Department of TeleHealth, School of Nursing & Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa.
Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Dec 20;18(24):13426. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182413426.
The use of WhatsApp in health care has increased, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, but there is a need to safeguard electronic patient information when incorporating it into a medical record, be it electronic or paper based. The aim of this study was to review the literature on how clinicians who use WhatsApp in clinical practice keep medical records of the content of WhatsApp messages and how they store WhatsApp messages and/or attachments. A scoping review of nine databases sought evidence of record keeping or data storage related to use of WhatsApp in clinical practice up to 31 December 2020. Sixteen of 346 papers met study criteria. Most clinicians were aware that they must comply with statutory reporting requirements in keeping medical records of all electronic communications. However, this study showed a general lack of awareness or concern about flaunting existing privacy and security legislation. No clear mechanisms for record keeping or data storage of WhatsApp content were provided. In the absence of clear guidelines, problematic practices and workarounds have been created, increasing legal, regulatory and ethical concerns. There is a need to raise awareness of the problems clinicians face in meeting these obligations and to urgently provide viable guidance.
使用 WhatsApp 在医疗保健中已经增加，尤其是在 COVID-19 大流行期间，但在将其纳入病历中时，无论是电子病历还是纸质病历，都需要保护电子患者信息。本研究的目的是回顾有关临床医生在临床实践中使用 WhatsApp 记录 WhatsApp 消息内容的文献，以及他们存储 WhatsApp 消息和/或附件的方式。对九个数据库进行了范围综述，以寻找截至 2020 年 12 月 31 日与 WhatsApp 在临床实践中的使用有关的记录保存或数据存储证据。346 篇论文中有 16 篇符合研究标准。大多数临床医生都意识到，他们必须遵守法定报告要求，记录所有电子通信的医疗记录。然而，这项研究表明，人们普遍缺乏对现有隐私和安全法规的认识或关注。没有提供 WhatsApp 内容记录保存或数据存储的明确机制。在没有明确指导方针的情况下，已经创建了有问题的实践和解决方法，增加了法律、法规和道德方面的担忧。有必要提高临床医生在履行这些义务方面面临的问题的认识，并紧急提供可行的指导。
