Breach of Confidentiality

As a UCF student, there are services on campus that are provided to us; for example, students have access to the UCF Rec and Wellness Center, Student Health Center, Financial Aid Services, and a Pharmacy. In addition, students are also given the opportunity to work within these departments. As you may know, college campuses are breading grounds for rampant spread of STD’s among the young adult population. Practices of unprotected sex are a common occurrence on college campuses. At UCF, the student health center has a unit dedicated to women services; they provide annual pap smears, HPV vaccinations, and STD testing for anyone who wants it administered. During my freshman year of college a friend of mine contracted a STD. She went to the student health center for testing and treatment. At the time, she could not have been more relieved that this service was provided for utilization, not to mention it saved her life. However, a few weeks later after her treatment was completed we began to here gossip about the fact that she had contracted a STD. For those whom are unfamiliar with a college setting, news travels fast! Eventually we began to hear different versions of different stories and horrible comments from our fellow students. After investigation, we discovered that the source of these rumors came from a "student" worker who happen to know my friend. Somehow she was able to get her medical records and review what services she has utilized at the student health center. Once certain that this is where the information may be coming from we then went to the student health center to report the incident. UCF breached my friend's confidentiality and placed a bad connotation of their organization. Many student are now affraid or simply do not want to go to the student health center to render any services because they do not want to run the risk of their personal visits and information potenially being known to the public.

After going through this experience with my friend I began thinking, Should we allow student's to work in facility where they are around such sensitive information? I just recently took a visit to the student health center myself and the young lady who checked me in was a fellow student of mine. It can create a awkward atmosphere, not to mention make a comfortable visit to your gynecologist and very uncomfortable one.