I wish I have a shredder. Not a funky laser electronic one, a simple hand-operated shredder would be just as good. It was a total pain for me when I tried to get rid of my used papers. I wanted to recycle them (me being very environmental friendly) and was very concerned of the informations on them (part of my conscience and ethical-self) and ever so worried about identity theft.
The papers are
i) printed out materials from the previous semester
ii) loads of patients' info (inc top-secret info of patients in the psychiatric unit)
iii) bank statements and other financially related infos (like receipts with cards no# on it)
iv) magazines and new papers
I tore the papers with patients' information into very small pieces. So small that even if anyone (stupid enough to spend time to) try to piece them together again like pieces of puzzles, the chance of getting it right will be almost zero. And it took me ages to that.
My housemates asked why bother? I am very particular about patient's confidentiality. Most of my patients will be labelled as Mr. XY or Mrs XX in my notes taken during history taking.
Fact: it is very difficult trying not to talk about patients when you are living with 4 other medics. Patients are just too interesting, probably the hottest topic at dinner table. I'd imagine non-medics will almost certainly gag with the glorified descriptions of vagina tear and episiotomy when having dinner, but no, the topic remains popular in this household. 'Any fishy smelling vaginas today, eh?'
I do that (gossip about patients, not having the fishy smelling vagina, for God sake!) sometimes although I try very hard not to talk about patients. When there is a very exciting case that I HAVE to tell everyone about, I will try to describe the case in a reflective kind of details. For example: "I interviewed a patient with multiple personality disorder this morning- She is a complete nut! She gave two answers for all the MMSE's questions. I will definitely write a reflective piece about her noting the points that I had to interview her in a very sensitive way, asking open questions to encourage her to talk more about her alter ego."
ok, back to the shredder matter, yeah, patients confidentiality is an issue that should not be taken lightly. Students should develop a habit of ethical disposable of papers and carry on doing this for life. Once my psychiatric consultant (the one i'm attached to, not that I'm seeing one- even if I'm seeing one no one will know about it- PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY!) asked me about the little note book that I had for my attachment. There are infos about at least 40 psychiatric patients in that book with very detailed personal infos -active presentation, suicidal ideation, sexual orientation, descriptions of delusional ideas- of patients. I burned it after I completed the Pscyh attachment.
A patient with a persecutory delusion asked me 'are you spying on me?' as I kept on jotting down in that little note book during interview. To which I answered no. He then asked me what's gonna happen to all the infos in there. I was startled. If I remember correctly I said: Ooo... don't worry I'm a very private person so I keep everything to myself including this book. After that interview, I make every effort that I can to ensure I keep patients' confidentiality.
Including tearing up pages and pages of papers manually.
Not the hardest job in the world but it takes a lot of time.
Anyone would like to give me a shredder?
The papers are
i) printed out materials from the previous semester
ii) loads of patients' info (inc top-secret info of patients in the psychiatric unit)
iii) bank statements and other financially related infos (like receipts with cards no# on it)
iv) magazines and new papers
I tore the papers with patients' information into very small pieces. So small that even if anyone (stupid enough to spend time to) try to piece them together again like pieces of puzzles, the chance of getting it right will be almost zero. And it took me ages to that.
My housemates asked why bother? I am very particular about patient's confidentiality. Most of my patients will be labelled as Mr. XY or Mrs XX in my notes taken during history taking.
Fact: it is very difficult trying not to talk about patients when you are living with 4 other medics. Patients are just too interesting, probably the hottest topic at dinner table. I'd imagine non-medics will almost certainly gag with the glorified descriptions of vagina tear and episiotomy when having dinner, but no, the topic remains popular in this household. 'Any fishy smelling vaginas today, eh?'
I do that (gossip about patients, not having the fishy smelling vagina, for God sake!) sometimes although I try very hard not to talk about patients. When there is a very exciting case that I HAVE to tell everyone about, I will try to describe the case in a reflective kind of details. For example: "I interviewed a patient with multiple personality disorder this morning- She is a complete nut! She gave two answers for all the MMSE's questions. I will definitely write a reflective piece about her noting the points that I had to interview her in a very sensitive way, asking open questions to encourage her to talk more about her alter ego."
ok, back to the shredder matter, yeah, patients confidentiality is an issue that should not be taken lightly. Students should develop a habit of ethical disposable of papers and carry on doing this for life. Once my psychiatric consultant (the one i'm attached to, not that I'm seeing one- even if I'm seeing one no one will know about it- PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY!) asked me about the little note book that I had for my attachment. There are infos about at least 40 psychiatric patients in that book with very detailed personal infos -active presentation, suicidal ideation, sexual orientation, descriptions of delusional ideas- of patients. I burned it after I completed the Pscyh attachment.
A patient with a persecutory delusion asked me 'are you spying on me?' as I kept on jotting down in that little note book during interview. To which I answered no. He then asked me what's gonna happen to all the infos in there. I was startled. If I remember correctly I said: Ooo... don't worry I'm a very private person so I keep everything to myself including this book. After that interview, I make every effort that I can to ensure I keep patients' confidentiality.
Including tearing up pages and pages of papers manually.
Not the hardest job in the world but it takes a lot of time.
Anyone would like to give me a shredder?
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