Picture by: Orange culture
Turning a blind eye”
We as students tend to turn a blind eye toward the right of the patients confidentiality. We speak to our friends, family members and our clinicians about our patient but in actual fact we are breaking that trust that was formed between our patients. We tend to “turn a blind eye” unintentionally, we think we are asking for advice or just wanting to vent about the day but we are disclosing our patient’s diagnoses, information and we also speak about how the session went with the patient without the patients consent. Confidentiality is an ethical principle, it is defined as “..Respecting other people’s secrets and maintaining the security of information elicited from individuals in the privilege circumstances of a professional relationship” (Lees & Goldbold, 2012). Confidentiality is different in terms of speaking to the doctor or to another professional worker because it is in regard to the patient and we are treating the patient holistically, however it is being broken when we speak to individuals that are not a part of the interdisciplinary team. According to evidence students seek guidance from their colleagues and other health professionals, rather than taking the law into consideration, it also investigated students point of view on confidentiality from a multidisciplinary point of view- evidence discovered that students would violate the law of confidentiality to other member of the team because the outcome would be positive for the patient (Lees & Goldbold, 2012). Some patients understand that their information needs to be discussed with other member of the multidisciplinary team for a holistic management approach or even for student learning purposes, revealing patient information to the other healthcare workers only requires a specific amount of relevant information to be disclosed about the patient (Blightman, Griffiths, & Danbury, 2013). We as students face ethical dilemmas at times, we often do not know to whom we may or may not give information to, we do not get taught in detail about the extent of confidentiality (Nortjé & de Jongh, 2016).
Clinical example:
I am guilty culprit of breaking confidentiality of my patients’ information. I speak to my colleagues and friends, I disclose information, not personal information but I do speak about my patients- I do it subconsciously. I do not think of the legal, ethical principle attached to it. We as students sometimes think we are just trying to find a better perspective on our patient and we also complain about our patients, then we also elaborate on the patient’s condition and why it is so difficult but we are breaking an ethical code. This year’s clinical experience has been very challenging, often I would speak to my friends and my family about my patients and I would speak about how difficulty they were in a condition aspect or I would speak about them in an overall aspect- about condition, emotional statues, and personalities. I am not revealing the name and the personal details but I am disclosing information I am not allowed to disclose. Clinical practice is demanding on your mental and physical health and sometimes you just need to speak to someone about it. We as students, even our clinicians and lecturers do the same thing we break the ethical principle of confidentiality but not purposefully.
References
Blightman, K., Griffiths, S. E., & Danbury, D. (2013). Education in Anaesthesia Critical Care & Pain. Patient confidentiality: when can a breach be justified?, 52–56.
Lees, A. B., & Goldbold, R. (2012). New Zealand Journal of Physiotherapy. To tell or not to tell? Physiotherapy students’responses to breaking patient confidentiality, 59-63.
Nortjé, N., & de Jongh, J. (2016). South African Journal. Client confidentiality: Perspectives of students in a healthcare training programme, 31-34.
3 thoughts on ““Turning a Blind eye””
Hi there Saschia
I really enjoyed reading this piece. There is a lot of truth in what you are saying. The piece has a very good flow and tends to bring about consideration of the topic. I am also a guilty culprit as i too tend to disclose too much confidential information
You could however better this piece by attempting to create more of a link between your picture and what you are discussing.
You could also better this piece by talking more about what are the ethical guidelines on getting assistance from colleagues and clinicians
You could also break the body of your discussion into separate paragraphs where you start discussing new ideas
You can also better this piece by explaining what are the clinical implications of this realization. in short what will you do differently the next time you want to speak about one of your patients
All and all this is a very good piece and I honestly believe you will do well if you take my comments to consideration
Hi Saschia
Thank you for sharing your piece. I think it is a very good point you raise about breaking confidentiality, as so many students tend to infringe upon that patient right, on a regular basis.
Your piece is linked to content we have discussed in class and your claims are well supported with evidence.
I would like to know how you would deal with breaking patient confidentiality in the future, would you do anything differently to how you deal with/address the situation now?
I also think that you may benefit from researching the difference between confidentiality and anonymity, as it may clarify how you can ask for assistance about treatment of your patient but still protect the patient’s rights.
Grammar,spelling and punctuation suggestions:
1st line- patient’s
4th line- between us and our patients
6th line- diagnosis
8th line- patient’s
8th line- “Confidentiality…” ideally start a new paragraph here
18th line-students’
19th line- instead of ‘-‘, use a ‘;’ as you are about to describe what you just mentioned.
21st line- members
4th from the bottom-“We as…” ideally start a new paragraph
Clinical example:
1st line- “I am guilty of breaking…”
4th line-legal or ethical
11th line- how difficult
12th line- emotional status
Overall, a good and relevant topic, which flowed easily and was easy to read. Well done.
All the best
Hi Saschia
The reflection really resonates with me as my colleagues an I are guilty of the events you describe in the evidence you provided to reinforce your reflection. We do this with the knowledge that it violates the patients right to confidentiality as we do not understand the repercussions this may have on the patients. Maybe if we took the time to think about it we would be more respectful of the rights of the patient and acknowledge the importance.
The content you discuss is in line with the ethics module and the content discussed in class and although one can infer the relationship between the picture and the content of the writing, I think you should also refer to the picture and relate it to the writing so that it can enhance the content rather than standing on its own as a separate entity.
The claims made in the writing are supported by evidence and well referenced, but perhaps you could also include the possible consequence of violating the confidentiality rights of the patient to help the reader better understand the repercussions for the patient and the healthcare practitioner.
Your ideas are not well structured. To improve on that break down your writing into different paragraphs and begin each new paragraph with a central idea and introducing the paragraph with a topic sentence.
A few grammar and spelling errors to take note of:
1st paragraph row 2 and 8: “patients” should be written as patient’s
1st paragraph row 3: Add a comma after the word “fact”.
1st paragraph row 24 and 27: member should be written as in plural form as members
2nd paragraph row 1: consider rewording “I am guilty culprit” to “I am guilty of”
2nd paragraph row 11: change difficulty to difficult
2nd paragraph row 12: consider rewording “condition aspect” as it is not clear what you are trying to say
overall I believe the ideas you expressed in your content are interesting and relevant. Just work on the structure of your writing to make it more comprehensible.
Good luck with your final draft.