Study urges hospitals to reduce paper documents to protect patient privacy

By The Canadian Press

A new study is urging hospitals to reduce the number of paper documents they produce in order to protect patient privacy.

Researchers at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital say they collected nearly 600 kilograms of paper from recycling bins at other city health institutions over one month to see how much personal information was potentially exposed.

Researchers say they found 2,687 documents containing patient information that they contend should have been shredded rather than put out for recycling.

Many of the documents contained such sensitive material as health details and financial information
Researchers say all the hospitals involved in the study had policies in place to ensure patient privacy.

The study, published today in JAMA — Journal of the American Medical Association — calls on hospitals to scale back on the use of paper documents and be more vigilant about shredding ones containing personally identifiable information.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today