Saskatoon childrens hospital nurse unlawfully snooped on records of 314 patients privacy report

pn n n concatei18ntsearchvoicerecognitionretryn ppeconfigsaAriaclosedTextppWithout legal authority a nurse who worked at Saskatoons Jim Pattison Childrens Hospital snooped on the private medical records of 314 patients according to a recent reportppThe report dated April 23 and signed by Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner Ronald J Kruzeniski states that a registered nurse RN who was employed in the maternity department accessed the records for reasons unrelated to patient careppThe RN is not named in the report which simply refers to the individual as the SnooperppThe privacy breaches occurred between Aug 23 2021 and Dec 14 2021 according to information given to Kruzeniskis office by the Saskatchewan Health Authority SHA which brought the situation to light proactivelyppThe records were accessed remotely using an SHA laptop when the RN was on a leave of absence states the privacy commissioners reportppThe SHA told Kruzeniskis office that the unauthorized access involved 2437 recordsppSome of the records accessed included sensitive personal health information the report states In relation to some patients the information accessed also included sensitive demographic information such as the patients name contact details date of birth hospital medical record number and health services card numberppFurther six of the patients were coworkers of the RN and two of them the report states had confidentiality flags on their files requiring the user to break the glass or override the warning flag or screen to gain accessppThe report also notes the RN was interviewed but could not explain why they looked at the patient recordsppAccording to the SHA the RN eventually admitted that they did not need to access the patient records and apologized for having done so states Kruzeniskis report adding that the RNs employment was terminated by the SHA as part of measures to address the privacy breachppAccording to the report the SHA also notified the College of Registered Nurses of Saskatchewan about the breach However the report states that as of the time of writing it appears that the Snoopers license to work in the province is still in effectppThe privacy breach was reported to Kruzeniskis office on Aug 16 2024 and the 314 affected parties were notified Aug 19 according to the reportppThis was approximately five and onehalf months after the investigation was concluded and over two years after the breach was discovered the report statesppThe privacy commissioner found that the SHA had taken reasonable steps to contain the privacy breach and conducted an adequate investigationppHowever Kruzeniski found the notification of the affected parties was not adequate and timely He also found that the SHAs plan to prevent similar privacy breaches in the future was not adequateppAs well he found that the SHA did not comply with Section 16 and Subsection 232 of the Health Information Protection Act HIPA insofar as it does not have in place an auditing policy regarding the access of certain health information systemsppThe privacy commissioners report which is available publicly online contains a list of recommendationsppSome are aimed at preventing similar breaches in the future while others are directed toward providing more fulsome notification to affected partiesppHis final recommendation is that the SHA forward their investigation files to the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General Public Prosecution Division to allow prosecutors to further consider whether an offence has occurred and if charges should be laid under HIPA or any other statuteppThe report contains some paragraphs in which the commissioner comments generally about snooping on personal information and health information saying it has been an issue in Saskatchewan and elsewhere in Canada for some timeppWhile Kruzeniski writes that some progress appears to have been made in Saskatchewan toward protection of private information he remains concernedppIf people cannot trust their health care providers to protect their privacy they may withhold or falsify information about their health This in turn poses a substantial risk to the quality of the health care they may receive the report statesppI cannot overstate how important it is for Saskatchewans trustees to make every reasonable effort to ensure that those who are tempted to snoop are not successful and that personal health information is protectedppbharderpostmediacomppSask privacy commissioner issues recommendations and warning about medicalrecord snoopingppPsychiatric documents with sensitive patient info found loosely blown about near Regina medical clinicppThe Regina LeaderPost has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day Click here to subscribe With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend our website is your destination for uptotheminute news so make sure to 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