Hi

It really depends on what clinic you went to and what area you are in. No one is suppose to access your medical information without your permission, but if someone is involved in your care and has access to certain clinic tools they may be able to see certain information. I can give you some examples.

Generally, if you go to a youth clinic for STI testing and don’t send a copy to your family doctor they will not be able to look at these test results. With birth control, it really depends on how it is given to you. If you are given a prescription and have to go to a pharmacy to get it. This information will be on PharmaNet and as you are a client of your family doctor they can call a pharmacy and see what medication you have been prescribed. If you get or purchase your birth control medication directly from a clinic, like an options for sexual health clinic this will not appear on PharmaNet.

Your family doctor would not be able to access any clinical notes that are written during your visit to a youth clinic, but if you visit another youth clinic that uses the same clinic management computer system, which is typically used within the same health authority, there is a good chance they will see your past visits.

It really depends on what area you are in as some youth clinics will not even use a computer system but write notes in paper charts, it really depends.

You ask some really good questions about privacy and confidentiality. The best thing would be to ask the youth clinic you go to about what procedures are in place to protect these. It’s common for me to get these questions at the clinics I work at and we can let you know the best way to access health care in a way that protects the privacy you want.

Please leave a comment to let us know if this answers your question or if you need more information.

Health Nurse

For other readers, please feel free to leave a comment, or let us know if this was helpful.