For older people and frail people, the long-term benefit of medicines reduces and the potential for harm from adverse effects increases. When the benefit–risk balance changes in this way, medicine review and optimisation are important to simplify the therapeutic regimen, reduce inappropriate medicines and minimise risks. In this article, pharmacist prescriber Linda Bryant uses two case studies to illustrate important considerations during medicine reviews
Patient records’ good-reason rule: It’s necessary to keep prying eyes away from confidential details
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Patient records’ good-reason rule: It’s necessary to keep prying eyes away from confidential details
Wednesday 14 December 2022, 01:00 AM

People may share health information they accessed unjustifiably in the first place [Image: Perinjo on iStock]
Curiosity is human nature but accessing patient health records without good reason can cause people extreme humiliation and distress. Stephanie Gregor details the dangers of employee browsing of patient records
A common misconception is that a privacy breach occurs only where personal information is shared or inappropriately accessed by someone external to th, Stephanie Gregor 22, Stephanie Gregor 2022
Kia ora and welcome to New Zealand Doctor Rata Aotearoa
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References
- Employee repeatedly accessed health records without proper reason. Case Note 269784 [2016] NZ PrivCmr 3 https://tinyurl.com/CaseNote269784
- Patients’ sensitive medical information disclosed by receptionist. Case Note 298757 [2019] NZPriv Cmr 9 https://tinyurl.com/CaseNote298757
- Woman wants to know names of Police officers who accessed her records. https://tinyurl.com/CaseNote208123