Information sharing: transparency, nursing ethics, and practice implications with electronic medical records.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has spurred national and international debate over possible ethical implications for a mandated electronic database for medical records. What role(s) will the discipline of nursing assume and what policy statements will the discipline of nursing articulate with regard to the need for enhancing privacy and confidentiality with access to medical and nursing documentation found in the electronic database? In this column the author provides an ethical discussion on information sharing and human freedom, and the need for transparency as specified in the humanbecoming leadership model.