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

HyperSaurus, RN, BSN · Dec 9, 2012

First and last. Can't say that I care too much. The only patients that I care about seeing/knowing my last name are prisoner patients, and I have to take my badge off anyways before entering their rooms.

psu_213, BSN, RN · Dec 9, 2012

I guess I have had different experiences then most of you-where pt's have asked to meet me somewhere, or where do I live, etc etc. I work both critical care and ER. most every nurse I know in my 15 years having worked across the country prefers to not have their last names on their badges.

People ask me all the time where I live. I give them a very general answer. I also had one patient ask me to go to the movies with her. I politely told her that would not be appropriate. Most nurses I know don't cover their last names up...I take that to mean they don't care since those few nurses that do care cover up their last names on their badges.

canigraduate · Dec 9, 2012

People ask me where I live and how well my family is all the time. I live in the South where that is considered good manners. These people couldn't care less where I live and how well my family is, so I don't mind answering them.

I love giving them my name, too. We have a reward system in place for special mentions from patients, and there are two people with my first name on my shift. I don't want the other one getting all my goodies!

As of yet, nothing weird has happened because patients know my name.

FinallyMine · Dec 9, 2012

Before I started in nursing school I worked in social services/mental health. I always had my full name on my badge or business card. I feel it is appropriate and professional to let my clients/patients know who I am.

My school name tag has my full name on it and the hospital badges depend on which local facility I have my clinical in. Some list surnames, some do not.

Crux1024 · Dec 9, 2012

Im in ER so I dont have my last name on my badge. Neither does psych, its facility policy. Have been told its a "Security Risk" by management, I honestly dont mind. Im the only one of my name in the department, so if someone can remember my first name, theres no mistaking who I am.

When I was in nursing school, I had a psych patient call my house purposefully (I had my last name on my student badge, and was looked up in the phone book) and that REALLY freaked me out. I had no issues with patients looking for me when I was on the floor and had my full name displayed.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Dec 9, 2012

Pennsylvania Health Care Photo Identification Regulations:

What must be contained on the identification?

A recent photograph of the individual. The photograph must be updated every 4 years, which is consistent with driver’s licenses in the Commonwealth;
The individual’s full name, first and last;
The individual’s title. For now, the only titles required are those licenses, certifications, or registrations held by the individual and recognized by the Commonwealth, such as “physician,” “nurse,” etc. The title must be “as large as possible in block type” and be located on a “one-half inch tall strip as close as practicable to the bottom edge of the badge”; and,
The name of the health care facility or employment agency that employs the individual.

Exception: Employee safety. The last name of the employee may be omitted or concealed when delivering direct care to a patient or consumer who exhibits symptoms of irrationality or violence.

`

Must be fully implemented by 2015. Since 1977 I've worn a full name ID --name pin in early years, photo ID badge since 1999. I also have my signature plasted all over Admission and discharge home health paperwork left in patient's homes. Today's discharge summaries in our health system include physicians, discharge RN, Case Management staff full names. I even SPELL my name and give out office phone # to every caller while arranging home care services.

nrsang97, BSN, RN · Dec 9, 2012

My first name is on my badge and my last initial. We used to have last names on our badges but our facility changed that. Our last name is on the back by the barcode.

TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP · Dec 9, 2012

My last name is on the back (standard for the ED), where it's covered up by the Code reference/"NURSE" placard (which many patients seem unable to read and call me "doctor" anyway, but that's another discussion...). With Facebook, etc being so prevalent, I don't need patients intruding on my personal life, which I try to keep very much separate from my work. I don't take my work home with me, it shouldn't follow me there.

I find the professionalism argument here as lacking as the argument against wearing color-coded scrubs (though not as bad as the argument calling scrubs "professional-looking"). What makes me a professional is what I know and how I use it, not whether my scrubs are of a standard color or how much of my name appears on my name badge.

That said, I'm a self-aware straight white male, with all the privilege that goes along with it in modern society, so I tend not to get hung up on issues of personal and professional empowerment.

joanna73, BSN, RN · Dec 9, 2012

No. First name, registered nurse. I think this is primarily due to privacy issues for staff.

hiddencatRN, BSN, RN · Dec 9, 2012

Depends on the hospital. My per diem job has my full name. My FT job just has my first name. Despite this, and despite always telling my patients my name when I first see them (Hi, I'm hiddencat, I'll be your nurse today), they still never seem to remember my name, so I don't feel too invaded.

psu_213, BSN, RN · Dec 9, 2012

The way I figure it...if someone wants to do me harm, it does not matter how much of my name is on my badge. In fact, I could have the name "Micky Mouse" on my badge and they would still do harm to me. And I certainly don't see how a patient knowing my last name is somehow a threat to my privacy.

Guest343211 · Dec 9, 2012

I find the professionalism argument here as lacking as the argument againstwearing color-coded scrubs (though not as bad as the argument calling scrubs"professional-looking"). What makes me a professional is what I knowand how I use it, not whether my scrubs are of a standard color or how much ofmy name appears on my name badge.

That said, I'm a self-aware straight white male, with all the privilege thatgoes along with it in modern society, so I tend not to get hung up on issues ofpersonal and professional empowerment.

That is fine. It does, however, have to do with the general"demeanor" of a number of nurses in regard to professionalism--interms of presentation and what goes with it. Physicians and social workers and other professionals wear ID with first and last name and title. They don't give it a second thought.

And in working homecare on a PT basis, I agree with the nurse above that shared about the amount of paperwork, which requires repeated signatures with titles--and now the paperwork requires that you also print your name, if you aren't using a program that automatically does this for you. Your name and title gets plastered on many pieces of paper. The client keeps these.

BTW, the nurses that type in the discharge orders for clients, which are sent home and are also reviewed by the homecare nurse, does so through a computerized system that includes the nurse's full name, such as Mary Smith, RN--some of them may have an educational title, but what is really required is the legal title of licensure. It depends how the person's title was originally put into the system by the user. Anyway, that information goes with the patients.So, those patients or family members now have more than that nurse's first name. Ut oh. What are you going to do? Maybe just work in ICU where you don't directly discharge? If you work in Same Day procedures or ED though, it's the same deal. D/c or disposition orders now are printed out with the dispo'sing nurse's first and last name on it. Now you can go into the program and wipe out your last name and title; but you will get heck for it once someone picks up onit. Legal documentation requires a first and last name and title.

Your appearance/presentation does label you, so it is important--but it also labels the profession and the organization with which you are associated. In the same way that physicians present and carry themselves affects the general professional view of physicians, so to it applies to nurses.

Everything is about building trust and confidence and maintaining accountability. That includes clear identification and the confidence to display your full name and title for patients and families to see.

It is also not different in business. Think of it in this way. Would you handout a business card that only has your first name on it, rather than your fullname and title as well as other pertinent information? My husband is inbusiness, and he and his colleagues represent themselves by first and lastname--always. Their company badges also reflect the same, and of course theirbusiness cards do as well.

In effect, we are brands that represent ourselves as nursing professionals, andwe represent the profession and institution as well. With professionalconfidence, we give full disclosure to our names, roles, and titles. It alsoconnects our level of function and expectation to those with whom we care orwork.

Everyone has had to interact with some creepy and stalker-ish folks at one point or another. Certain psych units and such may have to limit things, but generally this isn't typical or even necessary in most places--for physicians or nurses. Listen, if someone wants to find out your full name or more, they can usually do so without too much effort. In practice, there shouldn't be any mystery as to exactly who taking care of the patient and what their title and associated role is. Some places have let the tag issue go at first name; however, that will probably change in most places d/t compliance issues. Also,again, if you d/c anyone, your name is going to be on the patient's paperwork.

Here's another example. Have you ever been in court where the judge wasintroduced to the court as Judge Jim? Have the attorneys ever been addressed by only their first names? (OK, other than Judge Judy. lol)

In general, there is no reason to fear representing ourselves as a nurse professionals with full names and titles. It shows confidence, accountability,and professionalism. This is pretty standard in most professional fields.

Now, other occupations, such has hairdressers or waitresses, may have tags that ID them by first name only--or they many only state their first names uponintroduction. In general, however, they do not subscribe to the same kind of professional model. I suppose they could if they really wanted to do so.

So really, how much more should those involved with safe and effective healthcare demonstrate the professional model through appropriate labeling?

Listen, in the general scheme of things, I am not a big label person. I've always believed it was always the person that obviously mattered in terms of thinking and behaving in a professional role. Presentation, however, is a piece of it.

We are forthrightly saying the following:

This is my full name and title, and I am confident in showing that name and title, along with the appropriate/associated professional behaviors and functioning, while you or your loved one is in my care. It's the same thing physicians and social workers are doing with their IDs.

That's how I look at it anyway.

Scrub color is a bit silly to me, b/c it's just herding a particular sub-department--and it needlessly limits people who are already limited interms of what they can wear. In fact, it probably would have never made headway if most nurses and others showed diligence in proper label/ID presentation. In the hospital, no one ever knew who anyone was, b/c people didn't subscribe to reasonable professional disclosure regarding use of ID.

But scrub color based on department has, in itself, nothing to do with professional accountability identified with the person in the same way appropriate identification does.