WE CAN, BUT DARE WE? 1
WE CAN, BUT DARE WE?
Student Name
Chamberlain College of Nursing
NR360: Information Systems in Healthcare
Professor Name
15th November, 2020
, WE CAN, BUT DARE WE? 2
WE CAN, BUT DARE WE?
The rapid adoption of new technology in healthcare has greatly improved how patients
are cared for but has also introduced ethical and legal complexity for the professional to be aware
of. The use of technology in healthcare allows for better sharing of information, reducing
medical errors, helping with education, and better treating the long-term care of the patient.
Electronic healthcare records (EHRs) as an example are a great advancement for allowing all
professionals responsible for the care of a patient to share information but also places all the
private and confidential data about the patient in digital form which could be stolen if not
properly handled by everyone that has access. To help guide healthcare professionals, rules and
procedures have been developed and adopted by most all organizations involved in healthcare to
ensure that technology is correctly used to care for the patient and unauthorized use of private
and confidential data never occurs. Within this paper the proper and non-proper use of
technology by healthcare professionals will be explored while reviewing the rules and guidelines
that should be considered prior to making critical decisions. This paper explores a wrong
decision made in a scenario which involved the use of a personal cellphone camera which
violated hospital policy and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1966
(HIPAA).
HIPAA, Legal, and Regulatory Discussion
The rapid adoption of technology into the healthcare field has aided nurses in providing
safe and quality care by decreasing the amount of errors that occur. “Technology is being
implemented as a tool to prevent healthcare errors” (Piscotty, Kalisch, & Gracey-Thomas, 2015).
It also has increased the ability to include research into the nursing care and incorporate
evidence-based practice. With the growing use of technology comes the increase concern of
WE CAN, BUT DARE WE?
Student Name
Chamberlain College of Nursing
NR360: Information Systems in Healthcare
Professor Name
15th November, 2020
, WE CAN, BUT DARE WE? 2
WE CAN, BUT DARE WE?
The rapid adoption of new technology in healthcare has greatly improved how patients
are cared for but has also introduced ethical and legal complexity for the professional to be aware
of. The use of technology in healthcare allows for better sharing of information, reducing
medical errors, helping with education, and better treating the long-term care of the patient.
Electronic healthcare records (EHRs) as an example are a great advancement for allowing all
professionals responsible for the care of a patient to share information but also places all the
private and confidential data about the patient in digital form which could be stolen if not
properly handled by everyone that has access. To help guide healthcare professionals, rules and
procedures have been developed and adopted by most all organizations involved in healthcare to
ensure that technology is correctly used to care for the patient and unauthorized use of private
and confidential data never occurs. Within this paper the proper and non-proper use of
technology by healthcare professionals will be explored while reviewing the rules and guidelines
that should be considered prior to making critical decisions. This paper explores a wrong
decision made in a scenario which involved the use of a personal cellphone camera which
violated hospital policy and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1966
(HIPAA).
HIPAA, Legal, and Regulatory Discussion
The rapid adoption of technology into the healthcare field has aided nurses in providing
safe and quality care by decreasing the amount of errors that occur. “Technology is being
implemented as a tool to prevent healthcare errors” (Piscotty, Kalisch, & Gracey-Thomas, 2015).
It also has increased the ability to include research into the nursing care and incorporate
evidence-based practice. With the growing use of technology comes the increase concern of