I work in a long-term care home and we often receive requests from family members of residents to obtain copies of progress notes. Are we permitted to share these with family members?
Thanks for your question. It’s something we hear a lot from nurses who want to give information to inform caregivers of residents’ progress while balancing privacy.
For this, we turn to CNO’s practice standard called Confidentiality and Privacy—Personal Health Information, which provides an overview of your legal and ethical responsibilities when giving care. Ontario’s privacy legislation, The Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA), states that personal health information belongs to the client, and clients have the right to control how their information is collected, used and disclosed.
To determine whether disclosure of resident information is appropriate, there are a few steps you can take:
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Determine whether the resident has consented to disclose this information to the people requesting it. For example, has the family member of the resident been appointed as the Substitute Decision Maker or Power of Attorney for Personal Care? If so, disclosure of personal health information would be authorized. You can read more about consent in our practice guideline on the subject.
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Determine your employer’s policies and procedures related to privacy and disclosure. Employers are responsible for developing these policies. If they are not in place, you are encouraged to advocate for the development of such policies and procedures to guide your practice.
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For additional information you can reach out to the Office of the Information Privacy Commissioner of Ontario to determine your requirements under PHIPA for privacy and disclosure.
Thanks for writing,
Chantal Rioux, RN, MSN, PHCNP
Additional resources:
Have a question for our Practice Quality team? You can reach out to them at Practice Support Form.
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