Good one Thinus, sure you did the right thing. We are dealing with a similar problem testing the bounds of 'confidientiality'. It came to my attention that a difficult patient was seeing a doctor in neighbouring town (getting insulin etc etc for her "severe diabetes". I asked my secretary to check this out and the other surgery (secretary) confirmed that the patient had indeed been attending without our mutual knowledge. I confronted the patient and parted company with her, faxing notes etc. Now she is complaining re 'breach of confidentiality' in the two surgeries communicating without her permission. You just can't seem to win in these situations.
Luckily I have good grounds to worry about double dipping with medications etc but the lesson is maybe I should have talked to the doc direct rather than checked at secretarial level (not that any clinical details were divulged either end). -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Thinus van Rensburg Sent: Monday, 27 November 2006 11:26 AM To: 'General Practice Computing Group Talk' Subject: RE: [GPCG_TALK] SMS reminders and privacy concerns? I had a similar problem recently - phoned a patient to give her results, specifically asked the person who picked up if she was so & so and she said yes. Then gave her the (luckily normal) results and she said thank you and we hung up. Ten minutes later I get an irrate phone call from patient as to why I gave her sister her results. I very bluntly put it to her that her sister falsely identified herself as the patient and that I acted in good faith. T -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Cedric Meyerowitz Sent: Monday, 27 November 2006 9:04 AM To: 'General Practice Computing Group Talk' Subject: RE: [GPCG_TALK] SMS reminders and privacy concerns? This makes me think and then ask the following. If we mail a letter to patient or we phone a patient reminding them they have not had a blood test done or they have not seen the specialist we referred them to, the same problems arises. The patients partner / child may answer the phone, tell the patient the Doctor wants to talk to him & of course the whole family then knows the patient has a problem. Same if partner opens the letter. Where do we stand medicolegally ??? Cedric -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of David Pan Sent: Sunday, 26 November 2006 10:11 PM To: General Practice Computing Group Talk Subject: Re: [GPCG_TALK] SMS reminders and privacy concerns? This concept is valid, but as you say, it does seem rude not to introduce yourself. Indeed, if the person answering asks "Who's calling ?", its going to be hard to say "its a secret". The man's wife might get suspicious about a female receptionist who refuses to identify herself. Could it be that the patients decision to provide a number to the practice is tacit agreement that the practice might use it ? Should we make this an opt out system ? Assume its OK, unless the patient says otherwise ? Enter the number in the computer 02-9876 5432P for 'private' ? This also spreads to other forms of social intercourse. When I walk down the street to get my lunch, I bump into many of my patients. Do I pretend not to know them ? Strictly speaking, based on the ideas of confidentiality, I should remain aloof. I don't think I can do this ? Should I also keep a database of people's preferences regarding public acknowledgement in the street ? I better keep my pocket PC handy ! When a patient walks into a waiting room, they cannot expect that it will be empty. It is only a question of degree that the persons presence there is public. Even if only one other person in the waiting room knows the patient, their attendance is potentialy "public". While we are bound by ethics and rules of confidentiality, the gossip 'grape vine' knows no such restrictions. To what levels do we take this ? A private waiting room for each patient ? But people will see them entering the surgery ! OK, a front door marked "Bookshop" with a secret "Surgery" entrance in the back, next to the XXX rated magazines ? Then people will see the patient going into "that bookshop ! <wink, wink>". Perhaps the only confidential way to get to my surgery is 'point to point' transporter.... "Beam me up Doc !" David Pan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Oliver Frank" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "General Practice Computing Group Talk" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2006 4:09 AM Subject: Re: [GPCG_TALK] SMS reminders and privacy concerns? > Simon James wrote: >> > > What would happen with a traditional telephone reminder in the same >> situation? Is there any consent given with home number reminders? Do >> receptionists declare where they are calling from when asking to >> speak to a patient? > > Ours don't, for that reason. It seems anti-social and rude for them > to > phone a patient's home, office or mobile and say only: "Is Mary there?", > but that is what they have been taught to do at the staff courses to which > we have sent them, because it would breach the patient's privacy even to > say: "This is Debbie calling from Hampstead Medical Clinic. I would like > to speak to Mary." > > Clearly it would help if our practice computer system had a kind of > communications screen in the patient's record in which we could record the > fact that Mary had explicitly told us that we can say who we are if we > need to phone her. We might need a field for every kind of communication > and every phone number that Mary might have. For example, a field with > her work phone number may say: "Do not identify the practice or yourself > if you have to phone Mary on this number". This is beginning to sound a > bit tedious even as I write this. > > I heard a fascinating piece on Radio National about the consternation > caused by the introduction of the telephone. There were fears that social > mores and order would break down. Before the telephone, people > (especially men) could meet young ladies only through a formal process of > making an approach to the girl's family to express interest in getting to > know the young lady, and then being introduced at an arranged meeting only > in the presence of the young lady's family or chaperone. With the > telephone, anybody could just phone her up directly. I suppose what we > are seeing here is that communication has become so unstructured that for > sensitive and important matters like medical care, we now have to > re-introduce some rules about how we communicate with our patients. > > > -- > Oliver Frank, general practitioner > 255 North East Road, Hampstead Gardens, South Australia 5086 > Phone 08 8261 1355 Fax 08 8266 5149 Mobile 0407 181 683 > _______________________________________________ > Gpcg_talk mailing list > [email protected] > http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk > > _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk __________ NOD32 1882 (20061124) Information __________ This message was checked by NOD32 antivirus system. http://www.eset.com _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
