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Angie MacKinnon Chronicle Staft All this week Confidentiality Week is being celebrated in hospitals across the country. Confidentiality of health information is a basic right of anyone who must stay in the hospital either overnight or longer. The purpose of the week is to promote awareness of confidentiality of health informaâ€" tion by all people who maintain, handle, use or have access to health information. All hospital personnel, regardless of their position or status are told at orientation of their obligation to patients to keep information conâ€" fidential There‘s so many people in contact with the patients, everyone must be aware that people are giving personal information," said Kilborn: ‘"‘This is nothing new to the staff." said Dr. Robert Kilborn. Medical Director of Kitchenerâ€" Waterloo Hospital, "they‘re trying to use this week to reâ€"emphasize the fact." With the step toward data processing and computers, said Kilborn, we must be especially careful of the patient‘s record information. In dealing with confidentiality Kilborn said such things as surgery lists are also restricted and go only to those staff members directly inâ€" volved. *"*We haven‘t had many patients concerned with confidentiality;;. said Kilborn. *"We‘re more concerned about it than they are." Another branch of confidentiality is the release of records to patients. Although hospiâ€" tals do not promote the patients seeking hospital records, the records can be obtained if the patient needs it. Patients discharged from the hospital who want information aren‘t handed over their records. This hospital prefers to have the patient‘s doctor or Dr. Kilborn go over the information needed and intrepret it. "‘"The reason for having a doctor interpret the records is mainly because they are so complicated," Confidentiality Week serves as a reminder BEST SERVIC E SWAD ALUMINUM 1139 VICTORIA ST. N. KIT. EXCELLENT REPLACEMENT WINDOWS Hospitals celebrate {43â€"4348 Unfortunately Kâ€"W hospital didn‘t plan any seminars for staff or produce examples to the board to assure them of the effort to keep information confidential as time didn‘t permit this. said Kilborn. "To the best of my knowledge, we (Kâ€"W hospital) haven‘t had any serious concerns about confidentiality .‘ Confidentiality week in the hospitals concerns mainly the patients who are there at the time. but its main purpose isn‘t to tell the patients about it since they are the ones the hospital is trying to protect by keeping personal informaâ€" tion to themselves. Another way in which record information could leak out according to Kilborn is by the release of information to a person who doesn‘t have the obligation to keep information con fidential. Such as a lawyer who seeks informaâ€" tion after it is released, the hospital no longer has control and as such they stamp it with the word confidential but that is all the control they have on information after it leaves their records. According to Kilborn, the hospital is trying to make any patient aware of this "It‘s amazing how many patients don‘t realize what‘s in their records," said Kilborn. This is another reason for a doctor to interpret. In dealing with the research aspect of Kitchenerâ€"Waterloo Hospital, Kilborn said ‘"We look very carefully at the patients in research, and make sure they are well aware of their rights, and we won‘t identify them by any means .‘ This year, the awareness of confidentiality week is as it has been over previous years â€" aimed at the staff in the hospital. "The staff are the ones receiving the private information and this week serves as a reminder to all of us," said Kilborn. Information of this confidentiality week was circulated to all department heads in KW hospital. It urges them to make the staff aware of the need for confidentiality. said Kilborn and Confidentiality Week has been designated this week by the Canaâ€" For the staff this week is evident from any handout they may have been given as well as posters in the cafeteria posted to remind them. WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY PRICE Dr. Robert Kilborn dian College of Health Record Administrators and The Canadian Health Record Association since the main drift of confidentiality comes from what is in the records of paâ€" tients. NOVEMBER 21, 1984 â€" PAGE 13