Do you get discipline for not wearing ID badge?

[tavia_yeung]

On our employee's handbooks it said that we are required to wear our ID badge. But what I see is that not everyone at work is wearing their ID, especially the people that work PM only a few of them wearing it and Noc about 1-2 ppl have their ID on so the rest just dont bother to wear it at all. When I was still a new cna I wearing them for a few months and then after that I stop wearing my ID b/c I just don't want everyone to know my last name...but it turn out like the whole facility already know it by now. And also b/c I see many CNAs not wearing them so that's why I stop wearing my ID too.

My question is, do we get in trouble for not wearing our ID while on duty?

And how many of you not wearing your ID and why?

Thx!!

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

Again, CNAs are not LICENSED by anyone. A certification is not a license.

Beyond that, I am not going to continue to argue about this. I wear my nametag, as I said, and my facility agrees that there is no need for our last names to be on there. If you think they should and you want everyone you come in contact with at work to know your full name, knock yourself out, I don't care.

Ok...who cares if it is a license or a certification!!!!!

In my state, if you call yourself a CNA and you have not passed an exam and are registered with the Board of Nursing, you are guilty of a misdemeanor.

PALS, BLS, NRP, ACLS, RNC...all of those are "Certifications", but you will sure get yourself in trouble if you claim to have credentials you do not have in addition to misleading the public.

Being a professional means having a certain level of responsibility to the public...if you show me someone that likes to hide their last name...then I'll show you someone who doesn't feel like they should be held accountable.

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

Anywhere else on this board if a CNA mentions having a "CNA license" because "certification" sounds weird and awkward, they get about 10 people jumping all over them telling them that they are NOT ALLOWED to use that word... EVER, because it it is reserved for nurses only, not the uneducated riff-raff!!!! Now all of a sudden we're professionals, worthy of respect from the community?

As yousoldtheworld said, a first name should be sufficient. CNAs don't practice under their own names and they have NO autonomy. If I get the creeps from someone there is nothing I can do about it. It's not about accountability, it's about safety- if a family member has a problem with me, they don't need my last name to hold me accountable. Like I said, girls I work with have been looked up and followed home before. At a previous job (not healthcare), this guy stalked me for months and no one gave a crap, not even the police, until he started threatening to rape me and slit my throat because I wouldn't go out with him!!! Every now and then I think about this nutjob and what i would do if one of his family members showed up where I work now. I would probably feel the need to quit this job too.

[caliotter3]

You confuse someone who does not want to be held accountable with someone who wants the minimum effort at personal safety. Don't put people who have been assaulted, stalked, raped, or murdered in the the same boat as those who think they can get away with poor job performance.

[jb2u, ASN, RN]

ok...who cares if it is a license or a certification!!!!!

in my state, if you call yourself a cna and you have not passed an exam and are registered with the board of nursing, you are guilty of a misdemeanor.

pals, bls, nrp, acls, rnc...all of those are "certifications", but you will sure get yourself in trouble if you claim to have credentials you do not have in addition to misleading the public.

being a professional means having a certain level of responsibility to the public...if you show me someone that likes to hide their last name...then i'll show you someone who doesn't feel like they should be held accountable.

i still refuse to have my last name on my badge. it is not a requirement nor necessary. it has nothing to do with accountability. i am an assistant nurse manager. i have no problem with accountability!!! i am still accountable even if my badge falls off or is left in my bag. one thing has nothing to do with the other. if i did not like accountability then i would not have went into a profession where i have people's lives in my hands on a daily basis. again, i will not "hide" my last name, should i make a mistake, but i will continue to not give out my last name when it is not needed to do my job. the hospital ensures that i am licensed. the hospital does a background check. it's not like my last name will give them some special professional information about me except that i am an rn. of course, the hospital has already verified that. i am proud to be an rn. i do not want to hide that fact. the thing i don't want just any patient knowing is my address!! it may be hard for you to understand, but i work in an er and see a lot of angry people that are too willing to blame others for the problems that they bring on themselves and then get upset with the hospital staff when they don't get what they want. do i want a patient population like that knowing where i live? will that patient feel like i am accountable for his/her mother passing even though she was "dead on arrival"? will that patient think we didn't give our all because she "doesn't have insurance"? will they have the good sense to know the difference between..."she wasn't alive when she got here, but we did all we can" and "i don't care about people without insurance."? maybe...maybe not. but i do not want to put my family's safety at risk because someone thinks that every patient needs to know my last name and the bon thinks my address needs to be given out on their website.

[maryray]

Sure they can...do you never have new employees starting?

I can see it now, "Yes, my name is Registered Sex Offender Bob, I used to work here several years ago and I just started back this week...glad to be back on the team! Wow, place has really changed!"

That could never happen where I work. We are all assigned a group of residents that we are responsible for, we have to sign in next to our name for where we are assigned, and see who else is in our area and what "groups" they are assigned to. There has to be some sort of order to know who should be there and who shouldn't, and who is responsible for whom.

[MurrR]

Again, CNAs are not LICENSED by anyone. A certification is not a license.

Beyond that, I am not going to continue to argue about this. I wear my nametag, as I said, and my facility agrees that there is no need for our last names to be on there. If you think they should and you want everyone you come in contact with at work to know your full name, knock yourself out, I don't care.

I'm not sure what state you work in, but I have a CNA certification from my school that made me eligible to take a licensing exam.

In Oregon, CNA's have CNA license

It comes with a defined scope of practice and is subject to the disciplinary actions of our state board of nursing. Yes, I am certified by my school but I am licensed by the state do to that job. If I called myself a CNA without that license, I would be guilty of fraud.

Even nurses in Oregon will speak of a CNA's license - particularly if it's been revoked, suspended, or limited in any way! Oregon's BON publishes a list each month of all the disciplinary actions it has taken over the past month and includes the full name, license number, and city of the offender - including CNAs, with their licenses.

[yousoldtheworld]

Many people do use the term "license" but the fact is that it's a certification - not from your school, but from the state. You take that test for a certification, NOT a license. There is a difference. And if you refer to it as a license on other parts of these boards, you WILL get chewed out for it. You are certified to work under the license of a nurse only, and you cannot legally work as a CNA without the direct supervision of one.

There is a reason that the Department of Health websites refer to it as a certificate number, not a license number.

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

I still refuse to have my last name on my badge. It is not a requirement nor necessary. It has nothing to do with accountability. I am an assistant nurse manager. I have no problem with accountability!!! I am still accountable even if my badge falls off or is left in my bag. One thing has nothing to do with the other. If I did not like accountability then I would not have went into a profession where I have people's lives in my hands on a daily basis. Again, I will not "hide" my last name, should I make a mistake, but I will continue to not give out my last name when it is not needed to do my job. The hospital ensures that I am licensed. The hospital does a background check. It's not like my last name will give them some special PROFESSIONAL information about me except that I am an RN. Of course, the hospital has already verified that. I am proud to be an RN. I do not want to hide that fact. The thing I don't want just any patient knowing is my address!! It may be hard for you to understand, but I work in an ER and see a lot of angry people that are too willing to blame others for the problems that they bring on themselves and then get upset with the hospital staff when they don't get what they want. Do I want a patient population like that knowing where I live? Will that patient feel like I am accountable for his/her mother passing even though she was "dead on arrival"? Will that patient think we didn't give our all because she "doesn't have insurance"? Will they have the good sense to know the difference between..."she wasn't alive when she got here, but we did all we can" and "I don't care about people without insurance."? Maybe...maybe not. But I do not want to put my family's safety at risk because someone thinks that every patient needs to know my last name and the BON thinks my address needs to be given out on their website.

Which is exactly why the profession of nursing has not progressed further than it has...we are probably the last group of "professionals" that like to hide their names, why? Because we are a female dominated profession?

Hogwash!

Lawyers, judges, police officers, district attorneys...can you imagine who these people tick off in a week? Still, you have never heard of a campaign to hide their last names? I can hear it now!

The public has a legal right to know, without taking heroic methods to dig or ask for the information, who is treating them. The fact that "my facility makes sure I am licensed"...is not good enough. Housekeeping runs around in scrubs!

If you want to call yourself a professional, then there are things that go with it...which is transparency in addition to accountablility.

I also, worked in another profession where I was required by LAW to sign my legal name to every document that I sent to clients...the industry that I worked in had security and lock downs like you wouldn't believe...with good reason.

For some reason, nurses think they are "different"...but they are not!

[CoffeemateCNA]

Lawyers, judges, police officers, district attorneys...can you imagine who these people tick off in a week? Still, you have never heard of a campaign to hide their last names? I can hear it now!

So true, but how often do you hear about people in these professions being endangered and stalked? From my experience, not very often. People rarely mess with doctors and lawyers, but because nurses and UAP are "lower on the food chain" in the eyes of the public, they think that it is somehow more acceptable and that they can get away with it much more easily.

It may be a vicious cycle. Nurses are still not quite regarded as professionals and respected as such, but because of their (our) lower status, certain attempts to make us "more professional" (i.e. putting full names on badges) make us FAR more vulnerable than people in other, more respected professions. How are we, then, to make our image a more professional one? Making our full names available to anyone and everyone is not the magical solution to this dilemma, though. There are other, more effective ways to boost the profession's public image (if that indeed is the aim).

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

So true, but how often do you hear about people in these professions being endangered and stalked? From my experience, not very often. People rarely mess with doctors and lawyers, but because nurses and UAP are "lower on the food chain" in the eyes of the public, they think that it is somehow more acceptable and that they can get away with it much more easily.

It may be a vicious cycle. Nurses are still not quite regarded as professionals and respected as such, but because of their (our) lower status, certain attempts to make us "more professional" (i.e. putting full names on badges) make us FAR more vulnerable than people in other, more respected professions. How are we, then, to make our image a more professional one? Making our full names available to anyone and everyone is not the magical solution to this dilemma, though. There are other, more effective ways to boost the profession's public image (if that indeed is the aim).

I won't disagree with this at all....which is my ENTIRE point...as often as it happens, they still don't hide behind a name tag with part of it purposely omitted.

If you were houskeeping or a cook or an orderly, etc...then who cares what your name is...but if you are licensed professional by the state in which you work, the public has right to know. I absolutely do not support facilities or nurses that engage in the practice...at all..with the only exceptions being psychiatric facilities or prisons.

We are NOT more vulnerable than other professions...period...police officers arrest people, judges put them in jail, DA's refuses to cut them deals...lawyers, can't get deals cut, physicians, cannot save a life..I could go on and on.

However, you are wrong on the respectability issue...never in my life have I EVER heard anyone bashing nursing...ever..maybe a particular nurse, but not the nursing profession...please pull up nursing with the Gallop poll..you will be surprised at what you see.

[jb2u, ASN, RN]

Which is exactly why the profession of nursing has not progressed further than it has...we are probably the last group of "professionals" that like to hide their names, why? ...

Just so I am clear...you actually believe that the nursing profession hasn't progressed further because we do not want our last names on our badges? It has nothing to do with the fact that the public does not really understand what being a nurse is about? I had an actual conversation with a patient's family member when I was in nursing school and working as a cna. It went like this...."oh you're in nursing school. My friend is a nurse she is so smart. She knew what all these medications were." I said, yes nurses need to know medications. The lady continued..."oh, well she knew what they were for and side effects." Again, I had to restate to her that yes, nurses do have to know all that because we are legally responsible for knowing the meds that we are given. She, said "oh, really?" Again, the public does rate us high in the polls, but they do NOT know what all we do and are responsible for!! The television does a lot more damage to nursing image than not having our last names on our badges. The CDC, that is the center for disease control, did a survey and found that the MAJORITY of people stated that they get medical news from watching tv medical dramas such as "er." The survey also showed that the respondents felt more informed about health care issues by watching these fictitious medical dramas. So, do you think that maybe, just maybe they also get the idea that nurses are not that smart and are just there to do whatever the doctor tells them to do?

Lawyers, judges, police officers, district attorneys...can you imagine who these people tick off in a week? Still, you have never heard of a campaign to hide their last names? I can hear it now!

This is true. Although, the doctors at both the facilities that I work for only have their last name on their badge. Are they hiding their first name? Cops only have their last name on their tag, at least around here. As far as the above mentioned groups, I do believe that people are far far less likely to go after any of these people. Mess with a judge or lawyer and I bet you will end up in jail 100 times faster than messing with a nurse. Mess with a police officer, even off duty, and see what happens. But...stalk a nurse and well....I guess they will have to answer AFTER they inflict bodily harm!!

The public has a legal right to know, without taking heroic methods to dig or ask for the information, who is treating them. The fact that "my facility makes sure I am licensed"...is not good enough. Housekeeping runs around in scrubs!

So, having to ask is too hard? As far as housekeeping going around in scrubs...the place on my badge that states "RN" is what lets you know that I am an RN not my last name. Again, the only information that you will get from my last name is the fact that I am an RN, which is stated on my badge, and my address....which I do not want you to know.

If you want to call yourself a professional, then there are things that go with it...which is transparency in addition to accountablility.

I also, worked in another profession where I was required by LAW to sign my legal name to every document that I sent to clients...the industry that I worked in had security and lock downs like you wouldn't believe...with good reason.

For some reason, nurses think they are "different"...but they are not!

Actually, being a professional has nothing to do with transparency its about having extensive education or specialized training. Yes, I agree about having accountability, but that does not require full disclosure of my name and address unless there is a problem.

I absolutely do not support facilities or nurses that engage in the practice...at all..with the only exceptions being psychiatric facilities or prisons.

We get psych patients and patients from the prison all the time in our er. I guess these patients are only dangerous when in a secured facilty?

You seem to be pretty passionate about this issue. I'm sure I will not change your mind. And so, I will bow out of this debate. I hope you have a long and happy career. I will continue to leave my name off of my badge, treat my patients wonderfully, and be the great nursing professional that I am!!