Students ‘need access’ to patients’ files

Access to patients’ files is necessary for medical students to follow the progression of a disease and its treatment, according to Godfrey Laferla, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Malta.

However, this does not mean they had to seek permission to access the files from each and every individual patient, the university pointed out.

The issue surfaced this week when MaltaToday reported a leaked internal report by the Office of the Prime Minister’s data protection unit, which had argued that students should not be given automatic and unrestricted access to patients’ information.

When contacted yesterday, the Health Ministry, University and Malta Medical Students’ Association pointed out the report was two years old and that since then the issues had been addressed and corrective action taken.

Patients’ files are kept on the wards, where only health professionals and students – not just medical – have access to them, the dean pointed out.

Before accessing IT services and systems at Mater Dei Hospital, students have to sign an application form in which they agree to abide by all government and hospital regulations related to this data, Prof. Laferla continued.

This was echoed by the students’ association, which pointed out that, beyond several lectures on medical ethics given throughout the course, the Medical Council issued its own guidelines.

“They oblige students to respect the patient’s dignity, confidentiality and refusal to participate in student training, even if public hospitals are teaching hospitals,” the MMSA said.

The newspaper report was heavily criticised in a statement by the Health Ministry yesterday.

It said “the selected findings recorded” do not give a true picture of the real situation in Mater Dei Hospital in 2009, when the audit was carried out, let alone today, after further measures have been introduced.

“The single observations illustrated in the report are not representative of the great majority of medical students,” the ministry said.

Moreover, since the management received the report, action has been taken “to make doubly sure” all ethical responsibilities were effectively communicated to medical students.

“Mater Dei Hospital management does not tolerate any shortcomings by students, and if any specific case is brought to the attention of hospital management, then all necessary disciplinary or corrective measures will be taken,” the ministry said.

When speaking about the report to The Times, Martin Balzan, president of the Medical Association of Malta, said he was in favour of students having access to data, as long as they are bound by the same professional obligations as doctors.

“We disagree with a fundamentalist approach to data protection. There needs to be an overriding view of what is good for society in general,” he said. He pointed out that this requires that doctors are well-trained.

Doctors normally encourage patients to cooperate with students and be altruistic, he said. In his time as a lecturer, he had never had any problems with students or bad reports from patients.

“Sometimes patients with rare findings complain that too many students see them, and I tell them to let them know if they are tired,” he said.