I have a little anecdote relating to ‘Confidentiality in the Waiting Room’ by Scott, et al.1 I myself cal patients into my consulting room using first and last names. The person who responds is not always who I caled, so I often ask them to confirm their address or DOB once they are in. While this is not very confidential, I am not aware of any specific complaints from the patients as yet, and I know of no better way to get them in at the right time, apart from ‘Next please’, and then having to ask them who they are.
However, I remember a ward round in a certain hospital once, where the usual entourage started the round at bed one: consultant, junior doctors (two), myself the student, ward sister and two nurses. The patients were all lying tidily in or on their beds in regimented readiness. One of the patients in the first bay was unable to walk, due to having a ‘drip’, and therefore having been tied down, but by the time we got to the fourth bed in the second bay, the ‘entourage’ had been augmented by the first six mobile patients. As we left the bay and moved towards the double doors that separated the men from the female end of the ward, all six dutifully returned to their own beds, and the two male nurses went to attend to the bedridden patient.
The same happened in the female ward, except that the only males present were the medical staff, of course.
I suppose it was not terribly good for confidentiality, but it did mean that the other patients on the ward knew exactly what was wrong with their neighbours, (due to various nationalities of the staff, the explanation was available in at least two languages), and the mobile ones were able to correctly interpret untoward signs and help in the care of the less mobile.
I understand that neither staff nor patients were expected to speak outside of the hospital regarding the medical conditions of others, and perhaps therein lies the difference. We might not need confidentiality if we could trust everyone to mind their own business.
- © British Journal of General Practice, 2007.