I popped over to Pixelrn's blog and read an interesting post about the sadness with which we feel when yet again another great medical blogger opts out or changes to a password only blog in order to satisfy good old HIPPA. It's a crock of shit. Do they really think that a curtain between beds keeps anything secret? One can't even have privacy in the hospital to take a crap, let alone keep confidential health information to one's self. Anyone can read themselves into anything one writes. I can find my cousin, sister, aunt, uncle, grandpa in any blog about health care that I read. Everyone will be a part of the system one time or other. Of course, I would never reveal test results such as AIDS etc. in a post about a patient. Who in their right mind would say that Mary Smith of Poukepsie (fictitious of course!) has such and such disease process without their permission? We all change information about anyone that we write about to protect their privacy, but if we stop writing about our patients trials and tribulations and the way that we help them deal with it, who will give the hope that they need? We need to let our future nurses know what it's REALLY like on the front lines of health care. I say blog on! I'm not passwork protecting my blog and I hope that those who are considering it don't. I hope that Fat Doctor finds a way to let me know her new password because I enjoyed reading her blog. If not, I hope she continues to do her great work but I won't know about it.
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