QUINCY, Ill. – Nursing students at Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing were issued student identification numbers in response to an incident that occurred in September in which a list of students’ names, as well as their Social Security numbers, were exposed in a patient’s room at Blessing Hospital.
A letter was sent out to more than 230 students relaying the particulars of the incident. In attempts to help students gain access into the clinical database, a Blessing Hospital employee printed out the list of students, along with their Social Security numbers. While Blessing-Rieman president, Pam Brown, maintains that the employee planned to destroy the list after completing her assignment, she unintentionally left the list in a patient’s room when she was called to assist another patient.
Officials say the list was left in the room between the hours of 4:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., where at that time, a housekeeper found it and immediately informed authorities. The patient in the room had already been discharged.
Because the patient had been discharged shortly after the list was left in the room, hospital officials do not consider the situation to be high risk. However, they immediately notified students through E-mail and later sent the letter to explain the events.
Only the financial aid department will be able to access Social Security numbers for the college.
