Background: As a fundamental human right in healthcare, informational privacy creates the foundation for patient’s safety and the quality of care. However, its realization can be a challenge in prehospital emergency care, considering the nature of the work. Objectives: To describe patient’s informational privacy, its realization, and the factors related to the realization in prehospital emergency care from the perspective of paramedics. Research design: A descriptive questionnaire study was conducted. The data were analyzed with inductive content analysis. Participants and research (...) context: The participants (n = 26) were paramedics in one of the 22 rescue departments in Finland. Ethical considerations: The study received ethical approval from the ethics committee of the University of Turku (Finland). Permission for the study was given by the collaborating rescue department. Findings: Paramedics described patient’s informational privacy as patients’ right to their own health records, as protection of the patient’s health records, and as comprehensive respect of the patient’s privacy by the persons involved in the patient’s care. In general, informational privacy was described as being realized regarding confidentiality, reporting, and maintaining the patient’s health records. However, it was also described as being dependent on the context, and some areas in need of improvement were identified. Promoting and preventing factors related to the realization were also identified. The promoting factors were paramedics’ professional activity, environment, training, and guidelines. The preventing factors were the nature of the work, paramedics’ attitudes, and the lack of knowledge concerning informational privacy among paramedics, the collaborating authority, patients, and relatives. Discussion and conclusion: Paramedics had a multidimensional understanding of informational privacy and the factors related to its realization. However, its realization varies, and more research and education are therefore needed to enhance the realization and to provide equal and high-quality care for all the patients in prehospital emergency care. (shrink)

The aim of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of privacy in occupational health services. Data were collected through in-depth theme interviews with occupational health professionals (n=15), employees (n=15) and employers (n=14). Our findings indicate that privacy, in this context, is a complex and multilayered concept, and that companies as well as individual employees have their own core secrets. Co-operation between the three groups proved challenging: occupational health professionals have to consider carefully in which situations and how much (...) they are entitled to release private information on individual employees for the benefit of the whole company. Privacy is thus not an absolute right of an individual, but involves the idea of sharing responsibility. The findings open up useful new perspectives on ethical questions of privacy and on the development of occupational health practices. (shrink)

Ethical considerations The study was conducted according to the principles of Declaration of Helsinki, and was approved by the Norwegian Social Science Data Services. Objective To describe patients’ experiences of staying in multiple- and single-bed rooms. Patients and methods This qualitative study employed a descriptive and exploratory approach, and systematic text condensation was used to analyze the material. Data were collected in a hospital trust in Norway. A total of 39 in-depth interviews were performed with patients discharged from the medical, (...) surgical, and maternity departments. Results Patients had ambiguous views on whether multiple-bed rooms or single-bed rooms were to be preferred. Main results include how patients cherished “the importance of others” but at the same time valued “the importance of privacy.” Being hospitalized in multiple-bed rooms was for many patients a very positive experience in terms of social interaction. Patients in single-bed rooms reported being more dependent on nurses to maintain social contact and obtain safety. Conclusion This research provides new knowledge on how the need for privacy can be in contradiction with the need for socializing with other patients. When hospitalized, the physical structure of a hospital impacts with whom patients interact and to what extent they depend on the nursing staff to have their social needs met. (shrink)