Nurses' perception on information privacy in Japan.

This study explores how nurses perceive patients' privacy and with whom they share the patients' information. A descriptive study was conducted on 710 nurses from three hospitals. The results show 1) nurses think of patients' privacy more importantly than their own privacy, 2) nurses hesitated somewhat to share information on "family structure" and "elimination habit" with other nurses, 3) nurses shared more limited information with the staff on the hospital food service unit than with other health professionals. Compared to the previous study conducted three years ago, this study showed nurses have become more sensitive to patient privacy in Japan.