Is Your Last Name On Your Badge?

RedSox33RN · Dec 11, 2005

I was given the option on my Med/Surg unit, and I chose only to have my first name. I'm very professional, but no one needs to know my last name. I make lots of small, friendly talk while caring for my patients, and would certainly tell them if asked (well, the majority of them), but I've had several patients that I would not want knowing it, for safety reasons.

As a student, however, depending on the hospital we are in for clinical, we have to follow their rules regarding last names. During our psych rotation, however, I know that the name badges are first name only.

hipab4hands · Dec 11, 2005

Nope. It has our first name and an ID number only.

We've had problems with bomb threats and patients /family members waiting for the nurses as they exit the building.

yankeesrule · Dec 11, 2005

My last name is on my ID. BUt we dont wear our ID as a badge, its available upon request. This is typical for going to other OMRDD sites.

kadokin, ASN, RN · Dec 11, 2005

Ours is. We have requested that our badges only show our first names, but the Powers That Be feel like our patients should know our full name.
I'm a psych nurse and we get (usually empty) threats from patients now and then. Occasionally we do get assaulted on the unit. I think the last names on the badge is a major safety issue. You?

No it's not. First name, title, dep't. I work on a psych unit, but this holds true for most of the dep't.s that are in direct pt. care. I feel this is as it should be. Your "powers that be" need some schooling. This is an employee safety issue! If someone knows your first and last name, in my state at least, that is all they need to get on the Dep't of Professional Regulation website to find your address. Come to think of it, that is all you need in ANY state to get on google and find their address. Maybe you should get together w/your co-workers and file a formal complaint. In the meantime, I think you all should go ahead and put some non-transparent, non-translucent tape on your badges to cover your last name. That is what the local nursing schools require their students do when rotating through psych. I would think this would be a right-to-privacy issue that would be protected in this day and age. All that being said, however, I did have a psych pt discover my address and throw it in my face. I think she might have got a good look at my signature on the 15 minute check sheets and called DOPR. No matter what, it seems, we are never completely secure. Oh well, such is life.

kadokin, ASN, RN · Dec 11, 2005

Nope. It has our first name and an ID number only.
We've had problems with bomb threats and patients /family members waiting for the nurses as they exit the building.

Why does it have your ID #? That seems like a security issue as well. At least where I work, it is part of our computer access code and on our paychecks (?ble access to ss#)

kadokin, ASN, RN · Dec 11, 2005

I've been a psych nurse for >20 years (as staff nurse and as CNS), and I have always used my first and last name on my badges, unless it was the employer's policy not to put last names on badges and I wasn't allowed to. Even when my last name was not actually on the badge, I have always introduced myself to clients by first and last name, and have never been secretive about my last name (although, for clinical/therapeutic reasons, I rarely disclose other personal info). When I was a student, our school of nursing badges identified us as "Miss Jones," "Mrs. Smith," or "Mr. Smith" (I actually caused a stir by being the first student in the history of the school to use "Ms." on my badge :) ).
I haven't had a bad experience yet as a result of people knowing my last name.
I agree with Jim Huffman on this -- nurses are the only group who have any aspirations of being taken seriously as professionals who would even be having a conversation about whether or not to use their last names at work. The whole "Susie," "Jane," "Bob" thing is one part of why we do not get taken as seriously as so many nurses think we should. (As I always say,) children and pets do not have last names (i.e., do not get referred to by their last names) -- reasonable, responsible adults have last names.

Then again, a judge, attorney, or physician can afford home security that a nurse might not be able to secure for $ reasons. And as for policemen, they typically have first initial and last name AND THEIR JOB REQUIRES THEM TO CARRY A GUN. Think about it.

kadokin, ASN, RN · Dec 11, 2005

When your first name is "Turd" you don't want it on your badge. Patients don't want to see it either. The last name is best for me.

Is your first name really Turd? Is that Swedish or something? Bet youcaught a lot of grief in jr high and grade school.:)

kadokin, ASN, RN · Dec 11, 2005

Being "professional" is about more than being competent and pleasant to your clients.
"Professional" is a description of certain learned fields: medicine, law, and nursing among them. And being a professional is about more than us as individual nurses: it's about how we as a group interact with the public. And part of the way any professional group acts is with open, honest, public interaction. And that includes having the guts to put your name on your practice.
As an earlier post put it, in our society only children and pets don't have last names. If -- except under very rare circumstances -- we don't have a last name by which our clients know us, we are not professionals. Period.
I know a judge in my area. I know where he lives. I see him out jogging. Do you suspect that criminals he has sentenced to prison (and perhaps their families) don't despise him? Absolutely. But there's not a chance in hades that he would ever been known in court as "Judge Ernie H." The very idea is silly.
Heck, folks, even the judge who is presiding over Saddam Hussein's trial is all out there with his name and picture. And we're afraid of a patient's nephew/niece calling and asking for a date? Please.
Likewise there are lawyers who make enemies every day by what they do as professionals. But, hey, they have their names in public, even in the yellow pages.
And that professional group closest to us, physicians: how many docs do you know who go by "Dr. Nancy," to the exclusion of their last name?
The way to deal with annoying people is to firmly, resolutely say NO. No, I'm not interested. No, don't call me again. If they do, call the police. This is really not all that complicated. If someone is threatened by ANYONE what that nurse needs is not "a security escort" but a restraining order. Do NOT allow ANYONE to threaten you without making the consequences very unpleasant for that individual. I am serious. If you are threatened in ANY way, call the police, right away. If you need to file charges, file them. Don't call security; call the police. If you need to bring the police on to the unit where you are working, do so. If your supervisors grumbles about your doing that, too bad. Predators feed on fear, and we need to show them that we are not afraid.
And if we're really all that frightened, another thought: get a gun, learn how to use it, get a concealed-carry permit (if available in your area) and carry the gun in your purse or pocket. As our friends in Texas sometimes say, "Better judged by 12 than carried by 6."
Fear can ruin our lives. Don't let it.
Jim Huffman, RN

Thank you for a very thought-provoking and empowering post. I just have to say a few things, most nurses aren't listed in the yellow pages and I am guessing we come into contact w/more people than judges do. And, in that same vein, more people who are not as easy to track down themselves. Just because they have made a threat, does not mean they are easily accessible(sp?) by law enforcement if we do want to press charges. Heck, people check into a hospital under any name that suits them(especially if they don't have insurance). I am guessing that a judge, lawyer, or law enforcement officer would have v. detailed information on someone who has threatened them and would be able to actually ENFORCE any restraining order that was needed. Not always the case w/nurses.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Dec 11, 2005

Why does it have your ID #? That seems like a security issue as well. At least where I work, it is part of our computer access code and on our paychecks (?ble access to ss#)

We have a separate ID number for the front of our badge, and then another that's the employee number. The ID number for the badge is for, lack of better words, complaint purposes.

ptadvocate81 · Dec 11, 2005

No, as of about 3 months ago all of our badges were replaced to read only our first names and I personally like it that way. There is no reason that any patient or family member know my full name. If there is a problem, the charting will show who I am and can be handled that way. Otherwise, my name is my business.

ptadvocate81 · Dec 11, 2005

Jim,

I have to disagree. I understand what it is that you are saying, but we are the primary care providers for our patients. Using our full names is impersonal. I have never asked a patient to call me Jane Doe or Mrs. Doe and never would. I have a personal relationship with my patients and they can call me Jane. If they wish to know my last name, that is okay, but I am not going in as an authority figure head.