How do you protect your identity?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Just curious what methods you all use in order to protect yourself while at work?

I'll start:

I try to keep my last name secret to my patients and block out my last name on my badge as well.

I don't disagree with you, but what about your title? When you turn your nametag around, how do your patients know whether you are an RN, LPN, CNA, phlebotomist, or whatever? In my experience, that's what most people are looking for when they look at a nametag.

Because I tell them that I am a registered nurse the moment I meet them.

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Yes to all three (the first is announced, the second is displayed, and in the last case, it's Busch Gardens; the college kids who check your seat belts aren't operators). And every cop and all my kids' teachers and on and on. Your point?

You know my point. My point is that your point from post #22 is invalid. There are plenty of people who have your life their hands who will not tell you their name. Auto mechanics, auto factory workers, aircraft mechanics, airline co-pilots, air traffic controllers, hospital lab techs, blood bank workers, pathologists, radiologists, construction workers, architects, building inspectors, elevator builders, etc.

Let me ask you 3 questions.

1. Are you willing to tell this message board your entire name and your hospital?

2. Why is your screen name "anony"murse?

3. If a patient sees your last name and stalks you, will you want to keep your last name private after that?

By the way, women are much more likely to be stalked than men. As you know, most nurses are women. As a male nurse, I am totally comfortable displaying my last name because I am not afraid of being stalked. However, I totally respect a female nurse's desire to be anonymous.

Patient safety is important, but so is nurse safety. Wouldn't you agree?

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If a person is a target of a potential stalker, would a visible nametag or a hidden one really make a difference for a determined stalker?

I'm not really sure what is meant by "protecting your identity".

Would someone come to work to impersonate me, a nurse?

Would simply knowing my name make me more of a target for a stalker?

My badge does not list my SS#, my bank, by birthdate or any information that is not public record. My name is very commonplace too.

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If a person is a target of a potential stalker, would a visible nametag or a hidden one really make a difference for a determined stalker?

Are you willing to tell us your full name and where you work?

Locking my front door won't stop a determined burglar. Does that mean we should leave our doors unlocked?

Personal information should be disclosed only on a need-to-know basis. Patients and their visitors don't need to know your last name unless a lawsuit is pending, in which case the lawyers will learn your name from the patient chart.

Hospitals that require staff to display their last name are begging for a lawsuit from staff.

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At the time that I was being harassed by a stalker, I was hospitalized in an emergency situation and had to undergo surgery. I was very concerned for my safety and made it very well known to the hospital staff that I was to receive no visitors and wanted my whereabouts kept confidential from everyone but my daughter. I told my daughter when to call to check on me and told the staff to be expecting a call from my daughter and to please put the call through or to inform my daughter about my condition. My daughter told me afterward that when she called, no one would help her or even take a message. Several hours after my surgery, in the middle of the night, while I was in pain, and still out of it due to my condition, someone came into my room who did not identify themselves nor give a valid reason for being there. They started giving me the third degree. When I brought this matter up to the hospital staff they could not identify the person as a hospital employee on hospital business, nor could they explain why someone came into my room who was unauthorized to be there. I was hooked up to an IV and too weak to defend my person. That stranger could have killed me or done something to my IV and nobody would have been the wiser. And remember, I gave ample warning to hospital personnel about this.

Two years later I happen to go into the hospital where the two little babies of a celebrity were accidentally overdosed and I encounter guards at the NICU. Such a wide difference in treatment.

Nobody took me, my safety, or my concerns seriously. I had no one to come to the hospital to watch over me. The person who came into my room did so without so much as being noticed by the nursing staff. They were too busy discussing their personal lives at the nursing station. So, you see, if someone wants to get to you, they can. As easy as that person did that night. I will never forget it.

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Would simply knowing my name make me more of a target for a stalker?.

Absolutely.

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So, you see, if someone wants to get to you, they can. As easy as that person did that night. I will never forget it.

That doesn't mean you should drop your guard and stop taking precautions such as hiding your last name.

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You know my point. My point is that your point from post #22 is invalid. There are plenty of people who have your life their hands who will not tell you their name. Auto mechanics, auto factory workers, aircraft mechanics, airline co-pilots, air traffic controllers, hospital lab techs, blood bank workers, pathologists, radiologists, construction workers, architects, building inspectors, elevator builders, etc.

Let me ask you 3 questions.

1. Are you willing to tell this message board your entire name and your hospital?

2. Why is your screen name "anony"murse?

3. If a patient sees your last name and stalks you, will you want to keep your last name private after that?

By the way, women are much more likely to be stalked than men. As you know, most nurses are women. As a male nurse, I am totally comfortable displaying my last name because I am not afraid of being stalked. However, I totally respect a female nurse's desire to be anonymous.

Patient safety is important, but so is nurse safety. Wouldn't you agree?

I understand what you're saying about nurse safety, especially concerning women. However, should nursing be the only occupation that allows women to not reveal their full names? What about female doctors, who may have the same stalking issues as female nurses? Or female teachers (you never know about that angry parent!) and lawyers (you never know about that angry client!)? I totally understand safety issues, but if female nurses (and men can be stalked, too) don't have to reveal their full names, than shouldn't all occupations allow women to do the same?

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Another thought concerning my experience. How did that person even know I was in the hospital, much less what room I was in? Wasn't it a HIPAA violation as well as a general violation of my privacy to give out that information to someone who had no need to know, after I expressly forbid my whereabouts to be made public?

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I understand what you're saying about nurse safety, especially concerning women. However, should nursing be the only occupation that allows women to not reveal their full names? What about female doctors, who may have the same stalking issues as female nurses? Or female teachers (you never know about that angry parent!) and lawyers (you never know about that angry client!)? I totally understand safety issues, but if female nurses (and men can be stalked, too) don't have to reveal their full names, than shouldn't all occupations allow women to do the same?

Yes, ALL employees should have the option of hiding their last name, including physicians. Of course, if someone WANTS to display their last name, that's up to them. I would think that most physicians want to display their last name.

Patients usually get to choose their physician, so knowing their last name fulfills the need-to-know condition. Patients do not choose their nursing staff, so they do not need to know nurses' last names.

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Another thought concerning my experience. How did that person even know I was in the hospital, much less what room I was in? Wasn't it a HIPAA violation as well as a general violation of my privacy to give out that information to someone who had no need to know, after I expressly forbid my whereabouts to be made public?

It sure was. He probably called as many people as possible until he found someone dumb enough to give out your information. Or maybe he followed you to the hospital. Or saw your car in the parking lot. Or maybe he was a hospital employee.

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I was hooked up to an IV and too weak to defend my person. That stranger could have killed me or done something to my IV and nobody would have been the wiser. And remember, I gave ample warning to hospital personnel about this.

If this ever happens again, don't trust the hospital to protect you. I would buy one of those panic buttons that made an ear-shattering noise when you press it. See example....

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000MK60YS?smid=A2PTR6MMOG537M&tag=yahoo-office-20&linkCode=asn

If you were to use it, not only would it scare the stalker, it would also scare the hospital into protecting you.

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