STHC-L: The Science, Technology and Health Care Archives Forum

Re: advice sought: patient records in manuscript collections

• Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 21:48:20 -0500 (EST)
• To: sthc-l@library.ucla.edu
• From: Nick Weber <NickWeber@aol.com>
• Subject: re: advice sought: patient records in manuscript collections
• Message-ID: 970211214518_1079786921@emout14.mail.aol.com

Confidentiality is certainly a sticky wicket, one which I ran into as soon as
I started out in the medical archive field (seven months ago now).  The
identification number instead of name seems a viable option, but is terribly
time consuming and cumbersome for large volumes of records.  Unfortunately,
neither I nor anyone at our hospital has been able to come up with a better
answer so far.  

Having this issue discussed at the Roundtable meeting and in future SAA
sessions is an excellent idea-- I was surprised there wasn't really any
sessions on the issue at last year's annual meeting.  I also would be
interested in participating in helping to develop such a session as I believe
it would be of great interest to those in our field, and particularly to
those of us new to the unique complications of medical record
confidentiality.

Nick Weber
Archivist
St. Vincent Medical Center
Historical Conservancy