Privacy law is making hospitals lose patients and patient attitudes to privacy

icWales has an article ("Privacy law is making hospitals lose patients") on the the new practice of removing--in the name of privacy--patients' nameplates from above their beds and whiteboards from nursing stations. This has led to substandard care and literally losing patients, at least in Wales. The article cites a survey published in the British Medical Journal that examined the attitudes of patients to having their names made known in this way. (Ravindra Gudena, Stanley Luwemba, Amy Williams, and Lloyd R Jenkinson, Data protection gone too far: questionnaire survey of patients' and visitors' views about having their names displayed in hospital, BMJ, Dec 2004; 329: 1491.)

Based on a very simple questionnaire, most did not find the practice of posting patients names was invasive of privacy and most felt that patient names should appear over their beds:

Responses of 243 patients and 215 visitors to questionnaires about patients in hospital having their names displayed. Values are numbers; percentages (95% confidence intervals)

Patients Visitors Totals Have you seen the name board or not? Yes 173; 71 (65 to 77) 157; 73 (67 to 79) 330; 72 (68 to 77) No 70; 29 (23 to 35) 58; 27 (21 to 33) 128; 28 (24 to 32) Where should the name board be located? In the open 182; 75 (70 to 80) 160; 74 (69 to 80) 342; 75 (70 to 79) Hidden 4; 2 (–3 to 7) 12; 6 (0 to 12) 16; 3 (2 to 5) No preference 57; 23 (19 to 28) 43; 20 (14 to 26) 100; 22 (18 to 26) Do you mind having your name displayed on the name board (or, does this infringe on patients' privacy?) Yes 10; 4 (2 to 7) 21; 10 (2 to 5) 31; 7 (4 to 9) No 233; 96 (93 to 98) 194; 90 (84 to 94) 427; 93 (91 to 96) Should patients' names be displayed above their beds? Yes 236; 97 (95 to 99) 201; 93 (90 to 97) 437; 95 (94 to 97) No 7; 3 (5 to 8) 14; 7 (3 to 10) 21; 5 (3 to 7)

This raises a number of questions about the wisdom of certain privacy laws and practices in the clinical environment. I wonder whether one can imply consent to having one's name posted over their bed if a good survey strongly suggests that the majority of patients don't object and, in fact, think that posting their names is a good idea. If you couple this with an opportunity to "opt out" on the admitting form, you should be able to satisfy most of the people most of the time.