Importance Of Privacy And Confidentiality

1.) As the organization I am working with not only participates in the evaluation and treatment of clients but also in research to benefit the community as a whole, there are many ethical standards that must be considered on a daily basis. Since I am only involved in the research department of this organization, the ethical and legal standards that are most relevant to my position are those pertaining to privacy and confidentiality. Most of the work I complete at Children’s Research Triangle involves data that includes mental health records as well as identifying information such as the clients’ name, age, and birthdate. In accordance to Standard 3 listed in the appendix, I must ensure that the Protected Health Information of each individual is handled in a way that guarantees client privacy and confidentiality. In reality, this is done with such tasks as locking this information in a file cabinet when I no longer need it and locking my computer screen when I step away for any amount of time. In addition, when getting rid of files we no longer need, I must shred …show more content…
Legally, this person was participating in behavior that was not compliant with the guidelines set forth by HIPAA. According to HIPAA, one should dispose of documents with identifiable information in a way that completely destroys the documents, such as by shredding or burning them; the more plausible option for an office setting would be to shred these documents. The staff member was compliant to this extent, however they should have been shredding these documents on a daily basis before they left the office, or kept the documents in a locked drawer until they were ready to shred them. In terms of the “Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals,” the staff member is also violating Standard 3, which guarantees that the professional will protect the client’s right to privacy and