Describe a situation where you encountered a potential breach of patient or confidential data. What steps did you take?

Situation

At my previous job supporting a medical billing account, I walked past a coworker's station during lunch and noticed their screen displayed a full patient record with prescription details, but they were away from their desk and the screen wasn't locked.

Task

I had to secure the visible protected health information immediately and ensure my colleague understood the severity without causing embarrassment, while adhering to our data privacy policies.

Action

I stood by the station to block the view from passersby, then used a sticky note to cover the patient's name on the screen. I located my colleague in the break room and quietly informed them of the situation, saying, 'Your screen is showing patient data, let's secure it together.' Back at the desk, I reminded them of the clean desk policy and the potential HIPAA violation. I then logged the incident in our internal compliance tool as a near-miss, without assigning blame, to contribute to team awareness.

Result

The colleague immediately locked their PC and thanked me for handling it discreetly. Our team lead later used it as an anonymous example in a refresher training, and there were no repeat observations for that individual.