The challenges of maintaining patient confidentiality in pediatric settings
Marianne Eg, Claus Sixtus Jensen
Abstract
PURPOSE: The study investigated challenges encountered by healthcare professionals in complying with the duty of confidentiality in a pediatric department. DESIGN AND METHODS: In this qualitative study, we conducted two focus group interviews with healthcare professionals from two pediatric departments in Denmark using the methodology described by Kvale and Brinkmann. RESULTS: We identified three challenges related to maintaining confidentiality. 1) Time pressure and physical surroundings in the clinical setting. 2) Communication challenges (where and with whom). 3) Navigation in the clinical setting to uphold privacy. In general, nurses and physicians struggle to maintain patient confidentiality in a setting where sensitive information is shared quickly. CONCLUSION: Pediatric nurses and physicians experience challenges related to patient confidentiality that impact their clinical practice. These challenges relate to privacy and dignity and communicating with children and their parents. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Building design or renovation of pediatric departments should underpin confidentiality and privacy issues. Our study makes an important and novel contribution to existing knowledge regarding healthcare professionals' experiences in maintaining patient privacy and confidentiality.