Question

Kira is a community services worker and specialises in working with children with physical disability. While visiting with her regular client, the Aunty of a child that was visiting for the day, disclosed personal information about the child to Kira, this was regarding abuse. As part of her role she must comply with the ethical and legal requirements of her workplace. Since working for this organisation Sherrie has had to deal with several unresolved conflict situations, has observed breaches in standard procedures and been faced with complicated situations that required her to make ethical decisions regarding potential conflicts of interest. A major part of the problem with the Organisation that Kira works for is lack of funding, which means that they are unable to do many things that they would like to do to improve their workplace. Kira knows that something must be done to ensure a safe work environment for staff and clients.

What ethical and legal requirements must Kira comply with regarding information sources she accesses and uses in her workplace?

Provide one example of a breach of standard procedures and explain what Kira must do if she identifies a breach in procedures.  

a) Describe some of the issues that could prevent Kira and others in her workplace from being able to have their workplace rights and responsibilities upheld?

b) What should Kira do if she identifies an issue that impacts on her rights and responsibilities in the workplace?

How should Kira handle unresolved conflict in her workplace?

Answer 1

1) Ethical and legal requirements regarding health information sources are cofidentiality,privacy and security.
The Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act offers detailed requirements for access,use and disclosure of confidential patient information including for legal proceedings (MHDDCA, 1997).

2) Breach of standard procedure can occur with violating the ethics of patient rights like forgetting the role and responsibility for the disclosure of confidential patient information.
If she identifies the breach in procedure,she must engage the team at workplace regading the resolution of the problem identified.She should encourage the team members to interact with the family members of the child and educate, how they can support the child to over come the problem.

a) Issues related to health information privacy and confidentiality.
-issues related to security of health information and how they are responsible for it.

b) Kira can “Advocate, uphold, and defend the individual’s right to privacy and the doctrine of confidentiality in the use and disclosure of information” (AHIMA, 2011).
-based on above act she can protect the rights of patient's privacy.

*Unresolved conflict can be handled by educating the team about protecting the rights of patients related to health information.