In the medical practice, being focused on privacy and confidentiality makes you marketable. Patients want a facility that they can trust with personal information. As a doctor, remain professional when asking personal questions. The last thing you want is to look nosy.
The issue of privacy should cut across from the conversations to the general handling of patients. The benefits of such efforts are many including enhancing your public image as a health facility. Besides, you become a key stakeholder in the implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) Act established in 1996. Are you looking for ways to uphold privacy at your medical practice? Here are some keys.
1. Plan on Expansion
As a medical facility, you have a significant role in addressing the health of the public. This needs proper sourcing of resources for daily operations. As a manager, consider increasing your bed capacity as well. Making this happen may require the addition of more wards and wings for your facility. This is a great boost on the issue of privacy and confidentiality.
This is because you reduce the distribution of beds in every room. Think of redesigning the space whereby you will come up with cubicles. With such a new layout, you may allocate two beds in each section.
2. Invest in Curtains
As you may notice, most issues to do with privacy are based on the actual rooms with beds. This is logical as this is where more patients spend the better part of their time while in hospital. As a medical center, think of buying hospital curtains in numbers. With this, you experience much efficiency in creating barriers between patients.
The first step should be to check the styles of arrangement for the curtains depending on the nature of your rooms. There are different dealerships that major in hospital supplies such as the curtains. Consider the color of the beds, beddings, and wall paint before making a choice. Find pieces that will blend well with the place.
Find the relevant accessories for the curtains. These are typically the track systems that make it effortless to do the sliding and holding of the fabric. Be keen on the issue of quality as well as it influences durability.
3. Employ Technology Record Handling
Keeping records in books has a long history. It comes with benefits and drawbacks. On the bright side, it is less costly as all that is needed is the dedication to feed the data. The main disadvantage, however, comes from the privacy of the documents as well as tampering of the records.
A technological approach can save the day. With the modern data handling software, you get the opportunity to keep the data for patients in a safe way. The tool may allow the setting of passwords which adds more to the privacy. This makes your database for patients not accessible by anyone.
In the health sector, many efforts are being made in ensuring every patient’s privacy and confidentiality are upheld. As a health facility, look for approaches to help you in achieving this. This includes buying the necessary supplies such as curtains. Increasing the room size and number of beds at your center helps in making the distribution less dense.