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Difficulty: HardConfidentiality and Information Security

A practical nurse (PN) observes a colleague using a personal smartphone to take a photograph of a client's complex sacral pressure injury. The colleague states, "I am careful not to include the client's face or name. I plan to use this image as a case study for our upcoming unit in-service." Which action is the priority for the PN?

  1. Notify the charge nurse about the colleague's unauthorized use of a personal device.Answer
  2. B
    Verify that the colleague has obtained the client's written consent prior to capturing the image.
  3. C
    Remind the colleague to ensure no identifying tattoos or background details are visible.
  4. D
    Instruct the colleague to immediately delete the photograph from the smartphone.

Answer

The correct action is to notify the charge nurse about the colleague's unauthorized use of a personal device.
The correct action involves reporting the incident to the charge nurse. Using a personal device to capture clinical images creates an immediate risk of a data breach because these devices typically sync with personal cloud storage and lack necessary enterprise-level encryption. The PN must use the chain of command so that the facility's compliance team can properly intervene and secure the data.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the primary issue in the scenario.
A colleague is using a personal smartphone to photograph a client's wound, which constitutes a breach of protected health information (PHI) security.
Personal devices are generally unencrypted and automatically sync to external cloud servers, creating a severe data security risk.
2
Evaluate the colleague's justification.
The colleague claims the image is de-identified and for educational purposes.
Even if the intent is educational and direct identifiers are excluded, the method of data capture (personal device) violates HIPAA security rules and facility policy.
3
Determine the PN's required action based on scope of practice and compliance guidelines.
The PN must report the incident to the charge nurse immediately.
Nurses have a mandated duty to report confidentiality breaches up the chain of command so that compliance officers can properly investigate, ensure data deletion, and mitigate risks.

Key Concept

Information Security and Mobile Device Policy
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Topics

Confidentiality and Information Security

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