Interprative Summary

This is another part of my research journey. I actually wrote this before my secondary research report, this shows a part of my difficulty in coming to my final research topic, but this was vital to my research process, and finding my way to the perfect research topic. It is actually the document that led me to my main audience, this document showed me that it was nurses who had a need for information.

Interpretative Summary: HIPPA Q&A

             Throughout my research and drafting I have formulated my final research question; how does the HIPPA law affect society negatively, and positively? The article that I came across was "HIPPA Q And A". This directly relates to my issue because it helps me as a writer understand the rules and regulations of HIPPA better, and realizing how to go about using HIPPA in a positive way without breaking the law. Also, it is a question and answer article, which is a direct article of how nurses communicate to eachother, which relates to medical issues and literacy.

            The writer clearly understands that some people have trouble understanding the HIPPA law and its regulations, the author states “It's no secret that there have been many questions recently about HIPPA. In an effort to address some of the most frequent issues that arise, the Nebraska Nurse is providing a forum for your questions and answers.” It shows that nurses are reaching out to another, communicating, answering each other’s questions about the HIPPA law that is unclear. This provides a sense of community within the hospital environment; the article covers diverse questions from law enforcement disclosure, to media disclosure.

            The article shows the leniency of HIPPA, even to the media. One of the questions were “can we disclose information to the media”. Surprisingly you actually are allowed to disclose information to the media if the patient is asked for by name and is in the directory. If this information is available the disclosure of hospital name, location in the hospital, and general terms could be disclosed. This is interesting because HIPPA should be the one protecting medical rights of patients, disclosing this information seems redundant to the cause, and could possibly affect a patient in a negative way.

            The article also goes over family members rights. The patient is allowed to document who they want to disclose information to, and who can contact them while in the hospital. This could be a positive aspect of the HIPPA law, because it could keep the patient protected by someone who could possibly be harmful.

            This article was very informative not only towards nurses but people researching this issue as well. It gives society an idea of what to expect from the HIPPA law and it gives nurses an idea of what is allowed, so they do not go against the HIPPA law without knowing. Many issues have arisen with this law because the hospital staff does not always realize they are breaking the law, so the point of this article was to create a forum where nurses could ask questions in a professional environment and receive a correct and informative answer.

 

Works Cited

"HIPPA Q And A." Nebraska Nurse 36.3 (2003): 21. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 23 Sept. 2012.