Outpatient Surgery Magazine

The Art of the IV Start - December 2014 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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1 4 O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4 M ore and more surgical facilities are boosting OR efficiency by mounting closed caption cameras in their ORs. The cameras link to a master camera-feed moni- tor that charge nurses can watch, so they can alert the turnover team when surgery is nearing completion, dispatch extra help or equipment, and let providers know when rooms are ready for the next case. But do the cameras pose a threat to patient privacy and violate HIPAA? That could depend on the monitor's location: a secure control room (good) or behind the control desk where the charge nurse sits (not as good). A department of health inspector told a nurse manager to unplug the OR camera system because it violated HIPAA. The mon- itor sat behind the control desk where the charge nurse sits. The desk area is not enclosed, and sometimes the charge nurse walks away. The nurse manager, who asked that we not use her name, argued that the OR cameras weren't compromising patient privacy. One, she said, the cameras weren't recording, only displaying a room-status camera feed on the monitor. Two, the cameras weren't hooked into the facility's network. And three, the images in no way identified the patient. Plus, access to the monitors is closely guarded — only employees can go behind the desk and the monitors are password- protected. Get patient consent when adding these systems, says Karen Reiter, RN, CNOR, RNFA, an administrator at DISC Sports and Spine Center in Southern California. She says her facility has cameras in clinical areas, but that part of the patient consent form specifically includes : Are Cameras in the OR a HIPAA Violation? EYE IN THE SKY SURGEONS' Tips, trends and news you can use Lounge THE

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