Is this Safe? Census: 45 / ID Bands: 0 / # of Nurses: 1

Specialties Geriatric

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You are reading page 2 of Is this Safe? Census: 45 / ID Bands: 0 / # of Nurses: 1

TDCHIM

686 Posts

Specializes in Health Information Management.
I have heard that "this is their home, do you wear name bands in your home" reasoning for the no name band policy. It struck me that it was made up by a bunch of desk jockeys that have no idea that they are putting patients in danger. It is one of the reasons I also worked for a week in LTC and then fled.

I'm one future "desk jockey" who thinks it's poor logic. While a LTC facility is home for its residents, the fact remains that it is a different type of home for people with different types of needs from the average homeowner. In a communal home setting where residents frequently need a wide variety of medications, it just seems as though it's asking for dangerous mistakes not to have a more reliable system than a possibly outdated photo book. Now, I have no experience working in one, so I'll defer to those who do; however, I do think this would set off alarms in the heads of those desk-bound folks responsible for risk management in such facilities!

BTW, oramar, I love your sig file! I think I have that whole movie memorized. :D

nursesaurus

68 Posts

Specializes in Hospice/Mental Health/LTC/Home Health.

It's actually really common in nursing homes to not have ID bands because they don't want an "institutionalized feeling" just as I just got a PRN job a an assissted living facility and we aren't aloud to wear scrubs, just business casual. Which I think is an OK idea but I like scrubs and not having the possibility of getting poo or pee on my normal clothes.

oramar

5,758 Posts

BTW, oramar, I love your sig file! I think I have that whole movie memorized. :D
When my son was a teen he also had the movie completely memorized. I had to listen to his reinactments all the time. I have said it before, if I am feeling down I just have to watch it again and before to long I am laughing. PS Many years ago we had a vote on the funniest movie ever on these boards and it was a solid number one.

TDCHIM

686 Posts

Specializes in Health Information Management.
When my son was a teen he also had the movie completely memorized. I had to listen to his reinactments all the time. I have said it before, if I am feeling down I just have to watch it again and before to long I am laughing. PS Many years ago we had a vote on the funniest movie ever on these boards and it was a solid number one.

Okay, now I KNOW I'm in the right kind of place. :D:D

wooh, BSN, RN

1 Article; 4,383 Posts

So keep the photos updated.

Anne36, LPN

1,361 Posts

We have pictures in the MAR as well and they dont always look like the person in reality. I remember thinking to myself last week a pic in the MAR looked nothing like one of my clients. I would not have been able to ID him from it. I walked right past a resident the other day and went to her room to give her meds. The Nurse orienting me told me she was right there in front of me. I am going from one client to the next in minutes. It gets very hard to keep track when skipping back and forth thru the MAR . I dont like this style, but every nurse I oreint with does it because they know everyone. For me to remember the clients it would be easier to go in order and move down the hall until I can place a client with a bed number. I guess its just the way my brain can remember things.

psu_213, BSN, RN

3,878 Posts

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
Long term care, it's the patients' home. Not a hospital. Do you wear an ID band at home? You really do get to know who everybody is pretty quickly.

Thank you, I totally agree. This was the rationale the facility at which I worked did not band every resident.

chrisrn24

905 Posts

You will get to know everyone...until you do rely on the photo, or ask an aid, "Is that Mr. Smith/John Smith?" If that aide is new and doesn't know, say, "Oh, that's okay, I'll ask Rachel the other aide over here."

But it is funny...I work overnights, and when I see some people dressed in the morning I have to squint and think for a minute, "who is that?" But I know what everyone looks like at night.

morte, LPN, LVN

7,015 Posts

Hmm the place i am presently working, requires name bands, you have to check off on the once a week shower/skin check, that they have one on.

allnurses Guide

NurseCard, ADN

2,847 Posts

Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

They don't have ID bands where I work either, and it is indeed

irritating when I have to go work the alzheimer's unit.

No, it is not safe. Never mind two identifiers. Patients look much different from night to day, so unless they have day and evening pics, I don't like them. On that same thread, people's mental status changes from night to day. So at 8am you may trust that Mrs. Smith knows who she is, come 7p at night, Mrs. Falls may think she is her roommate, Mrs. Wild. Patients need name bands. I once cared for a patient that would tell people she didn't know that her name was MaryAnne Trebonoski. In fact, it was not. Nor nothing like that.

paullissa

4 Posts

We don't even have pictures with our emar computer system yet. Good thing I know most of the residents but if you're new there it would be very difficult. I don't think putting ID bracelets at a LTCF is necessary but pictures would be helpful.

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