Do you think anonymous means just that?

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We have a questionaire going on at work. We log onto the internet to fill it out. We are told it is totally anonymous and it asks us questions about our managers, if we feel adequately staffed, adequately paid, have issues with other employees or other departments. I would probably believe it is anonymous except for the fact that in order to log in we have to use our SSN. It is a manatory questionaire. Many have logged on but not answered all the questions. I answered them all honestly. I hope I don't get myself into trouble. I love my managers but do have some issues with other employees that I know do not follow the rules. I didn't use their names but I think it wouldn't be too hard to figure out who they are since it's already common knowledge. Thanks for your opinions :nurse:

We were given a questionnaire to fill in one time by the new regime that bought out our place of employment. I noticed that the form had a number printed on it that looked different than the rest of the print. I pointed this out to my co-workers. Since we had to turn the thing in, I just filled it out with no meaningful input. I wrote no additional comments and went right down the middle on my 0-10 scale answers. That was the closest I felt I could get to not drawing attention to myself since I knew they had paired up the numbers with the names of the employees. Several years later another employer gave us the very same questionnaire with some added questions. I never turned that one in at all. Whenever I get this type of request for input I always look for some kind of code on it that indicates it could be tracked. Usually, I never return them.

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

We just had our health system survey ending 1 wk ago with some staff questioning it as online for first time. Access was from any health system computer using intranet link. I'd be upset over using SS# or employee #. Only way we knew # respondents was that they picked dept mgr to comment on ---20/23 of my staff responded only thing I knew. Awaiting results in a few weeks.

Told em after I took survey and saw questions to respond need more insurance verification staff to get workload completed and improved salary. ;) I'm not worried as dept had highest satisfaction over past 2 survey's and I feed em monthly with birthday party.......also bringing Allnurses goodies from convention home to them.

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for the most part tphb know what the major problems are, inadequate staffing, which employees are not pulling their weight etc

in the case of the buyout you have some nervous suits because new people 'chop from the top' and they can see a chush job about to pulled out from under them

as for the identifying marks/numbers you are not suppose to be smart enough to notice them

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as for the identifying marks/numbers you are not suppose to be smart enough to notice them

He, he! They didn't go out of their way to camouflage them. Must have thought we were extremely dense. But then, we were working there, so I guess that automatically put us into the not so bright category!

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Specializes in med/surg, psych, public health.
Sorry to say that I also don't think it is anonymous.

In our facility, our "anonymous" tip line results in an immediate "heads up" call to our manager - informing her of every identifying detail that the HR folks can get out of the caller (including caller ID if possible.)

That being said - I fill out my surveys honestly, because what are they going to do? Yell at me? Again?

I'm already seen as too political, too "idealistic" and "out there" when it comes to "nurse's rights." Someday, they'll surely find something to else to get me for, but for now I just keep my head down most of the time... and take the gloves off on the questions that say...

Rate the truth of this statement

"Staffing levels never impact the safety of my patients." 0-10

And I write negative 6. :D

I admire your honesty!

:yeah: :bow:

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

While I would always advise people to be a little careful about what they say and how they say it ... the extreme position that basically "never gives any meaningful input" only hurts nursing in the long run. When the data collected is meaningless, it simply gives the "bad guys" the evidence they need to say that the staff is satisfied -- and makes it impossible for the "good guys" to make any improvements.

As a profession, we can't consistently ignore opportunities to improve our working conditions and expect some fairy godmother to improve them for us. That kind of magical thinking prevents nursing from making meaningful progress.

I understand why people are cautions and I believe there are times when it is best to remain silent. However, we can't ALWAYS remain silent and expect results. We must strive to find a reasonable "middle ground" approach through which we give some meaningful input tactfully in such a way as to point towards the needs for improvements without being so harsh that it puts ourselves at risk. We should be wise enough to figure out a way to do that.

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Specializes in vascular, med surg, home health , rehab,.

I have reached the conclusion that they pay no attention at all to these "we listen" type surveys, nothing ever changes. The only time I see management get worked up is when they don't reach their goal participation number, then they are worried. I refuse to waste another second on them.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
We have a questionaire going on at work. We log onto the internet to fill it out. We are told it is totally anonymous and it asks us questions about our managers, if we feel adequately staffed, adequately paid, have issues with other employees or other departments. I would probably believe it is anonymous except for the fact that in order to log in we have to use our SSN. It is a manatory questionaire. Many have logged on but not answered all the questions. I answered them all honestly. I hope I don't get myself into trouble. I love my managers but do have some issues with other employees that I know do not follow the rules. I didn't use their names but I think it wouldn't be too hard to figure out who they are since it's already common knowledge. Thanks for your opinions :nurse:

Maybe I am a superstitious person, but a social security number can be traced, in my opinion. They have access to it from our employee files, and if they really wanted to dig in cyberspace, they can find what they wish, and possibly make our lives miserable. Anything that is traceable is when I just give them the answers that they want to hear. Again, that is just my :twocents:.

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hey, if they're tracking it with ssn, i'm gonna lie my face off to make myself sound good, but then post a comment about having to use my ssn if they have a space to fill in my own comments.

:saint:

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