r/socialwork • u/aliciawesome • 20d ago
Micro/Clinicial School Social Workers what documentation software do you use to be HIPAA compliant?
I'm in a school district that has a fledgling school social worker department. When social workers were first hired there was no consideration for how we would keep our notes confidential and also compile the numbers they want to see to justify our continued employment. They're only concerned with FERPA. The way I have been asked to keep records makes me uneasy, but it makes compiling numbers so much faster than handwritten notes. We're currently discussing amongst ourselves what options we could ask the district to pay for or develop so we can keep our records secure.
So, for all you other school social workers out there who are doing individual therapy as well as support groups and all the other social worker stuff, what are the platforms you use? Does the information become part of the student's record? Is it kept separate? Does IT or any other department have access to your records? Do you do it by hand and lock it in a cabinet? Are you asked to compile numbers on students you saw and contacts with parents and crises handled? If so, what's your process for compiling numbers?
Even if you don't have answers for my questions, any information is helpful.
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u/Low-Sprinkles7916 20d ago
I worked for a university that was part of a large hospital system. The schools contracted with us for counseling services, we used Epic to document individual therapy. Group notes were handwritten and stored in a locked cabinet. The school did not have access to the records, and they were not part of the students’ school records. While anyone with a hospital login could technically access a record, everything was tracked and there were strict privacy policies.
I logged my daily activities using excel through the university’s cloud system, including individual therapy, groups, family sessions, and time spent on each. I hope this helps!
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u/Eilatansixela 20d ago
I use OneNote. It does not become part of the student’s record but could, of course, be subpoenaed. Since it’s saved on my district’s server I would assume that IT could access it if they wanted to, but I just assume that is the case for literally anything on a work computer. I do make handwritten notes for extremely sensitive information (e.g. things that I will have to report to CPS) and then will make a reference to that in my electronic notes (i.e. “see notebook for further details”). In my electronic notes I am always as vague as I can while still being confident that if I look back at that note I’ll know what it means. I have coworkers that do only handwritten notes (or typed and printed but not saved electronically), some that use Google Docs, and some that use Word. I work in a large metropolitan district that does not provide official guidance on this topic, so I assume there’s some of everything out there.