Do you cut off Name Band?

Otessa, BSN, RN · Oct 11, 2009

We had a patient recently who cut their own name band off in the parking lot and then threw it on the ground. According to our hospital it was a HIPPA violation and we got in trouble for it. We are now supposed to cut all name bands off of discharged patients before they leave. I don't know why but I always thought you weren't supposed to take the name band off of any patient.

I have always taken the name bands off of patients when they are discharged.

otessa

tatara · Oct 11, 2009

The HIPAA is to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health insurance and health care delivery.

Where I work, infos on name bands are only the patient's name and the bed/room number. Are these data enough to be used for fraud and abuse?

How could the institution be held accountable for patients who's already discharged and chose to throw away their name bands?

By the way, HIPAA does not exist here in this part of the world where I am from.

I would cut off the name band if it gets across the way when I have to change/transfer IV site. I would then ask for a new one from the admitting section to be placed on the other wrist. The old name band goes to the yellow trash bin.

diane227, LPN, RN · Oct 12, 2009

People get very hysterical regarding HIPPA. The HIPPA law was established by congress in 1996 essentially giving patients the right to access their medical records and to establish standards for keeping this information private. The final rule on standards of security was issued on February 20, 2003. If you look on the CMS (Center for Medicare Services) website, it will give you specifics about the law itself. You can also get a short version on Wikipedia. It is not your responsibility to monitor what a patient does with an arm band, discharge instructions or any other part of their information once it is given to them. If they want to make a copy of every part of their record and give it out to anyone on the street they have that right, just as they have to right to pull off their arm band and throw it away in the parking lot. In some hospitals, they do try to remove the patients arm band when they leave but in the ED that is not always possible because patients walk out of the ED all the time before being seen. They also refuse to allow you to remove it. This should be a non issue. If someone is pushing this issue, they do not have enough work to do. They might want to spend part of their time reading the actual law on this subject.

traumarns · Oct 13, 2009

we dont cut the arm bands off. a vast percentage of our pts live outside and need a ride to a shelter. many of the rtd drivers will allow these people to ride for free IF they have an armband on proving they were in the er.