Wood Badge and The Medical Release

[lynncc]

I have dealings with HIPPA as a healthcare provider. As a nurse what the HIPPA thing boils down to is a need to know basis. In the hospital a nurse on floor B does not need to know medical info on a patient on floor A. Just cause they are a nurse etc they do not have a need to know.

 

By the same thought the housekeeper has a need to know that a pt in the room to be cleaned has a highly infectious dz and this is what you need to do to not get it yourself or spread it to others. Not necesarily all the nitty gritty details but the appropriate need to know info.

 

For BSA the people on trips courses etc are on a need to know also. They do not need to know I had my appendix out for me to go hiking but if I were to become sick then the hospital where you should take my med. form with me needs to know. Can't be appendicitis cause she ain't got one.....type thing. The hiking leader on the other hand does need to know that I am highly allergic to beestings and carry an epijet in my cargo pocket just in case. He should also know I am diabetic and if I start acting weird my sugar may have dropped to low and we need to stop and eat early/snack or let me eat the hard candy I brought just in case to tied me over.

 

As for the hospital who would not give out info on a scouts condition to the person authorized to seek medical treatment is just HIPPA histeria. We get alot of that. We joke about the HIPPA police....still...If the parents are not physically there with the child then you are still on a need to know basis. What if his condition changes and parents are out of cell range on a plane etc...before they can get to the hosp...Plus it should be implied if I say you can authorize a major operation or sew up a cut then you have permission to know what is going on with him/her until I get there. Just HIPPA histeria.

 

P.S. Now its just me but if I have ever had something embarrasing I do not want known don't put it on the form. Like genital warts, STD's. No one needs to know this in an emergency...

 

as for rashes I would say I have excema no big deal. That could possibly be needed. No that strange rash thing going on was already there or got worse cause of the weather....Not some new weird bio-terroism flesh eating thing.

 

All the conditions listed here are fictious and names have been changed to protect the innocent any resemblence to a real person is only a coincidence....

 

P.S. Have I mentioned I can't tell a short story to save my life....

 

 

[scoutldr]

First of all, I agree with the concerns expressed here. I also agree with HIPAA. My council is not so careful about medical forms...check in at summer camp involves lining up in front of a table staffed by the "health officer of the week" who could be a nurse, EMT, E-3 Navy Corpsman, or a retired MD who just came up for the afternoon. Helping him/her are 3-4 staff members who are pressed into service to keep the lines moving. The "health officer" last year, when I got sick, tried to take my temp with an ear thermometer by pointing it down my throat. (WOW, you have a low temp...only 93.4!!!)

Imagine a 50 year old leader being interviewed by a 14 year old female CIT about your intimate medical history and medications...in front of 50 other people including your sons and his troop-mates. (Yeah, dad, what ARE those little blue pills for, anyway???)

If I have a condition such as brittle diabetes, epilepsy, etc, I should be wearing a Medic-Alert bracelet, and everyone in my troop should be briefed on what to look for. We always teach that in First Aid MB, but how many of us actually wear one, at least when we are out in the woods? Other than that, if my MD says I'm good to go, then that's all you need to know.

One thing I would tighten up is to require an annual physical for youth, signed by an MD. Having a form filled out by the parents is not adequate, esp for high adventure stuff.

Oh, by the way, if someone has HIV, they are not required to disclose that to anyone, so universal precautions should be used for ANY contact with body fluids.

I agree with HIPAA since most all healthcare providers in this area, including hospitals, labs and Dr offices are now owned by the same conglomerate and all records are on the same computer system. If I go to the Dr or hospital, I know at least 6 people in my circle of family, friends and acquaintances who will have immediate access to my records. If I am taken to the ER from summer camp, my complete history will be three mouse-clicks away on the ER computer.