Are you aware of how you conduct yourself in public?

rkitty198, BSN, RN · Apr 6, 2009

Yes, I'm aware of those.
I'm just not sure how that applies to the OP (especially given the exmaple).
cheers,

Roy-

Bosnsgstudent must have recieved the same training as myself.

According to my training I was taught under the hospital I work for to not say hello to a former patient or family member unless they say hello first.

Maybe not necessarily a HIPAA violation.

I certainly would not want a nurse who took care of me, lets just say if I had a severe case of scabies (really severe :chuckle), infected, oozing, crusty lesions- and he/she came up at the local grocery store and was saying "hey how are you doing, you feeling okay, how did that cream work out?"

Okay an example stupid and to the extreme, but hey it could happen!

I only brought up the story to further my thread as an example, not to be examined by it, nor be judged by my own thoughts.

The example was just how a night of fun (and fights) can follow one when in the profession of being around people in the community.

It can follow us....

Oramar is right. Even though nothing we do on our time off should be of any consideration to anyone else, or who we are as nurses, it really does even when we dont think about it...

Anyways moving on,

VivaLasViejas:

You sound just like the type of gal I am! I love dancing in stores!

I can be found at my local Albersons shopping and singing along with the overhead music, pushing my cart along the way...la la la la, with my sister at my side laughing like crazy (my voice is really bad!), never stopped me though...by the way the music there really is great... :yeah: :yeah:

BEDPAN76 · Apr 6, 2009

Well, here's a big confession. As a new nurse, many moons ago, I woke up at 10pm with a hangover from hell. It was too late to call in, so I showered etc. and went on in. I felt like crap nearly all shift. My butt was DRAGGING! It was annoying to have to medicate patients for pain. Hey, I was the one in pain. But by the time I went off duty that morning, I was ashamed of myself. I only gave about 25 percent, and that wasn't fair to my patients. I realized that I wouldn't want a hung-over nurse taking care of me (or my loved ones). SOOOO, I never did it again. Thankfully, it was a real eye-opener for me. :smokin:

tripp3horn · Apr 6, 2009

Roy- yes, asking someone how they or a family member is doing in public is a privacy violation. Practice says to wait until they say hi to you first- otherwise acknowledging that someone was a patient could be giving information to people they are with or people in the surrounding area that the patient did not want others to know (ie. that they were a patient, sick, whatever, in the first place).

I'm a pre-nursing student and even I know that! You cannot approach others about any medically related situation.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Apr 6, 2009

I don't think I have changed how I act in public as I always try to act responsible in public. Yes there was a time I used to go out and get drunk but I was never working the next day. I have had patients bring me flowers and left them on the ward but they also bought flowers for the ward so was able to take them home and enjoy. Chocolate and money was left on the ward. Approached many times in town by previous patients but unless they indicated I wouldn't approach them first but would smile to them.

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Apr 7, 2009

I very rarely have a drink if we're out. I always recall one of my nursing instructors' stories about having to code someone in a restaurant. That fear has stayed with me whenever we go anywhere. Heck, I have a hard time doing compressions for any length of time when I'm sober, let alone if I had a couple.

Plus, it doesn't help that one of our favorite restaurants happens to have a big nursing home in back of it, and a lot of the residents get their dinnertime BP meds and then go to happy hour at the restaurant. It's quite a sight to see--about 40 old folks all trooping in with their portable O2 and rolling walkers....all pie-eyed before the entree gets there. :lol2:

netglow, ASN, RN · Apr 7, 2009

VivaLasViejas:
You sound just like the type of gal I am! I love dancing in stores!
I can be found at my local Albersons shopping and singing along with the overhead music, pushing my cart along the way...la la la la, with my sister at my side laughing like crazy (my voice is really bad!), never stopped me though...by the way the music there really is great...:yeah:

This is why I wear my sunglasses in Target. Somehow I am easily recognized. :uhoh21:

barefootlady, ADN, RN · Apr 7, 2009

A male nurse friend of mine tells a funny story about being sick, going to the store in sweats, hair uncombed, unshaven, walking in the door, catching a whiff of something, running outside and throwing up in the trashcan. Well, a supervisor was coming out of the store and saw him, did not acknowledge him or offer to help, He called into work for his next shift, expecting to be blessed out and told to come in, but was excused with little to no fuss from the supervisor. Seems she told everyone he was sick, even smelled terrible too. Seems he was passing terrible gas while vomiting and everyone could smell and hear him.

So his public actions helped him this one time.

Depending on why the patient was there and what I was doing for them often dictates if I speak to them or not. Most of the time I smile and nod and wait for them to say hello. Men are different, if I have to cath a man, or do a shave prep for a cath, I wait to see how they react to seeing me before I speak. Mainly, it works out well .

emmalou* · Apr 7, 2009

Er I'm a nurse not a nun and it's not 1952. I mean I wouldn't go into work hungover (that's not safe practice IMO) but if I want to have 2 glasses of wine with dinner the night before a shift, or have an argument with my husband in a restaurant because he's annoying me, or buy underwear, or go grocery shopping, or buy junk food or buy sex toys (I kid!) I will and it has bugger all to do with my patients.

I mean one would think you would conduct yourself in a manner fitting to being a fairly mature adult in general, that has nothing to do with my occupation. Mostly I am a fairly mature adult, sometimes not so much. Ce la vie.

Insofar as running into patients (hardly ever happens, I have a terrible memory anyway with things like that) I would wait for them to approach me and be polite but that's it. It makes me feel uncomfortable actually.

Thankfully I live in a fairly big city and don't have to deal with being judged for being human.

:rolleyes:

MySimplePlan · Apr 7, 2009

Well, here's a big confession. As a new nurse, many moons ago, I woke up at 10pm with a hangover from hell. It was too late to call in, so I showered etc. and went on in. I felt like crap nearly all shift. My butt was DRAGGING! It was annoying to have to medicate patients for pain. Hey, I was the one in pain.

I laughed out loud right about here. TOO funny.

MySimplePlan · Apr 7, 2009

I work in a small community hospital, and it seems the entire community is employed there. Between running into work colleagues and former patients and their families, I really am more cognizant of my appearance and behavior when I am in public. I have encountered several patients in Target, etc, and I always, always let them bring up how they know me first. When I am with my own family and it's not immediately clear to them why I have stopped to chat, they understand that I can't go into detail about why this stranger seems to know me.

They're used to it.

I was in the local Target parking lot a few weeks ago with my school-aged kids, and from a distance, I could see a woman approach us - she was walking back to her car, and we were just leaving ours to trek up to the store entrance. We saw each other about the same time, and when we were close enough, she burst into tears and fell into my arms. She is the wife of a patient who had just passed away two weeks earlier, and his death hit me particularly hard. She had caught me crying in his room after they wheeled him out to finish his remaining days on the hospice floor. I had spent the entire weekend taking care of him, and he was a hard one to lose. I had liked her very much, too, and I think she knew it. Anyway, there she was in the parking lot, crying again, because she came out to the store to get out of the house and the loneliness that she said enveloped her there. And who does she run into? Me. My kids just looked on, not saying a word, putting two and two together. I let her speak first, and she explained to my children how we knew each other. She said some very nice things about me, and really, it was a humbling moment to have my kids hear them.

So yes, I think about how I act when I'm out and about. You never know how you may keep impacting those families you've met in another circumstance. I think it matters.

treysdaddy08 · Apr 7, 2009

What the deuce does has HIPAA have to do with anything? Are you divulging private information by saying "Hi"? "Are you violating privacy when your former patient greets you in the supermarket and exclaims to their family member: "This is the nurse I always told you about! You remember, the one who took such good care of me when I had appendicitis?"
How are you violating HIPAA by asking a former patient "Mr. Smith! So good to see you!! Are you feeling better? Are you doing ok?"
Or upon meeting the family member of a terminaly ill patient "Mrs. Smith. How is Mr. Smith doing? I do hope he's feeling better."
HIPAA doesn't mean "you can't talk about patients, period."
HIPAA simply states you can't talk about patients to "unauthorised" people - e.g. Your mailman, the clerk at your bank, the check out lady at WalMart etc.
Unless said "family member" was on the "unauthorized list" - I fail to see how HIPAA would be a factor.
Conduct ourselves as a "nurse" or as a "human being"?
The former has only so much leeway as to what your professional practice acts say is 'acceptable' for your individual State.
The latter has no bearing on you as a nurse at all...
* E was allowed to work, despite E being 'very hungover'?!!! (emphasis mine)
Did no other staff member spot this when E showed up to work?!!! On a person who was "very hungover"???(emphasis mine)
* The pt. had every right to be concerned about E - brawl or otherwise. Morever, pt. reporting his/her concerns to another nurse was valid as well.
* I don't tell people I'm a nurse.
* If I do tell people I'm a nurse, I usually don't tell them what hospital/unit I'm working at. (e.g. I'd say something like "I work for one of the major hospitals in Illinois")
* As to your question regarding "has anyone changed how they are in public" - I haven't.
Nursing is my profession.
It is not my life.
Yes.
Plenty of times.
I've had my bar tab paid in full, unbeknowst to me; thanks to a greatful patient (who I didn't even recognize. Turns out it was a patient I'd taken care of months ago when she was in for a chole).
I've had the daughter of a former patient (who passed away - may he rest in peace) grab my hands and sob hysterically on her knees as we were in the local supermarket, while she thanked me for the care I provided for her Father while he was under my care.
I've had the family (the Husband) of a patient I took care of many months ago, approach me in a bar. And his way of thanks was to tell the bartender and Manager that I had 'no bills here anymore. Period.' I didn't know till that day that my patient's husband owned the bar! No amount of "it's ok. I was just doing my job" helped....
Not too long ago, I was involved with stabilising a pt. with an acute MI before pt. was shipped over to Cath Lab. I didn't think twice about it at that time ... but his wife made sure I did. No matter how much I tried to say that it was just "part of my job and obligation", she responded in kind.
As a result, anyone working my shift gets a discount at their (pts./wifes) restaurant.
They are but some of the few stories I could tell.
Wonder what part of HIPAA I violated in the process....
cheers,

Are you, "Allowed" by HIPPA to talk about a pt at the nurses station? No. Why not? It's a violation of that pts privacy. If you walk up to a pt in the middle of the store and ask, "how they are feeling" then you are divulging that they were in the hospital which is a violation of HIPPA in-and-of itself.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Apr 7, 2009

dh and i met when we were both working in the cticu of a large west coast teaching hospital. we were visiting family on the east coast, and had boarded our plane to fly back home. it was early am, and dh is never at his best in the am, even after a gallon of hot coffee. anyway, he was grumpy and rumpled and certainly not looking (or acting) his best when we clomped down the aisle to our seats in the back of the plane. about halfway back, some woman jumped out of her seat and flung herself into dh's arms, sobbing. as i stand there with my mouth hanging open, she finally explained -- he'd taken care of her father a few months before, and she remembered him with gratitude.

not too long after that, we were standing in the living room of our house on a busy city street, arguing about something or other. some guy comes up to the window (about two feet from the sidewalk) and starts smiling and tapping on the window. we both look at him, dumbfounded. he smiles some more and starts unbuttoning his shirt. dh goes for the baseball bat, just about the time i see the sternotomy scar down his chest. ah, yes. he was a patient! now i remember! he and his wife come to the door and get introduced to dh. we all chat. dh and i remember to close the blinds at dusk and when we argue or walk around half dressed.

dh and i are sitting in church, and a man who looks vaguely familiar sits down next to us and starts quizzing us about atrial fibrillation and what we think he should do if he thinks he has it. given his medical history and all. we both look blank. neither of us remembers him. we all chat. service starts. we slink out before the end of the last hymn. neither of us remembers him to this day, but he does look vaguely familiar. clearly, he remembers one of us. which one?