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Security of Health Care RecordsDiscussion: Security of Health Care Records
With the increase of health information technology used to store and access patient
information, the likelihood of security breaches has also risen. In fact, according to
the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ):
In the United States, there was a whopping 97% increase in the number of health records
breached from 2010 to 2011… The number of patient records accessed in each breach
has also increased substantially, from 26,968 (in 2010) to 49,394 (in 2011). Since August
2009, when the US government regulated that any breach affecting more than 500
patients be publicly disclosed, a total of 385 breaches, involving more than 19 million
records, have been reported to the Department of Health and Human Services.
A large portion of those breaches, 39%, occurred because of a lost, stolen, or otherwise
compromised portable electronic device—a problem that will likely only get worse as
iPads, smartphones, and other gadgets become more common in hospitals. (CMAJ,
2012, p. E215).
Consider your own experiences. Does your organization use portable electronic devices?
What safeguards are in place to ensure the security of data and patient information? For
this Discussion you consider ethical and security issues surrounding the protection of
digital health information.
To prepare
? Review the Learning Resources dealing with the security of digital health care
information. Reflect on your own organization or one with which you are familiar,
and think about how health information stored electronically is protected

.
? Consider the nurse’s responsibility to ensure the protection of patient information.
What strategies can you use?
? Reflect on ethical issues that are likely to arise with the increased access to
newer, smaller, and more powerful technology tools.
? Consider strategies that can be implemented to ensure that the use of HIT
contributes to an overall culture of safety.
Write an analysis of the nurse’s responsibility to protect patient information and the
extent that HIT has made it easier or more difficult to protect patient privacy. Comment
on any security or ethical issues related to the use of portable devices to store
information. Assess the strategies your organization uses to safeguard patient
information and how these promote a culture of safety. Describe an area where
improvement is needed and one strategy that could address the situation.
REQUIREMENTS
• Reflect on ethical issues that are likely to arise with the increased access to
newer school smaller school and more powerful technology tools.  Describe an area whereimprovement is needed and one strategy that could address the situation. description 2 pages,
Double Spacing Answer Preview…………….Health information technology systems that are used for the management of the personally identifiable information of patients have contributed to the increased rate of the quality of services available to consumers. While this development provided substantial benefits to the practice of nursing, the issue of patient privacy remains a grey one for practitioners………………….APA 796 words
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