The policy is connected with the security of healthcare data and its protection from the accidental or purposeful reveal. It includes the patient’s personal information, such as name, phone number, or address. The history of illnesses comes from the same category, and any medical aspects or diagnosis should not be disclosed to the people not involved in the treatment or the procedures. Even the healthcare personnel who does not participate in the treatment should not be aware of any details regarding the patient’s case. The policy includes writing proof and agreement that the person is willing to share the information or provide it to a specific individual, such as a close relative or a partner.
Verbal confirmation would be only possible if the patient is in a critical state and needs a caregiver to make some decisions and manage further actions. Therefore, the healthcare provider must protect and reveal the information only in specific cases. If the person has written permission to access the patient’s data, they should be allowed to do so. However, in urgent cases, close relatives have a right to receive the information with a small amount of formal and paper procedures if their close ones are in a coma, reanimation, or at risk of death.
In order to provide more security for the patient’s personal information and medical records, it is necessary to be able to perform an audit trail. Sometimes incidents happen, and the anonymous person might hack the database or get access to data that they are not supposed to know. In such cases, several elements should help detect the invader and forbid them from attending the data storage. Those critical aspects include the ID of the individual, record of the date, location, device, program, and the outcome of the invasion (What are audit trails & why do you need them in CD. (n.d.). They can guarantee the possibility of tracking the hacker and identifying the offender.
As an additional safety measure, the security officer should regularly check some of the details regarding the data. Firstly, from the administrative perspective, it is crucial to set some rules and policies to regulate the processes and inform staff with specific knowledge (Petters, 2022). Secondly, to avoid physical violations of confidentiality, spaces, where the data is kept, should be protected by guards, locks, or alarms (Petters, 2022). In addition, the equipment used to store the information, such as computers or archives, has to be secured with additional methods so no one can get access to them.
Moreover, the technical type of safeguard can be relatively effective in the case of preventing the information from leaking or being stolen. Antivirus systems on electronic devices and programs that forbid an entrance to the data portal or transfer all the records to the different platforms might be effective. The last approach is organizational, which is connected with the staff training and attitude toward the healthcare information (Mainse, n.d.). It includes educating everyone on the safe ways of sharing the data between the departments and keeping it so that no third party can get it.
Educating the employees on protecting medical data and maintaining confidentiality effectively is necessary. Therefore, the presentation is one of the ways to inform and illustrate how to achieve that. Some points are crucial to include in the slides to deliver the information to the workers:
- The concept of the privacy policy.
- Rules and regulations.
- Standard cases and exceptions.
- Administrative safeguard.
- Physical safeguard.
- Technical safeguard.
- Organizational Safeguard.
- Safety precautions.
- Risk management.
References
What are audit trails & why do you need them in CD. (n.d.). Harness.
Petters, J. (2022). What is an IT security audit? The basics. Varonis.
Mainse, N. (n.d.). Types of safety security audits on a regular basis. Cyber Matter.