Privacy Rule of Thumb

It's good practice to have a "no business in the hallways" approach to resident privacy. It's difficult though - you see the social worker you've been looking for all day outside a resident's room, or you catch nurse Jackie on the way out the door, and its your duty to get them that important message.Why can't we talk about bed management in the lobby?

A lot of healthcare professionals struggle with this, particularly in and around the nurses stations and other naturally congregate areas. So while its easy to ask staff to pull their business conversations behind closed doors and to "keep all patient information confidential," it's a good rule of thumb to more specifically designate phone areas as safe communication spots. By telling staff to keep all patient or business sensitive conversation within arm's reach of a phone, it's an easy way for them to hold themselves accountable to bringing conversations back to that safety zone. By building this expectation into the culture, everyone understands to also avoid those areas when a conversation is happening, as it is likely sensitive information being shared.

Nurses stations and other public work spaces in health care come in a lot of forms nowadays, but most if not all have at least one phone stationed at their core. Teach your staff to gravitate towards offices or other phone/communication stations to avoid resident disruption and protect health information.