Violations of patient privacy information are common in the healthcare industry because not all medical professionals are aware of and ready to abide by the existing rules to prevent this issue. That is why appropriate interventions are available to ensure that patients and medical personnel understand privacy risks and do their best to minimize the effect of this phenomenon. Some scholarly articles demonstrate that nursing staff training and education improve patient privacy.
To begin with, one should explain that current guidelines address the issue under consideration. In their study, Arain et al. (2019) stipulate that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) can be accessed to provide medical professionals with recommendations on how to protect patient privacy. In addition to that, healthcare organizations typically develop their own protocols to manage the issue. However, the presence of this guideline does not eliminate the problem of privacy violation, and Arain et al. (2019) state that over 77,000 breaches occurred in 2013. That is why it should be clear that additional interventions are necessary to ensure that patient data is sufficiently protected from unauthorized access and use. The following paragraphs will introduce the findings from three scholarly articles revealing statistically significant effects of selected interventions.
Firstly, online training is a practical intervention to address the problem. Arain et al. (2019) conducted an online survey of 586 healthcare professionals to identify whether these individuals were aware of patient information privacy risks, possible preventive measures, and others. The random sampling technique was used to ensure that the findings were statistically valid. In particular, the authors found that approximately 81% of the respondents completed the online training, and there was a significant correlation between the intervention’s perceived effectiveness and satisfaction of information security in the organization (Arain et al., 2019). Moreover, the training contributed to the fact that respondents were more likely to choose an appropriate response to deal with and report receiving spam emails (Arain et al., 2019). Consequently, one can state that online training can help medical professionals become aware of the problem and how to manage it.
Secondly, it is challenging to deny the fact that nurses can contribute to addressing the problem of patient privacy information violations. This issue became a central topic of the article by Eyni et al. (2017). The scholars conducted a quantitative study of 400 patients (200 individuals in an intervention group and 200 members in a control one) and 90 staff members (Eyni et al., 2017). The task was to determine how a training intervention for medical professionals could affect patient privacy. It is worth admitting that the t-test was organized to determine whether the participants of the intervention and control groups had any significant differences. Since the patients’ physical and psychological dimensions did not demonstrate statistically substantial discrepancies, the study findings can be considered valid and reliable.
Thus, the current article offers to introduce virtual training of the nursing staff. According to Eyni et al. (2017), this intervention ensures that the healthcare professionals respect patients’ physical, spiritual, intellectual, and informational privacy. The rationale behind this finding is that nurses are typically lacking sufficient evidence and skills to ensure that patients’ personal details are adequately protected. Consequently, the problem of privacy information violations can be addressed if it is possible to make nurses understand that their actions significantly contribute to the phenomenon. The scholars highlight that virtual training sessions are practical because they provide healthcare professionals with relevant knowledge in a suitable and efficient way. That is why various medical organizations should consider implementing the proposed intervention to minimize the prevalence of patient privacy information violations.
Thirdly, there is sufficient evidence to claim that the proposed intervention can successfully result in the solution of the problem. In particular, a descriptive and cross-sectional study by Ceylan and Cetinkaya (2020) focused on 112 pediatric nurses to identify the connection between their educational levels and patient privacy issues. To ensure that reliable and valid findings would be obtained, the authors implemented specific data collection tools, data analysis software, and appropriate statistical tests to identify the required information (Ceylan & Cetinkaya, 2020). This narrative demonstrates that there are no evident grounds to doubt the significance of the research results that will be highlighted below.
Appropriate training and improved education of nurses can prevent patient privacy information violations because this method has already proved its effectiveness. In particular, Ceylan and Cetinkaya (2020) clarify that better patient privacy practices were found among those nurses “who were educated about patient privacy and who had read the patient rights regulations” (p. 289). Once these conditions were present, healthcare professionals were more likely to contribute to preserving patient confidentiality and managing their sexual and physical privacy (Ceylan & Cetinkaya, 2020). This information allows for suggesting that the combination of medical education and training can result in the solution of the problem under consideration. The rationale behind this suggestion is that when nurses and other healthcare professionals are aware of privacy risks and how to respond to them, patients are less subject to these threats. In particular, educated and trained staff members know how to minimize the probability of privacy information violations.
In conclusion, the assignment has demonstrated that violations of patient privacy information are an essential topic in the healthcare industry because numerous researchers focus on the issue. It has been found that effective interventions are necessary, and appropriate education and training sessions seem a suitable option. Scientific evidence has revealed that promoting medical staff knowledge and skills is a practical strategy to protect information from privacy violations.
References
Arain, M. A., Tarraf, R., & Ahmad, A. (2019). Assessing staff awareness and effectiveness of educational training on IT security and privacy in a large healthcare organization. Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare, 12, 73-81. Web.
Ceylan, S. S., & Cetinkaya, B. (2020). Attitudes towards gossip and patient privacy among pediatric nurses. Nursing Ethics, 27(1), 289-300. Web.
Eyni, E., Hasani, S. A., Fereidouni, P., & Andi, S. J. S. (2017). Effect of nursing staff training on respecting the privacy of patients in the emergency department. Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Sciences, 4(2), 11-18. Web.