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Tue Nov 28 14:37:52 GMT 2006

>From the AAST web site: 

"Incidental Use and Disclosure -- The final Rule acknowledges that uses
or disclosures that are incidental to an otherwise permitted use or
disclosure may occur. Such incidental uses or disclosures are not
considered a violation of the Rule provided that the covered entity has
met the reasonable safeguards and minimum necessary requirements. For
example, if these requirements are met, doctors' offices may use waiting
room sign-in sheets, hospitals may keep patient charts at bedside,
doctors can talk to patients in semi-private rooms, and doctors can
confer at nurse's stations without fear of violating the rule if
overheard by a passerby."

I'm sure there are more specific recommendations regarding emergency and
trauma care, but this summary points in the proper direction.  If you
want to really over-interpret the statute, then we should have
individual waiting rooms for every patient at triage, so that they can't
see each other throw up.

HIPAA is not as fearsome as you might have been led to believe.  Do your
best, of course; but emergency care is sometimes hard to hide.

Pret Bjorn, RN

Bangor, ME USA

-----Original Message-----
From: trauma-list-bounces at trauma.org
[mailto:trauma-list-bounces at trauma.org] On Behalf Of ofiara at comcast.net
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 6:37 AM
To: Trauma &amp; Critical Care mailing list
Subject: Privacy Issues

Question

We have a 2 bed trauma bay that we are putting up a wall between the
carts.  Have been told  that it is a "privacy issue" so we can no longer
have an open room.  Anyone else having an issue like this and are you
using any "creative ideas" to keep the room/bay open for multiple pts. 

Thanks Larry Ofiara, R.N., T.N.S.  Evanston, Il---

--------- Original message -------------- 

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