Question

Explain in detail the importance of confidentiality, integrity, and availability as it pertains to health
information privacy and security

Answer 1

Confidentiality- Confidentiality is keeping the patients personal information secret. By keeping personal information secret we can maintain mutual trust between Patient and Nurse.

Confidentiality is not just a good idea, but its a Law under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Its an essential component of patient-nurse relationship. In a trustful environment only the patient would feel more secure and comfortable sharing his/her personal feelings and sensitive information that would help the healthcare provider to treat the patient in a better way.

Some information are considered as Social Stigmas like HIV/AIDS and In order to provide proper Diagnoses to the patient it is very essential to maintain a trustful relation between the Patient and Healthcare Provider so that the patient would share all his problems in details.

Integrity- “The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.”

Integrity creates a trust relationship between nurse and patient. to develop a trustful environment the nurse should be honest, fair and posses high moral principles.

Having integrity means that you are truthful and honest in your intent. This means that whether you are alone or surrounded by people, your actions will be the same. It doesn’t matter if people are watching; you will do the right thing regardless. Even when people expect you to be dishonest or encourage silence when saying something could get you in trouble, if it is the right thing to do, you will speak.

The nurse faces many challenges like shortage of staff, overtime, night duties, behavior of Doctors, family members and patient.

The integrity is the inner strength that is to deal with these challenges. By possessing integrity can maintain a trust a trust working environment during patient care.

Availability- Nurses are directly involved in all the aspects of Hospital Quality, including patient care, taking blood samples, answering questions and checking to make sure that the people in hospital are okay. For people staying in the hospital, one nurse (or a team of nurses) will take care of them during the day, and a different nurse or team will take care of them during the night.

If you’re a patient, nurses are your greatest advocate. Because they spend more time with you, nurses can comprehensively moderate your progress. They know what symptoms might be a red flag and can assess the effectiveness of treatment. They then communicate all of this to your doctor. Keeping this open dialogue is just one of the countless things nurses do to ensure the quality of your care.

Nurses also provide invaluable emotional support. They understand the complexities and implications of an illness. They can counsel you and your family through everything from understanding a chronic condition to coping with death and dying. Their knowledge of illness combined with exceptional people skills provides comfort and stability.

In addition to the clinical care, community nurses provide a teaching and supportive role, working with patients to promote independence and enabling them to care for themselves. It may also involve educating loved ones to assist with the care programme or helping to encourage a healthier lifestyle to accelerate the healing process.

So Nurses play a very vital role in all the major aspects of healthcare department and without the nurses it would be impossible to run such a major and important department of Medicine.