. Consult the Evidence and APA page for an APA refresher.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate
your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide
criteria:

Competency 1: Describe nurses’ and the interdisciplinary team’s
role in informatics with a focus on electronic health information and
patient care technology to support decision making.

Describe the security, privacy, and confidentially laws related
to protecting sensitive electronic health information that govern the
interdisciplinary team.
Explain the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration to safeguard sensitive electronic health information.
Competency 2: Implement evidence-based strategies to effectively manage protected health information.

Identify evidence-based approaches to mitigate risks to patients
and health care staff related to sensitive electronic health
information.
Develop a professional, effective staff update that educates
interprofessional team members about protecting the security, privacy,
and confidentiality of patient data, particularly as it pertains to
social media usage.
Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly communication to
facilitate use of health information and patient care technologies.

Follow APA style and formatting guidelines for citations and references.
Create a clear, concise, well-organized, and professional staff
update that is generally free from errors in grammar, punctuation, and
spelling.

Protected Health Information (PHI): Privacy, Security, and Confidentiality Best Practices Scoring Guide
Criteria
Non-performance
Basic
Proficient
Distinguished

Describe the security, privacy, and confidentially laws related to
protecting sensitive electronic health information that govern the
interdisciplinary team.
Does not describe the security, privacy, and confidentially laws
related to protecting sensitive electronic health information that
govern the interdisciplinary team.
Attempts to identify the security, privacy, and confidentially laws
related to protecting sensitive electronic health information that
govern the interdisciplinary team.
Describes the security, privacy, and confidentially laws related to
protecting sensitive electronic health information that govern the
interdisciplinary team.
Provides a comprehensive and insightful summary of confidentially
laws related to protecting sensitive electronic health information that
govern the interdisciplinary team.
Explain the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration to safeguard sensitive electronic health information.
Does not explain the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration to safeguard sensitive electronic health information.
Explains interdisciplinary collaboration to safeguard sensitive
electronic health information, but the explanation lacks detail or is
missing critical information.
Explains the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration to safeguard sensitive electronic health information.
Explains in detail, and with professional insight, the importance of
interdisciplinary collaboration to safeguard sensitive electronic
health information.

Identify evidence-based approaches to mitigate risks to patients and
health care staff related to sensitive electronic health information.
Does not identify evidence-based approaches to mitigate risks to
patients and health care staff related to sensitive electronic health
information.
Attempts to identify evidence-based approaches to mitigate risks to
patients and health care staff related to sensitive electronic health
information; however, omissions and
errors exist.
Identifies evidence-based approaches to mitigate risks to patients
and health care staff related to sensitive electronic health
information.
Identifies multiple appropriate and well-researched evidence-based
approaches to mitigate risks to patients and health care staff related
to sensitive electronic health information.

Develop a professional, effective staff update that educates
interprofessional team members about protecting the security, privacy,
and confidentiality of patient data, particularly as it pertains to
social media usage.
Does not develop a professional, effective staff update that
educates interprofessional team members about protecting the security,
privacy, and confidentiality of patient data, particularly as it
pertains to social media usage.
Attempts to develop a staff update that educates interprofessional
team members about protecting the security, privacy, and confidentiality
of patient data, particularly as it pertains to social media usage.
Develops a professional, effective staff update that educates
interprofessional team members about protecting the security, privacy,
and confidentiality of patient data, particularly as it pertains to
social media usage.
Develops a comprehensive, professional, and effective staff update
that educates interprofessional team members about protecting the
security, privacy, and confidentiality of patient data, particularly as
it pertains to social media usage.
Follow APA style and formatting guidelines for citations and references.
Does not follow APA style and formatting guidelines for citations and references.
Partially adheres to APA style and formatting guidelines for
citations and references. Formatting inhibits effective communication or
detracts from good scholarship.
Follows APA style and formatting guidelines for citations and
references. Academic citations and references are largely error-free.
Follows flawless APA style and formatting guidelines for citations and references.

Create a clear, concise, well-organized, and professional staff update
that is generally free from errors in grammar, punctuation, and
spelling. Does not create a clear, concise, well-organized, and professional
staff update that is generally free from errors in grammar, punctuation,
and spelling. Creates a staff update that contains errors in grammar, punctuation,
and spelling that distract from good scholarship. Staff update is more
than two pages of content. Creates a clear, concise, well-organized, and professional staff
update that is generally free from errors in grammar, punctuation, and
spelling. Creates a clear, concise, well-organized, and professional staff
update that is generally free from errors in grammar, punctuation, and
spelling. Adheres to all applicable
disciplinary and scholarly writing
standards.

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