CE Home Study
Can You Keep a Secret?
PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY AND ITS LIMITS IN VIRGINIA:
AN ETHICAL/LEGAL HANDBOOK FOR
MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
Sixth Edition (2010)
Mary Alice Fisher, Ph.D.
FOR ALL VIRGINIA CLINICIANS
Uncomfortable discussing “limits of confidentiality” because you are not sure what they are?
Tired of being taken by surprise by laws that require you to disclose patients’ confidences?
Unsure what to do first if you are served with a subpoena demanding a patient’s records?
Worried that you are putting yourself at risk by putting patient confidentiality at risk?
Based on a six-step Confidentiality Practice Model for organizing ethical and legal information, this Confidentiality Handbook contains discussion of how to protect patients’ rights when Virginia laws don’t protect their confidences. Updated to reflect 2010 amendments to the 2002 APA Ethics Code.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART ONE:
THE ABC’s OF CONFIDENTIALITY – AN ETHICAL/LEGAL REVIEW
I. ETHICS, LAWS, AND ETHICAL/LEGAL CONFLICTS
(Confidentiality Then and Now: What Changed?)
II. PATIENTS’ RIGHTS
III. CLINICIANS’ PROMISES
(Unconditional vs. “Conditional” Secretkeeping)
PART TWO:
USING AN ETHICAL PRACTICE MODEL
TO PROTECT CONFIDENTIALITY RIGHTS OF VIRGINIA PATIENTS
I. PREPARING TO PROTECT CONFIDENCES & RIGHTS
(Preparation Necessary for Protecting Patients’ Confidentiality Rights)
II. TELLING PATIENTS THE TRUTH “UP FRONT”
(Informing Patients Before Obtaining Consent for Treatment)
III. OBTAINING “TRULY INFORMED” CONSENT TO DISCLOSE
(Making no “Voluntarily” Disclosures Without Patient’s Informed Consent)
IV. RESPONDING ETHICALLY TO LEGAL DEMANDS
(Minimizing Legally-Coerced “Involuntary” Disclosures)
V. TALKING LESS ABOUT PATIENTS
(Avoiding “Avoidable” Disclosures”)
VI. TALKING MORE ABOUT CONFIDENTIALITY
(Educating Each Other and the Public)
o Appendix I: Lists of relevant ethics documents from each mental health profession.
o Appendix II: Virginia laws that can protect patient confidentiality — or limit it.
o Appendix III: Sample Forms and Sample Patient Handouts.
Cost: $45.00 per copy, includes sales tax, postage and handling
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The WORKBOOK for “Can You Keep A Secret”
This workbook expands on the confidentiality manual, providing exercises, checklists, and forms for each chapter of the text. Handy for training clinical graduate students, supervisees, and consultees. Useful for personalizing the confidentiality policies in your own clinical practice. (This information is NOT included on the home study test.)
Cost: $10.00 per copy, includes sales tax, postage and handling
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Home Study Test: for “Can You Keep A Secret”
8 CE Credits
(60 test items)
[This test covers the book only, not the workbook]
Cost: $108.00 per test, includes sales tax, postage, and handling
