NR 706 Week 6 Discussion; Health Privacy Breach - Scenario 2 and Scenario 3

I have chosen to analyze scenario two. In this situation, a nurse practitioner prepares a conference's infectious disease presentation poster. She has included pictures of a patient’s lesions in varying stages on her poster. This scenario raises significant concerns for patient privacy, the ethical use of patient photography and information, educational considerations, and security issues. It underscores the need for responsible and ethical actions when using patient images. Of course, clinical photography is vital to further education and illustrate clinical findings, making it essential in the world of medicine. According to Thakur (2022), the basis of analyzing this scenario and its concerns is whether informed consent has been obtained from the patient. In such cases, organizational policies and procedures should also be considered and strictly adhered to. If informed consent is not obtained, it obviously raises both legal and ethical concerns that can lead to legal and disciplinary actions. One option to protect both the patient and the provider is to contact the organization’s legal department to ensure that if consent is obtained, all other requirements to utilize the pictures without violating laws or policies are maintained. Some considerations regarding properly informing the patient about the use of their photographs would be the purpose of the photography, who will see it, whether copies will be made or distributed, and will medical professionals, educators, or lay persons will use it. Other information should include how the photographs and personal information are secured for how long and their rights regarding withdrawing consent (Thakur, 2022). Additionally, caution should be taken when taking actual photographs to do everything possible to conceal a patient’s identifiable information. This might include using a plain background, only photographing the immediate area pertinent to the photograph's purpose, and hiding tattoos, scars, birthmarks, or other identifiable skin markings. Overall, taking caution to exclude identifiable information and obtaining the required informed consent take precedence when using patient photography to any degree in the medical field. If anything can be taken from this scenario, the protection of patient privacy is nonnegotiable. The second situation that I have chosen to analyze is the third scenario. This situation entails a clinical instructor following up with their nursing student to find that the daughter of the student’s patient is requesting that the student take photos with the patient with the intent to post them to social media. When we think of consent surrounding photography within a healthcare setting, we often think of photographing patients but less freq