The need for health care does not justify unwanted, unnecessary, or unwarranted intrusion into a person’s life. Privacy is the right to control access to, and disclosure or nondisclosure of, information pertaining to oneself and to control the circumstances, timing, and extent to which information may be disclosed. Nurses safeguard the right to privacy for individuals, families, and communities. The nurse advocates for an environment that provides sufficient physical privacy, including privacy for discussions of a personal nature. Nurses also participate in the development and maintenance of policies and practices that protect both personal and clinical information at institutional and societal levels.

Confidentiality pertains to the nondisclosure of personal information that has been communicated within the nurse-patient relationship. Central to that relationship is an element of trust and an expectation that personal information will not be divulged without consent. The nurse has a duty to maintain confidentiality of all patient information, both personal and clinical in the work setting and off duty in all venues, including social media or any other means of communication. Because of rapidly evolving communication technology and the porous nature of social media, nurses must maintain vigilance regarding postings, images, recordings, or commentary that intentionally or unintentionally breaches their obligation to maintain and protect patients’ rights to privacy and confidentiality. The patient’s well-being could be jeopardized, and the fundamental trust between patient and nurse could be damaged by unauthorized access to data or by the inappropriate or unwanted disclosure of identifiable information.

Patient rights are the primary factors in any decisions concerning personal information, whether from or about the patient. These rights of privacy and confidentiality pertain to all information in any manner that is communicated or transmitted. Nurses are responsible for providing accurate, relevant data to members of the healthcare team and others who have a need to know. The duty to maintain confidentiality is not absolute and may be limited, as necessary, to protect the patient or other parties, or by law or regulation such as mandated reporting for safety or public health reasons.

Information used for purposes of continuity of care, education, peer review, professional practice evaluation, third-party payments, and other quality improvement or risk management mechanisms may be disclosed only under defined policies, mandates, or protocols. These written guidelines must ensure that the rights, safety, and well-being of the patient remain protected. Information disclosed should be directly relevant to a specific responsibility or a task being performed. When using electronic communications or working with electronic health records, nurses should make every effort to maintain data security.

Stemming from the principle of respect for autonomy, respect for persons, and respect for self-determination, individuals have the right to choose whether or not to participate in research as a human subject. Participants or legal surrogates must receive sufficient and materially relevant information to make informed decisions and to understand that they have the right to decline to participate or to withdraw at any time without fear of adverse consequences or reprisal.

Information needed for informed consent includes the nature of participation; potential risks and benefits; available alternatives to taking part in the study; disclosure of incidental findings; return of research results; and an explanation of how the data will be used, managed, and protected. Those details must be communicated in a manner that is comprehensible to the patient or a legally authorized representative. Prior to initiation, all research proposals must be approved by a formally constituted and qualified institutional review board to ensure participant protection and the ethical integrity of the research.