Fingerprinting Texas Nurses

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How's everybody feel about this plan? I just got the notice today and am not feeling good about it.

TPTB already do background checks on us and have organizations like Group One to keep track of us....I feel this is 'big brother' getting more info on us than we need...

How's everybody else feel??:confused:

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Exactly. I don't understand what the big deal is. Invasion of privacy? How? By having my name (they already have that) an my fingerprints (which have nothing to hide)? In Illinois we are fingerprinted when we take the boards. Didn't think a thing about it. It's about the board of nursing covering their asses to ensure that patients are safe. I understand that. Bad things happen in the world. If I'm innocent of any crimes, then why would I even flinch when asked to provide fingerprints? Our fingerprints aren't private anyways - don't you all remember being finger printed in grade school? Just who do you think has those prints? The FBI. Yes, back then, it was for identification in case we were abducted. But again, if you have nothing to hide, then why all the fuss now?

Gompers,

Why only the nurses, and not other staff or docs?

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Specializes in ICU, ER, HH, NICU, now FNP.

That is an interesting question - you would think that the state would run FBI background checks on all licensed professions in Texas if they were going to do one.

I looked at the TXBME site to see if they were doing that but it doesnt appear that they are. They do ask for a whole lot of other things, and it appears they run some sort of other type of background check but perhaps it isn't via the FBI so they don't need the fingerprints. I don't know the asnwer to that one.

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Specializes in NICU.
Gompers,

Why only the nurses, and not other staff or docs?

Well I think anyone working in a hospital should be fingerprinted, but I don't know if the hospital has the right to demand that. The board of nursing, on the other hand, does have that right. So it's at least better to start somewhere. I thought docs got fingerprinted before they took their exam, too. Maybe that's just around here?

The other thing might be that they're worried about narcotics. Typically, only nurses and pharmacy have access to narcotics. I believe that pharmacists around here also get fingerprinted, but I could be wrong.

I can see what you guys are saying about why not everybody else. But I still don't think it's an invasion of privacy to ask you to stick your finger on an ink pad, either way.

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Specializes in NICU, Psych, Education.
I feel the fingerprinting nurses in TX is just another "subtle" way to remind us what our "place" is.

It's something required by our own BNE, not by anyone who might have an interest in putting us in our place. Although the wait for background check results can be frustrating, I think it's a good idea.

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Specializes in ICU, ER, HH, NICU, now FNP.

Oh! And come to think of it - you now have to give an electronic fingerprint when you go to renew or get your drivers license in Texas. And thats everybody - not just nurses.

Frankly - if it helps reduce identity theft or people trucking around on forged documents - I'm all for it.

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Specializes in ICU, ER, HH, NICU, now FNP.

Teachers and Mortgage Loan Officers also have to be fingerprinted in Texas according to the websites I have found.

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Specializes in Too many to list.

Wouldn't it be nice, if they would just explain why, they want what they want?

A simple explanation would do. It's so much easier to get people to go along willingly if you just explain why you need this. Call me a dreamer...Call me a privacy advocate (they already have my prints from years in civil service). You can see where all of this going. Someday, no one will be able to work without being positively ID'd in any type of job. Is this a bad idea? I don't know. Is it sad? Yes. I just don't like that as a profession, we seem to be more regulated that any other. And, certain states do seem to be more strict. Call them the trend setters because it is a trend. I get that it is only a matter of time before a national nursing license will be the norm, and a national ID card, and a national driver's license.

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Specializes in ICU, ER, HH, NICU, now FNP.

I just dont think its a bad thing - in the past people didnt have computers and advanced technology with which they could create their own docs and change their identity on a whim. This is part of the price we pay (and I dont consider it a price myself) for all the modern convenience of paying our bills online, having everything on the computer etc. We are in a transition phase for technology.

Im thinking it would be a GOOD thing if when I scanned my credit card at the store, I had to place my finger on a reader to verify I am the owner of the card and my fingerprint info was embedded in the card too. I would love it if nobody but me or those whose fingerprints were registered (or retinas) could start and drive off in my car, write checks on my account or other things I would rather they didnt do with my property or my money.

People want all this protection - they want "the government" to do something about all the identity theft and the crookery and the crime - but they dont want to play along with the technology that makes doing something possible. If you have nothing to worry about, Im just not so sure what you are giving up. I dont care if the FBI watches every one of my bank transactions or my phone calls - I really dont. A - I have nothing to hide and B - I am not so self centered as to think they CARE about ME and what I am doing in my normal little life.

ETA: As for why - the Tx BNE wants the prints because the FBI requires fingerprints for an FBI level background check. That FBI background check is the only one that is assured of gaining entry to criminal records across all 50 states. The private agencies who do background checks are limited as to what states they can check and it costs a LOT of money to have them done with a private agency. It is cheaper for the BNE to have them done through the FBI.

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Specializes in Too many to list.
I just dont think its a bad thing - in the past people didnt have computers and advanced technology with which they could create their own docs and change their identity on a whim. This is part of the price we pay (and I dont consider it a price myself) for all the modern convenience of paying ourbills online, having everything on the computer etc. We are in a transistion phase for technology.

Im thinking it would be a GOOD thing if when I scanned my credit card at the store, I had to place my finger on a reader to verify I am the owner of the card and my fingerprint info was embedded in the card too. I would love it if nobody but me or those whose fingerprints were registered (or retinas) could start and drive off in my car, write checks on my account or other things I would rather they didnt do with my property or my money.

People want all this protection - they want "the government" to do something about all the identity theft and the crookery and the crime - but they dont want to play along with the technology that makes doing something possible. If you have nothing to worry about, Im just not so sure what you are giving up. I dont care if the FBI watches every one of my bank transactions or my phone calls - I really dont. A - I have nothing to hide and B - I am not so self centered as to think they CARE about ME and what I am doing in my normal little life.

ETA: As for why - the Tx BNE wants the prints because the FBI requires fingerprints for an FBI level background check. That background check is the only one that is assured of gaining entry to criminal records across all 50 states. The private agencies who do background checks are limited as to what states they can check and it costs a LOT of money to have them done with a provate agency. It is cheaper for the BNE to have them done through the FBI>

That's it!! "They want the government to do something"... Well, what if we

didn't want that? Call me a Libertarian!!

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Specializes in ICU, ER, HH, NICU, now FNP.

well, if you didnt want the govt to do something - like regulate nurses by checking their criminal background - you always have the choice to not be a nurse. You still get to choose - nobody is taking that away from you.

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Specializes in Too many to list.
well, if you didnt want the govt to do something - like regulate nurses by checking their criminal background - you always have the choice to not be a nurse. You still get to choose - nobody is taking that away from you.

I know, I know...Of course, I know. The point is, now it's us. Later, it will be every job.

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Specializes in ICU, ER, HH, NICU, now FNP.

Any job that allows access to peoples health, financial or other intimately personal data, or allows access to children should be rigidly controlled in terms of criminal background.

The really sad thing is not that the BNE is doing this - but that it is necessary at all. It is sad that we live in a world where we have to even worry about someone who take advantage of someone in the worst way possible for their own selfish needs - ie stealing morphne from a cancer patient who would then be in pain, or who would molest and terrorize a child...that is what is truly sad.

ETA: I guess if me giving up a bit of my privacy means that some of the people who can't protect themselves are better off, then I'm all for it.

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