nurse rights

Nurses Relations

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I have a question. I am a home care nurse. our name tags have our first names only for our safety. Does an employer or coworkers have to right to give a patient my full name? Main issue is we just switched computer programs and now all in network doctor offices and hospitals print visit plans and they list our full name as pts casemanager. I have concerns for my safety, as pts can now google me and obtain my home address and phone number. I practive in Illinois.

thank you everyone for your imput. I guess when enough of us our stabbed, raped or otherwise hurt by our former or current pts the law will catch up. most of my pts are harmless, but we all know there are a lot of weirdos also. we had a situation with one of our nurses a few years ago with stalking. my first name is very unusual so im always at risk, but now that everyone can clearly see my full name in print, it bothers me. i dont want a disgruntled pt or family member showing up at my home and harming my son or myself. i still feel our last names should be private, unless requested by an attorney for a court case. as our employers should be able to confirm our legal status as a nurse. my address and number are now unlisted, but we all know that thanks to the internet...it will never really be unavailable.

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If they are curious they can figure it out themselves. I have rights too. Just because I'm a nurse does not mean I get my rights to privacy taken away from me. I didn't sign up for that. Plus a lot of creepers out there that look for you outside of the hospital. No thank you!! Our nurse patient "relationship " ends the second you walk out the door and the discharge papers are signed. I do not want visits,calls,letters...nothing!

True. But we DO need to make our full names available to the public. I guess the real question is, does this translate to us having to display our full names on our ID badge? Is having our names available in some sort of hospital registry enough to fulfill this obligation?

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Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.

I know we work with weirdos sometimes, but I feel like having the last name visible lends more professionalism to us. I don't like it either, but we do have licenses, and I mean, hairstylists are required to display their license in front of their station, and in my home state, their home addresses are on the license!

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Specializes in ICU/CCU/CVICU.

I work in the ICU and I do not put my last name on my badge or give it out to pts. One of my coworkers who had her last name on her badge received calls and was harassed at home by a family member of a patient. This family member was also a physician at a different facility!! You just never know... I don't care if it seems more professional to have your last name displayed on your badge. Safety is always my top priority when it comes to both patients and myself.

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Specializes in Intermediate care.

Bottom line is some of us do not feel comfortable with showing our full names and we shouldn't be forced to. It should be up to the employee and what they are comfortable with. If you are ok with it, kudos to you. But nothing wrong with choosing not to.

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Here in Florida, anyone can look up a nurses' name and address on the FL Board of Nursing's website. They also able to see the status of your license and file a complaint online. The information in our license such as name and address are considered part of the public record. Some states, it seems, let the Freedom of Information Act overrule any rights that we have to privacy. I totally do NOT agree... just saying how it is.

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Specializes in Intermediate care.

Whoa whoa whoa...address? Yea remind me never to.move to Florida...no offense. Here the only thing u can see is our name and license number. I think sharing our address crosses the line by far. Perhaps they want our social security number and credit card information...because we are nurses and have no right to keeping these things private. Even the general.population has the right to refuse to have their name in the phone book.

My fiance and I are very close with our neighbors. He is a cop and he was telling me how police officers are always unlisted everywhere and so is their family. This is because people have negative feelings towards the cop that got them.for a DUI or drug bust. It is for their safety.

And I'm sorry but often times patients either hate us and will look.for us or 2 are obsessed with us thinking we.are their "family" we get weirdos that come back looking for specific nurses. One wrote a love letter and had it delivered to work because he couldn't find her address. I'm not endangering me or my family.

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As a nurse in PA, I've always found this thinking espeically flawed. As a floor nurse, I deal with the ER patients once they came to the floor and the Psych patients before they're stabilized for Psych. While it's true that ER and Psych encounter more overall volume, it doesn't change the fact that some of the patients overlap. It just isn't logically consistent to me.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Hence, why only staff in the ER and psych are the only ones without their last name on their badges.

And I have to provide my full name if a patient asks for it, as even psych patients have the legal right to know who is caring for them.

Most don't ask what my last name is. Occasionally one does, and I give it. Though it seems like a moot point at times--my full name is all over the admission/discharge/whatever paperwork that I sign and which they get copies of.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

I'm posting this story from 2010 not to depress, but to point out the risk is real, and should anyone blow the risk off as just theoretical, or if anyone has need to gather info to lobby for increased safety measures of all kinds in the work environment.

Home Care Nurse Shot and Killed on the Job in Detroit

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.
As nurses we have to be proactive about our own safety, especially in home care. That means being hyper-vigilant and not ignoring any potential threat from the client, family or other people you encounter in the home.

I work in a large ED where we regularly get psych holds (like at least once per week I have at least one psych pt and at least once per month I have a whole pod full of them) and prisoners, as well as gang bangers as well as all the other folks.

I really try to be nonconfrontational and helpful but sometimes...

I had a patient demand to know my last name and even try to grab my name badge off my shirt... ended up backing me down the hallway, jamming their finger at me, accusing me of being a child molester before the cops showed up...

Another one, a parolee on meth, also on a hold, started acting very weird and when I said, "Is there anything I can do for you?" responded, "No, you've done enough... yeah, you've really done it... done it now..."

Or the guy who got hauled away after I called his PO... at his request, of course... yelling and screaming...

Or the guy who said, "You and me are starting to have a real problem... you better call security..."

Or...

No f-ing way I want my last name any more available than it already is... I've obscured it off my badge, in complete violation of company policy.

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

Just because I need to be licensed doesn't mean that patients need to be able to see my license. They are free to seek care elsewhere.

Speaking from my heart, of course... for 25 cents per page, the pt can get a copy of their visit summary and see my full name.

Kinda tempted to change it to Smith or Jones.

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