Does your hospital ID badge have your first AND last name on it?

dudette10, MSN, RN · Dec 8, 2012

Yes, and I've never understood why nurses get so worked up about patients knowing their first and last names. Doctors, PAs, and APNs don't seem to mind.

nurseintx0511 · Dec 8, 2012

Ours has our first name and last initial. I wouldn't mind though if it had both first and last on it.

CrunchyMama, ASN, RN · Dec 8, 2012

seems some people might find that a little invasive when you think about how many people you interact w/ on a personal and impersonal level day in and day out.

No, just 1st name. Our last name is on the back which nobody can see it, I don't know why it's there. I'm glad our last name isn't on the front. I live in a small community and there's patients I've had that come to find out I know them and this is without them knowing my last name, lol. Plus, I don't want some random patient looking me up on facebook when I walk out their door. Or looking up my address...whatever.

MunoRN, RN · Dec 8, 2012

We only have first names on our badges, but at least in my state patients do have a legal right to know your last name if they ask.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Dec 8, 2012

Yes, my first and last name appear on my badge. I do not mind at all.

Darla, the fry cook at McDonald's, has a badge that displays only her first name. Clifford, the cashier at Jiffy Lube, has a badge that displays his first name only. Lurleen, the greeter at Walmart, has a badge that reveals her first name and nothing else.

On the other hand, physicians, social workers, dieticians, occupational therapists, teachers, and many other educated professionals are not trying to hide their last names from the public due to some irrational fear of being discovered.

.She. · Dec 8, 2012

My ID has has only my first name on the front. But has my first and last name on the back.

Editorial Team / Admin · Dec 8, 2012

My state requires first and last names except for ER and psych. Doesn't bother me at all.

elkpark · Dec 8, 2012

I've worked in psych all of my career, and have always had my first and last name on my badge, and introduced myself to clients with my first and last name. Only one employer in my career had a firm policy that I wasn't allowed to have my last name on the badge (I complained about it, but got nowhere), and I made an extra point at that facility of always telling clients my last name. I've lived and worked in small town rural areas and medium- and big-sized cities in a few different states, and it's never been a problem (so far! :)).

Plenty of people with riskier jobs than nurses use their last names freely at work, and I never understand what the big deal is for so many nurses. While I understand that safety is certainly a concern (I am a single woman who lives alone), of all the things that one can do to promote one's safety, keeping your last name a secret from clients at work seems so far down the list to me that it's hardly worth mentioning. Clients who really want to find out your last name can do so pretty easily regardless of whether it's on your badge or not (they can just request a copy of their record, which has all our last names all over it. They can watch for you to come out from work (after they're discharged) and follow you home. Etc., etc., etc. ...

Of course, I think the whole business of going by our first names at work is a big mistake, but that's a different conversation.

Twinmom06, ASN, APN · Dec 8, 2012

yea they do...not sure what the uproar is about it...many of the nurses "creatively" cover their last name with funny stickers etc...some just use a sharpie to black it out...in psych I understand a bit but on a regular floor? If you're going to get subpoenaed they're going to find out anyway LOL

BeenThereDoneThat74, MSN, RN · Dec 8, 2012

We have our first and last name (on my college ID, which is what is exposed at clinical). I actually have my name embroidered on my lab coat (by choice). I feel it does exude a more professional appearance. When someone asks me my name in clinical, I say my first name only. My students (obviously) call me professor. Some will introduce me to their patients as "this is my Professor, or this is Professor X."

I can honestly see why some people have a problem with it. I do see some hospitals in my area have their first name bigger and bolder, then the last name much smaller underneath. I really don't think it's that important for your average patient to know your last name. However, if a patient has an issue (either positive or negative), they have the right to know the patients' full name. Depending on the age or culture of the nurses' on the unit, you could 3 Jennifers, 5 maureens, or 4 Jongs. (I live in a very diverse area, I had one clinical where there were two Guyanese girls with the same name... out of 10 students. I had never heard either name before in my life!!)

Our students are taught to introduce themselves by their first and last name. Some do not (I don't fault them), some do every single time. The foreign born students tend to do it more (in many other cultures, the last name is more important than the first name).

Cops' badges have only their last name. Firefighters' turnout coats have their last name on the bottom (for obviously different reasons)

CT Pixie, BSN, RN · Dec 8, 2012

My workplace ID has first and last name. My college ID/clinical ID have first and last name with picture, which must be showing at all times facing out so staff, patients and patients families can read it. I don't care at all that my full name is on it.