Protecting Personal Data

Protection of personal data is paramount in any situation. Battered women receiving help in a shelter, part of a community clinic require confidentiality to avoid problems should their abusers locate them. When computerizing an appointment system and records, sometimes such information can easily be taken if there is no protection available. Things like passwords and encryption help keep would be criminals from accessing sensitive data. Although hackers may still access the data should they gain password information, adding those layers of protection, safeguard sensitive data on most occasions. While not all negative situations can be avoided, extra precaution must be taken when attempting to protect personal data.

The stakeholders of this scenario are several. The first and most important are the battered women and children in the shelter. They are the ones that may be endangered should their information leak out. The second are the staff working in the shelter and other parts of the community clinic. They have sensitive data in the system as well from social security numbers to other identifying information like home address and telephone number. Such information in the wrong hands can lead to identity fraud. The last party that could be affected should personal data leak is the director. She could face potential legal action if the information is leaked under her supervision and guidance.

In terms of risks, problems, issues, and consequences, the staffers that have their information leaked or unintentionally leak sensitive data could risk being fired, could suffer through identity fraud, and could put in danger the participants of the community clinic. These include women and children seeking help. The second party, battered women and children, may fear being found by their abuser. They may also be victims of identity fraud. The director could face lawsuits, loss of employment, and potentially losing the community clinic should enough problems arise from personal information being leaked. Safeguarding personal data is extremely paramount to avoid permanently damaging outcomes.

Although there is increased risk with creating an electronic version of the data within the community clinic, especially in app form, made easily accessible to staffers, it does add convenience and speed. Meaning, staffers can readily access the data of their clients from anywhere and help them with whatever problems they have in relation to the services offered by the community clinic. Staffers can also send data to and from the locations belonging to the community clinic instantly thanks to email, fax, and even instant messaging should the app include this. The speed and convenience of electronic data are major benefits.

Furthermore, if clients need referrals, staffers can send the data of the client to other agencies so they may receive the care and attention they need to help them deal with the issues they need addressed. With so many agencies, clinics, and hospitals digitizing their records, the community clinic will be able to keep up to date with technological advances. Keeping up to date is crucial regarding assisting clients.

If records remain as paper records, it may slow down the process. Clients... They may also miss out on certain programs because of deadlines. By making data retrieval convenient, staffers and clients can work together to achieve a positive and favorable outcome.
The last benefit for digitizing data and making an app for it is increased communication. Staffers and the director can communicate with each other should a problem arise. Clients can, depending on the style of app, receive information more quickly than through traditional methods like phone calls and paper fax. It is reminiscent of being able to access test results online at certain health clinics. Although the community clinic may not offer something like that, they can offer the option of making an appointment online or even chatting with a potential client since some people may be afraid to talk over the phone. Communication improves greatly when there are several options available.

Regarding legal ramifications, or legal considerations, privacy and data security are top priority. Some of the information in the community clinic may be related to health data. Health data must be maintained confidential and only released to specific groups or individuals with explicit consent from the person the data concerns. Therefore, to maintain security and confidentiality, it is important to consider anonymization of data.

This was discussed briefly before via encrypting data. By anonymizing data via encryption, the data becomes safer to access from other devices like smartphones. "It is, not possible for those who do not have the decoding key to identify a data subject by sing the encrypted information, and the decrypted data thus remain privately available only for those who do have the decoding key." (Hoeren 62) In fact, national data privacy regulations favor an anonymization option because it decreases the risk of any sensitive information leaking. " . . . some national laws provide an opportunity to anonymize by changing data in a way that guarantees that information can be reassigned to a person only with disproportionately large amount of effort, cost, and time." (Hoeren 63) The laws in the United States that deal specifically with personal identifiable information or sensitive data are the Privacy Act of 1974, the Privacy Act of 2005, and the proposed Identity Theft Prevention Act of 2005.

By taking into consideration the need to anonymize sensitive data, the digitizing of data from the community clinic can be successfully performed. This will reduce chances of unnecessary exposure of sensitive data. It will also comply with the need for privacy according to United States Law. Lastly, it will allow for more security measures to be taken to ensure personal data protection.

The scenario said the community clinic had three sites all within the same city. Of these three cites, one is a shelter. However, the scenario failed to include what the other two sites are. Are they healthcare centers? Are they places where people can get referrals? Are the staffers social workers? The scenario failed to detail what kind of jobs the staffers have.

The staffers can be health professionals or they could be volunteers. If some of the staffers are volunteers and they…