We are Guardians of Patient Privacy
Make data privacy a habit in your everyday working life.
Working in a hospital or clinic environment is often hectic and usually driven by patients’ medical needs. To ensure privacy and become better Guardians of Patient Privacy, we need to embed privacy-enhancing habits in our everyday work life.
Medical consultations, assessments and therapies
- We close the door or pull the curtain when we talk to patients or next-of-kin, perform assessments or provide therapies to respect the privacy of patients.
- When we are not in a closed room, we lower our voice in conversations, still making sure that we are being heard and understood
Documentation
- We take notes and document all clinical activities in the system (Bayanaty, PACS etc.).
- We check that the information is uploaded to the correct patient to ensure that the data is accurate and available. Data integrity and data availability are part of data privacy.
Patient registrations
- We check the patient ID to ensure we register the right patient under the right ID.
- We verify the mobile number and email address of the patient to ensure booking confirmations, patient reports and other communication are sent to the right person.
Organisation
- We organise our workplaces and processes in a way that physical documents and digital media (USB stick, portable disk etc.) with sensitive patient information will be protected from loss and from disclosure to unauthorised persons.
- We place our monitors in a way that the displayed content is not visible for unauthorised persons. If we show the screen to a patient or third party, we make sure that other information on the screen is not visible.
Data access
- We keep our credentials (login ID, passphrase, OTP etc.) secret and make sure nobody is watching when we type them on the keyboard. We keep our badge with us.
- We lock the screen or log out when we leave the workstation.
Virtual meeting
- We hold virtual meetings as private and confidential as personal conversations and sit in a room or area where the public will not access.
- We activate a background screen in Teams or Zoom and use a headset when we cannot avoid to hold a meeting in a public or shared space.
These are a few pointers for a basic privacy-enhancing behaviour in your everyday work life. Some might not be applicable to you, and many might already be a habit. How about taking 10 minutes after your working day or shift today to reflect how effective these points are embedded in your behaviour? Be proud of good habits and try to improve where you think you can!
Remember, our dedication to patient well-being extends beyond medical care; it includes safeguarding their privacy. Let us all contribute to fostering an environment where patients can trust that their information is handled with the utmost care and respect.
Thank you for your commitment to upholding the values that make Mediclinic a trusted healthcare provider.
8 Data Privacy Habits to Practice for Protecting Your Personal Information (makeuseof.com, May 2022)
Data Protection Tips: Keeping Personal Info Safe (Fortra, Digital Guardian Data Protection Blog, August 2024)