Nurse as advocate

Specialties Emergency

Published

Specializes in hospice/ER.

I am so upset

One of our docs is working with a 19yo female who is a pre-med student. She has completed 1 year of pre-med studies. I looked it up, it's just a bunch of basic studies. She goes with the doc into all the patient rooms and discusses the cases with him.

Her badge says "med-student" To me, I believe the patients will think that she is almost a Dr. when actually, she is just a kid with one year of college being privvy to all their personal details.

I made my feelings known to the charge nurse, who is going to be bringing it up with the ER manager. Luckily, it was close to the end of my shift because I felt totally outraged that the hospital would condone something like this.

Am I over-reacting?

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[Am I over-reacting?/QUOTE]

Absolutely not! and that doc should know better. :angryfire

She could ruin her chances of getting into any med school by falsely identifying herself to patients as a med student. Even actual med students are limited in information they are privy to until their final years.

I would refuse to let that girl anywhere near my patients or their charts since she is not a healthcare provider, "medical student" or a staff member.

You did the right thing by mentioning this to your supervisor. AND Make sure they take that tag from her befor she goes too! I'm sure she doesn't want to be charged with impersonationg a medical professional!:twocents:

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Education.

You wonder about the hospital condoning it. I've seen several of these situations where the "hospital" was unaware of the situation. Physicians have a friend, family member, or friend of a family member that is maybe thinking about being a neurosurgeon when they grow up..."sure, why don't you hang around with me at the hospital?" You get the picture.

RedcarRN...(please read the PM I sent you ;) )

If the person's badge is the same as yours (except for name/title of course), then the hospital made sure that the appropriate steps were taken for them to be there.

If that person has a generic badge or school badge...then the situation might need to be investigated further.

I like the fact that you were 'heads-up' enough to think about HIPAA, patient safety, & all that jazz! :balloons:

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Specializes in many.

Makes me wonder what kind of relationship the doc has with this person to be so blatantly circumventing so many protocols.

"Things that make you go 'Hmmm':Melody: "

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
I am so upset

One of our docs is working with a 19yo female who is a pre-med student. She has completed 1 year of pre-med studies. I looked it up, it's just a bunch of basic studies. She goes with the doc into all the patient rooms and discusses the cases with him.

Her badge says "med-student" To me, I believe the patients will think that she is almost a Dr. when actually, she is just a kid with one year of college being privvy to all their personal details.

I made my feelings known to the charge nurse, who is going to be bringing it up with the ER manager. Luckily, it was close to the end of my shift because I felt totally outraged that the hospital would condone something like this.

Am I over-reacting?

I agree her ID badge may be misleading, but I'm not sure I understand the problem otherwise. I see her role as kind of "shadowing" the doc, as do many, many future physicians and nurses, but maybe I'm misunderstanding. The doc has to introduce her somehow to patients -- if a patient objected surely she'd be asked to step out. I did some shadowing on my own in my student days, and to tell you the truth I didn't wear any ID badge because I had no role within the facility, other than the permission of the appropriate department staff to be there shadowing.

I wonder if it's simply a matter of lack of creative choices from HR or whoever supplies the ID badges? It seems it was arranged for her to be there for some length of time, and someone from HR puzzled over what to put on her ID badge and maybe made a questionable choice.

It says "student" -- I doubt patients are looking to her for medical advice.

Maybe I'm not understanding the whole picture here?

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Education.

My point is regarding if the hospital (HR) even knows she is there. In the old days (no offense, I was there too!) it was no big deal to have someone come in and shadow Dr X for a shift. Now with HIPAA/confidentiality laws those 'shadows' have to go through a process before they can come in. No longer can they just arrange it with the doctor or the charge nurse and show up. Some places have determined that they will not allow "shadowing" unless the person is officially affiliated with a school and enrolled in a prgoram that offers/requires such experiences.

Did I make sense?

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
My point is regarding if the hospital (HR) even knows she is there. In the old days (no offense, I was there too!) it was no big deal to have someone come in and shadow Dr X for a shift. Now with HIPAA/confidentiality laws those 'shadows' have to go through a process before they can come in. No longer can they just arrange it with the doctor or the charge nurse and show up. Some places have determined that they will not allow "shadowing" unless the person is officially affiliated with a school and enrolled in a prgoram that offers/requires such experiences.

Did I make sense?

Of course you made sense, sjt ... but BTW my shadowing experiences were within the last 18 months as I'm a new nurse - just coming up on my first year as an RN. :)

I guess since the student has a hospital ID badge I'm assuming that someone, somewhere within the dept. management and/or HR is well aware of whatever the arrangement is.

To the OP: is the issue that the student's badge says "med student" when she is apparently in fact an undergrad student, or that she's there at all shadowing the doc? Just curious. I'm also guessing that this isn't a teaching hospital.

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My 16-yr-old daughter wants to be a nurse and has shadowed me as often as we can arrange it. I had to go to my manager and then take her to HR, where she signed a HIPAA agreement that she has to renew every year. She has to wear scrubs and a visitor badge, and I ask every pt if she is allowed to listen and watch. I haven't had anyone refuse her presence, but she is aware that it may happen. If my daughter has to jump through hoops, then a pre-med student should also.

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The wording on the badge concerns me, but more because the phrase 'med-student' is grossly mangled. There shouldn't be a hyphen and the word 'medical' is usually spelled out. Do you have real medical students at your facility? I wonder if their badges look just as goofy.

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I don't understand why you are so threatened by this. Med student or pre med student most patients wouldn't even notice the difference. Unless she was writing orders or making rounds alone for the physician I wouldn't get caught up in it , she will probably be gone shortly anyway. There are far more important things to get stressed out over.

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Specializes in CT ,ICU,CCU,Tele,ED,Hospice.

i actually agree with burnout .as long as she is identified to pt shadowing md and pt doesn't object i don't see the problem.

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HIPAA, plain and simple. If she has not signed a HIPAA agreement she has no business being anywhere near pts.

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