A patient care technician (PCT), Marc, who is like a nurse’s assistant, is in a patient’s room. The intravenous (IV) machine sta
rts to beep because the IV line gets tangled. The PCT helps the patient to untangle the line, but the beeping continues. Only nurses are trained to work with IV machines, but the nurse, Aerin, is busy with another patient. Marc knows that since the line is now clear, all Aerin will need to do is hit a button to stop the beeping . What should Marc do? A) go get the nurse to tell her that he has already stopped the beeping on the IV machine
B) hit the button on the IV machine to stop the beeping because he has fixed the problem
C) go get the nurse so she can stop the beeping on the IV machine
D) hit the button on the IV machine to stop the beeping because he has seen this done
A) go get the nurse to tell her that he has already stopped the beeping on the IV machine
Explanation:
Ideally, only a qualified nurse would press the button to stop the noise of the IV machine. However, if no nurse is available and Marc is fully confident that he knows how to stop the noise without causing damage to the machine or the patient, he must stop the noise, but he must communicate to the nurse what he did and why he did it immediately, so that there is no problem for anyone. In addition, when communicating what has been done, Marc shows that he is a responsible and attentive professional, that he is aware of his obligations, in addition to always seeking to learn more.
The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is charged with protecting an individual patient's health information privacy and security through the enforcement of HIPAA
