Discuss Two Ethical Arguments for Maintaining Patient Confidentiality Essay - 1

Discuss Two Ethical Arguments for Maintaining Patient Confidentiality - Essay Example The interaction between nurses and patients is fundamental in the process of realizing the many different goals and objectives that define the health sector (Pyrek, 2011). Failure to maintain patient confidentiality, therefore, affects service delivery and subsequent achievement of the goals and objectives set by healthcare organizations. This jeopardizes welfare of patients, an aspect that fundamentally defines the moral and ethical role of nurses. Confidentiality forms the foundation of personal privacy. Just as the interaction between a nurse and a patient is private, the underlying information should also be kept private. Maintaining patient confidentiality ensures that the privacy of the patient is respect and subsequently protected (Bosek & Savage, 2007). Moreover, nursing practices follow specific codes of conduct that outline the type of relationships nurses should have with their patients. Such relationships are designed to address the best interests of patients. Without patient confidentiality, nurse-patient interactions and relations are likely to become ineffective and inefficient. In the contemporary society, the realization of key developments in the health sector is evident. New and advanced technologies have become the new face of service delivery in many healthcare facilities. In light of these developments, information has increasingly become critical to protect. Today, medical records are primarily electronic. On the same note, the establishment of patient information database means that more and more patient information is stored together. Without enforcing patient confidentiality, healthcare data and information could be compromised at any time. Healthcare technology has further diversified the number of legitimate parties who need access to patient information (Davey, 2012). As these parties increase in number, it is important to ensure that only those parties