Patient Safety and Security

Patient information, privacy and security are at the heart of providing a high level of medical services. These issues are vitally important if patient confidence is to be retained, in addition to ensuring that no potential harm comes to the patient. Hence, the information systems at any hospital should be managed in such a way as to retain the confidentiality of patient information, particularly where such information is still disseminated in hard copy form. Although St. John's Hospital prides itself on its ability to retain patient confidentiality, potential security breaches should be prevented where possible and dealt with immediately where they are unforeseen.

The issue of discarded printouts is very serious on a number of levels. There is no confidentiality if cleaning staff can simply take the printouts and read them. On a more serious level, the discarded printouts are widely available once they leave the...
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