Cameras

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Hello all! How do you feel about families using cameras and echo drop in to spy?  Is it even legal to do this without your knowledge or consent? This is in a private home health setting.

KathyDay said:

Put yourself in the family's shoes.  Perhaps they can't be there all the time, and the camera is also to keep watch on their loved on when you aren't there. You are showing some level of paranoia if you think the cameras are just to watch what YOU do.    I wish I'd had a camera in my mothers place at assisted living.  After a fall, I was promised she would be checked every hour until the next morning, when she was to see their NP.  When I arrived the next morning, she had never been checked.  She was in her day clothes, in her recliner, and things were knocked over beside her...spilled water on the floor, and other items had fallen off that table.  She had no covers on her and she hadn't even been brought breakfast. Also, she was in a very weakened condition, compared to the previous day.  I immediately removed her from that facility, and took her to the ER. She never went back.   So, if I am ever in that position again, that my loved one or myself...needing in home care, I will have camera

 

I am not paranoid at all. That is not what this post is about. Matter of fact neither of my families even have cameras. One has the Echo drop in. I have been to homes in the past with cameras and they watch when you eat or leave the room or go to the bathroom. Or if they don't like how you do something. It is to spy and not for the good of the patient. Sorry but I am not working in a dictatorship environment. It doesn't seem right. This post is not going how I intended it to go! 

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KathyDay said:

You are showing some level of paranoia if you think the cameras are just to watch what YOU do.

Nah, not paranoia. The OP does not seem to be suggesting that s/he feels everyone wants to watch just OP or that s/he is being spied on everywhere s/he goes. Etc. You do seem to acknowledge further down in your post that the reason for having the camera isn't to watch the sunset through the west picture window or to make sure the paint isn't chipping from the walls in the owner's absence, but to monitor the care being received, which is being provided by the HCWs in the home, of which OP is one. So in effect it most definitely IS there to (be able to) keep tabs on him/her for that period of time. That's what it's there for. Saying so is not paranoia.

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guest1202005 said:

This post is not going how I intended it to go! 

That's okay...hearing others' perspectives is a benefit of being able to come online and get others' opinions. I'll give you mine:

I understand and I have compassion for families in these situations. But as to how I *feel* about it from the other side, I agree with you. I don't like working under circumstances where there is an assumption that I'm personally just as capable as any other rando of providing poor care (or, worse, abusing a patient) and therefore need to be watched. 

OTOH, if I had to be in a position as a family member to hire a company (whose standards vary widely and are usually alllllll about the bottom line at the end of the day) to put a stranger into my loved one's home, I would not do that in this day and age without monitoring.

I feel no conflict about holding both of the opinions above, it's simple in my mind: I 100% understand why families do this, I would do it myself. But as to how it would make me feel on the other end of it as a HCW, it would make me feel distrusted, awkward, and uncomfortable. I'm certainly not naive enough to still believe the line about how one has nothing to worry about if one isn't doing anything wrong. That's silliness. Plus, my dislike of things like this is not specifically with being on camera but rather with working under ANY circumstances where people have the potential and ability to basically nitpick and/or become unnecessarily suspicious. We encounter these not infrequently at the bedside but the advantage there is the ability/opportunity to develop a rapport.

I just don't like it. I'm a plenty empathetic person, but that doesn't mean I would enjoy working in these circumstances. If I ever worked providing in-home nursing care I would be choosing my cases carefully and not returning to places where there's a lot of conflict/dysfunction. 

To sum it up: Their prerogative is to have a camera to the extent that it provides peace of mind and/or helps ensure good care. Your prerogative is to decide how you feel about that and make decisions accordingly.

 

 

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Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.
JKL33 said:

Nah, not paranoia. The OP does not seem to be suggesting that s/he feels everyone wants to watch just OP or that s/he is being spied on everywhere s/he goes. Etc. You do seem to acknowledge further down in your post that the reason for having the camera isn't to watch the sunset through the west picture window or to make sure the paint isn't chipping from the walls in the owner's absence, but to monitor the care being received, which is being provided by the HCWs in the home, of which OP is one. So in effect it most definitely IS there to (be able to) keep tabs on him/her for that period of time. That's what it's there for. Saying so is not paranoia.

***

That's okay...hearing others' perspectives is a benefit of being able to come online and get others' opinions. I'll give you mine:

I understand and I have compassion for families in these situations. But as to how I *feel* about it from the other side, I agree with you. I don't like working under circumstances where there is an assumption that I'm personally just as capable as any other rando of providing poor care (or, worse, abusing a patient) and therefore need to be watched. 

OTOH, if I had to be in a position as a family member to hire a company (whose standards vary widely and are usually alllllll about the bottom line at the end of the day) to put a stranger into my loved one's home, I would not do that in this day and age without monitoring.

I feel no conflict about holding both of the opinions above, it's simple in my mind: I 100% understand why families do this, I would do it myself. But as to how it would make me feel on the other end of it as a HCW, it would make me feel distrusted, awkward, and uncomfortable. I'm certainly not naive enough to still believe the line about how one has nothing to worry about if one isn't doing anything wrong. That's silliness. Plus, my dislike of things like this is not specifically with being on camera but rather with working under ANY circumstances where people have the potential and ability to basically nitpick and/or become unnecessarily suspicious. We encounter these not infrequently at the bedside but the advantage there is the ability/opportunity to develop a rapport.

I just don't like it. I'm a plenty empathetic person, but that doesn't mean I would enjoy working in these circumstances. If I ever worked providing in-home nursing care I would be choosing my cases carefully and not returning to places where there's a lot of conflict/dysfunction. 

To sum it up: Their prerogative is to have a camera to the extent that it provides peace of mind and/or helps ensure good care. Your prerogative is to decide how you feel about that and make decisions accordingly.

 

 

Good answer all around. Makes me want to clarify my position on this.

I am a home hospice nurse, and my time in people's homes is limited. I'm usually there for an hour. I also am almost never there when family is not also present watching me with their eyeballs. So for me, this is not a big deal. If I were doing private duty, and had to be there for 8 hours on camera, I might feel differently.

Also in the psych unit, I felt some protection from the cameras. More than once, they helped me. Protected me from violence, and one time proved that a patient had swiped my keys from my pocket when I wasn't looking. Staff used them to keep an eye on you if you were alone with a patient, if it looked like you needed help, they came running. Also, they were not in patient dormitories and not in the med room. So there was a break. They were never used to punish me and they did not record sound. 

I have worked with people who have made me feel like they were trying to catch me doing something wrong, and that is a problem. And I stop working with those people. It's  never been in a place where I was recorded on camera. So I would agree that if someone makes you feel like they are just trying to catch you or punish you all the time, whether it's a boss or a patient or a coworker, that's toxic. Example for me personally. I once worked in an office where they would check to make sure you locked your desk. If you didn't they would open your desk drawers, look for patient information, confiscate it, and then claim that you had violated HIPAA for leaving your desk unlocked. You would have to find the jackhole that took your files and get them back. I quit. I couldn't work like that. But cameras in the hospital were fine and generally cameras in the home are also fine with me, as long as I know they are there. 

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@FolksBtrippin

Agree with your response also. 
 

I feel bummed that I suspect "guest" may not return to read our replies. 😂

If so that's unfortunate because I truly do think there are different ways to feel about this, it's okay to fix a mix of things, and usually good to hear what others have to say as it all goes toward helping our understanding and ability to see others' side of things. 

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