Privacy and Confidentiality

Maintaining privacy and confidentiality for patients is a fundamental duty of care as a nurse. It is clearly stated that "a nurse must treat personal information obtained in a professional capacity as confidential" (ANMC, 2003, pg. 4).

Although the terms privacy and confidentiality are often interchanged, they should be distinguished. Privacy refers to one's ownership of one's body or information about one's self, whereas confidentiality refers specifically to limits upon private information revealed in confidence, as a responsible promise that the information will not be revealed to others (Kerridge et al., 1998). It is essential that the data will be used and reported in such a way that no one is able to identify the source (Behi & Nolan, 1995).

It is important to uphold both the privacy and confidentiality of patients whilst in nursing care to protect clients against the morally harmful consequences that can occur when unconsented......

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Title: Privacy And Confidentiality
Approximate Word Count: 441
Approximate Pages: 2 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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