Family Members/Patients Who Write Down Your Name

Nurses Relations

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Do you ever have those patients or family members who write down everything? Your Name, Your title, your care provided, etc.

I get annoyed sometimes but If its a once in a while thing, I am okay. If its a repetitive everytime I go in the room thing, I get a little defensive.

Specializes in Transitional Nursing.

I don't think the pt or family has any right to our last names, yet all of ours are on our badges.....Bugs me. How do I know I won't find a disgruntled family member on my door step one day? I am literally one of two people in the entire country with my legal name.....

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

I, personally, do not mind having a patient know my name, generally. There are some patients that I do mind if they know my full name, primarily psych. I should clarify one minor thing, and that is that I am a student nurse. I can understand the reasoning behind having employees put their certifications on the whiteboard, in my case as a student, that could get somewhat confusing (why would a student have that many certs?). Not so much confusing for me, rather confusing for the patient. While it looks impressive, it can get confusing, and I'd just rather have name and "rank" printed on the whiteboard. Your nametag can have all the postnomials and if the patient or family desires, they can have a discussion with you about all those letters behind your name, but they just first need to know who you are and how you fit into their care while there.

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I, personally, do not mind having a patient know my name, generally. There are some patients that I do mind if they know my full name, primarily psych.

No way is a psych pt getting my full name... nuh uh!

You have my first name... if you have a complaint, send it to management... but you don't need my last name to do it.

Most pts wouldn't think of harming a fly... but I've met more than my fair share that would surely engage in a little stalking if given the chance.

Personally, I find it interesting when our pts write everything down, because it often happens that their perceptions are a little... off.

It's hard to take a pt compliant too seriously when "Nurse Hygiene is in cahoots with the CIA" and "the beds are uncomfortable because they are stuffed with straw every night by Dolly Parton" :D

Just sayin'.

She kept calling BUN "bun". Like, the roll.

That's how we often say it around here... the nurses, the docs and the lab...

Sometimes we say "B.U.N" and sometimes "bun".

Nobody thinks twice about it.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

I agree with the posters regarding not giving out full names...I too have a name that if one would do a google search, would find me with the snap of two fingers!

I do find the ones who are writing things down to sometimes be ones who are a little um, "quirky" whether good or bad...depending on the pendulum swing. And sometimes, that can NOT be so easily assessed.

My stance is, as long as the patient is willing to have the scribe aware of the information or is authorized health care proxy, I am all for providing information within reason, and that DOES NOT include my full name. :no: That information can become available in chart information, a legal document.

I am two relatives health care proxies, and I do not even desire to write down issues. If they need substantial information, I assess what they are looking for, and try to collaborate if they need their questions answered by the provider, assistance after discharge by speaking to case management, etc. I am always happy to share my goals for the shift; I focus the patient and family on how long I am going to be there; what I am going to do, and above all, what are the patients goals...we work on that together.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
Let them write. I would let your supervisor/manager/risk management that they appear to be dissatisfied so they may decide to talk to the family and have an intervention if necessary.

If I had a dime for every time someone wanted my name, title and wrote while I was in a room....I'd be on some remote tropical island all by myself....that I owned.

Smile answer them calmly and confidently. Make eye contact and ask if there is anything you can do for them as they seem upset/concerned/have needs....would they like a supervisor/manager/director........ smile sweetly and tell them to call if they need anything else.

Never let them see you sweat...most do it as an intimidation factor that you will take better care of their loved one if you are "watched"...let them write.

*** I pretty much agree with you. However one time I had a young female trauma patient that we were doing ICP monitoring with ventricle drain on. Her mother was at the bedside every moment we allowed her to be and she wrote down EVRYTHING. The previous nurse had explained to the mom all about the ICP and there was a nice monitor with waveform and every thing for her to see. However nobody explained to mom that when we repositioned the patient we always clamped the ICP to prevent dumping of CSF when we lowered the HOB. She never said anything to me and I thought we had a good rapport.

However when I came into work the next night my nurse manager was waiting for me (First time I had EVER seen her outside of banker hours she usually keeps). In her hand was a copy of the mom's notes showing severe spikes in ICP exactly every two hours. My manager (who had never cared for a critical care patient in her life) was demanding an explanation. She had cross referenced MY notes and noticed that I had not called neuro surgery to report the spikes in ICP. She was demanding an explanation and all ready to suspend me while an investigation took place.

I explained the ICP spikes. The manager looked dubious and I don't think she bought my explanation cause she called her buddy who is a real critical care nurse who confirmed that the monitor will show elevated ICPs when clamped but that the waveform would be flat. the manager even insisted I take her into the room and demonstrate (mom wasn't there). My managers friend pointed out that mom's noted actually documents good care and proved that I had repositioned the patient every two hours as is policy and ordered on this patient. It went over her head and I was left with the feeling my manager was thinking "Well PMFB you may have gotten away with it THIS time but I have my eye on you".

I was so happy when they fired me a few months later for making too much money.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
I don't think the pt or family has any right to our last names, yet all of ours are on our badges.....Bugs me. How do I know I won't find a disgruntled family member on my door step one day? I am literally one of two people in the entire country with my legal name.....

*** My hospital's policy forbids our last names on our badges. A few years ago (before I worked there) one of our nurses was shot to death in the parking lot of her apartment building by a former patient.

Since then no last names on badges.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/15725470/detail.html

We just need to be VERY careful of the care we give, as I'm sure we all are anyway, and be VERY AWARE of how our statements may impact others. Try to establish that 'rapport' with whomever we encounter. There are some patients and family who are not gonna care one way or another; they're gonna want revenge for whatever wrong they feel they've suffered under our care. I googled the above incident that occurred when I was working in the West Georgia area. Imagine my surprise when the first thing that popped up was a discussion about it on ALLNURSES.:) I wasn't even a member here then but I retrieved the link from a closed post from May 2008.

Our facility is a revolving door, with security who carry weapons. But there are no metal detectors nor personal searches NOR enforcement of visitation rules. Bottom line, we are our own defense against the patients. It's better to team up with them as best we can and try to MAKE them understand what we are doing for them and why in order to offset any ill feelings before they occur.

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Specializes in ED.

Due to recent spikes in violence toward nurse in our Emergency Department, I looked up the ENA's recommendations to help curb this very real, very dangerous trend. One thing that stood out, is that OSHA recommends NOT putting last names on name badges. For years, my name badge only had my first name and last initial, but recently the policy is to have first and last names on badges. Being in a department where we deal with psych, intoxicated and criminal patients, I think this is a dangerous policy. The one thing I have going for me is that my last name is hard to pronounce and even harder to spell. Last names are not necessary. If a patient has a complaint, all they have to say, is my nurse Mary on the evening shift....blah blah blah. Patient assignment records and nurses notes will quickly identify which Mary it is.

It has been my experience that those family members or patients who consistently write things down tend to be very critical of the care they receive and seem to be actively looking for mistakes. I call this the Reader's Digest syndrome. They have read all the hospital horror stories in the latest Reader's Digest and think that these mistakes are the norm not the exception. Best way to deal with this? Answer their questions calmly and truthfully and keep a smile on your face.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTACH, LTC, Home Health.

Actively looking for mistakes? ABSOLUTELY! Not many 'average' adults walk around with a composition book on their person. But these people come through the front door with a pad and pen without giving any thought to a change of underwear.

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.

My most recent patient who had a self-appointed scribe stated, "I've asked you ... (flips notebook pages) ... 4 times if she could get something to eat."

The beauty was that I had the patient's chart in my hand, and so was able to flip back through a page of narrative notes and calmy reply, "yes you're correct - I have that documented here - the 4 times I explained to you why your mom cannot have anything by mouth at this time."

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
My most recent patient who had a self-appointed scribe stated, "I've asked you ... (flips notebook pages) ... 4 times if she could get something to eat."

The beauty was that I had the patient's chart in my hand, and so was able to flip back through a page of narrative notes and calmy reply, "yes you're correct - I have that documented here - the 4 times I explained to you why your mom cannot have anything by mouth at this time."

^5!!! That's the type of nurse I am :yes:

Usually that stops the scribing. ;)

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Specializes in Transitional Nursing.

That's how we often say it around here... the nurses, the docs and the lab...

Sometimes we say "B.U.N" and sometimes "bun".

Nobody thinks twice about it.

Oh wow....ive always heard it referred to as B U N.....I guess its not a big deal but I did find it comical at the time I'm pretty sure she didnt know it was an acronym, lol

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