hidden cameras in patient's rooms allowed?

[Shell5]

Does anyone know if it is legal for patient's families to have hidden cameras in patient's rooms? What are the legal implications there?

At our facility there is a sign posted in the front lobby that states you could be recorded. I was just curious. I don't think we have them because we have a lot of thieves in our facility and it is sad. And no, I'm not doing anything wrong. It's just that there are soooo many people where I work that seem sue happy and I feel nit picked to DEATH.

Also, another ? about this particular patient whose family wants extra 1hr rounds done on them by the nurse and CNA. We have to initial a special sheet on this person where we and the CNA checked on them every 30 min and we have a lot of other patient. Our facility policy is q2 hours and to me that is not right. Everyone else gets q2hr rounds. This doesn't seem prudent to me because I could just be asking to be set up. What do you think?

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

As an X-nurse I have a very strong opinion about cameras. All hospitals need lots of cameras! If you aren't doing anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about. Bottom line, no cameras means hospitals have a free for all malpractice fest.

X-ray NURSE??? Or X-ray tech??? What does an X-ray "nurse" do?

I agree re: if you're not doing anything wrong, there's no problem....but only in LTC..... those are resident 'homes' and considered as such. Hospitals are public buildings, with the room not being a residence...just a 'patient' room.

[JDZ344]

Our hospital has installed camera's in all the pt's rooms, they will have to agree to be on camera and there will be internet access for families to see thier loved ones at home. (If they don't have time to visit or are in another state.) I do not know how I feel about this. I do not like the idea of being filmed. I am looking for other information on hospitals that have initiated a program like this.

This is the dumbest thing I have ever read. Can these cameras be switched off? For instance, if a nurse was inserting a foley or the patient was having a bed bath, or using a commode, or would the family be able to watch all that? What if the nurse/patient forgot to switch off the camera before they did something that shouldn't be viewed on camera?

[Hygiene Queen]

I didn't read all the posts, but in Illinois, it can be done and I've seen it done in an ALF... if there is no sound.

I figure as long as I'm not doing anything wrong, I could care less where they stick the cameras.

[Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN]

What exactly does the sign in the lobby say? My hospital DOES have cameras, but they are security cameras, and not in patients' rooms. So, yes, I may very well be on video at any given time.

I think most facilities (especially larger health care systems) have written policies on this subject. Ours allows patients to be recorded by themselves or families if the patient consents. However, written consent is also needed for any hospital staff to be recorded.

I don't have a guilty conscience...I am not afraid of wrongdoing being found on my end, but - it creeps me out to the nth! I will NOT allow myself to be videotaped at work!

[rightintwo]

I don't really know about the HIPPA rules yet or whatever, but I do remember recently seeing on the news a story about a girl who tried to suffocate her baby in L&D after giving birth. I think the baby was hooked up to some kind of monitoring and the nurse would come in there b/c the alarm kept going off. Well they had a camera in her room and looked at it shortly after that kept happening and saw her trying to suffocate the baby. They even aired the video from the room on the news...

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Has anyone heard of eICUs? They are not hidden cameras in the traditional sense, and they are intended as a second pair of eyes for HCWs in the ICU setting. The remote workstation is manned by an experienced ICU nurse, and it gives access to all the monitors and the camera. It is a two-way relationship, in that the on-site ICU nurse can contact the remote ICU nurse for assistance and vice-versa. Studies show that eICUs can improve patient outcomes.

Some ICU nurses have embraced the concept while others have not, creating barriers to implementation in some facilities.

I don't know if the patients have to sign consents prior to being placed in these remotely-monitored rooms.

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

I think there is a LOT of legal red tape involved in getting cameras in patient rooms. During out child abuse training a few months ago, they discussed a case where a baby was sick and crashing and no one knew why but the mother was suspected. They put soundless cameras in the room and observed the mom smothering the baby when no one was in the room. I can't remember where or when they said this was, but they did say that it was a complicated process to get the cameras, and that recording sound in addition to the picture would have been considered too invasive of the family's privacy.

I would be surprised to find a place routinely videoing their patient rooms based on that.

[littleneoRN]

I'm not worried about wrongdoing because I am careful to follow policy and good judgment at all times. Consider this though. I work in NICU and we have cameras available for moms to be able to see their babies from their rooms if they're aren't well enough to physically visit. Moms will sometimes be watching and misinterpret something that is happening because they don't have sound or context and panic. Example...there all kinds of people around my baby's bed...they must be crashing...but actually we are electively extubating. Because of this, I generally tell parents we turn off the camera during direct care. Not because I have something to hide but because misinterpretation is so easy. Consider how this misinterpretation might occur in other settings too.

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Has anyone heard of eICUs? They are not hidden cameras in the traditional sense, and they are intended as a second pair of eyes for HCWs in the ICU setting. The remote workstation is manned by an experienced ICU nurse, and it gives access to all the monitors and the camera. It is a two-way relationship, in that the on-site ICU nurse can contact the remote ICU nurse for assistance and vice-versa. Studies show that eICUs can improve patient outcomes.

Some ICU nurses have embraced the concept while others have not, creating barriers to implementation in some facilities.

I don't know if the patients have to sign consents prior to being placed in these remotely-monitored rooms.

I LOVE eICU. Except ours went to a doctor, not another nurse. We are a smaller facility and only have one intensivist and he needs a break so we use that service. It is great.

[IheartICUnursing]

Hmmmm. I don't know about patient/ families being able to place hidden cameras in the room, maybe read up on what your hospital's policy is on this. Personally, I would be upset about being recorded without my prior consent, not that I would be doing anything wrong, but I have the right to know if I'm being recorded. On my unit, we have cameras in every room anyways, monitored at the front desk. I am glad we have them, I have heard families totally fabricate these horrible stories about things we've done to the patient (and I don't mean just exaggerate, they seriously made stuff up)... and it's funny how those stories stop once you let them know that the room is under 24/7 surveillance. I feel a lot more secure knowing that if anyone ever sued over some made up BS that I would have hard evidence to the contrary :)

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Hmmmm. I don't know about patient/ families being able to place hidden cameras in the room, maybe read up on what your hospital's policy is on this. Personally, I would be upset about being recorded without my prior consent, not that I would be doing anything wrong, but I have the right to know if I'm being recorded. On my unit, we have cameras in every room anyways, monitored at the front desk. I am glad we have them, I have heard families totally fabricate these horrible stories about things we've done to the patient (and I don't mean just exaggerate, they seriously made stuff up)... and it's funny how those stories stop once you let them know that the room is under 24/7 surveillance. I feel a lot more secure knowing that if anyone ever sued over some made up BS that I would have hard evidence to the contrary :)

Do you know that in fact you do have "hard evidence" to the contrary? The reason I ask is that I once worked on a unit which had cameras to monitor the patients that were also viewed at the front desk. But the cameras were not recording and saving these events. If you were sued two years down the road, do you know absolutely that recordings for 24/7 are kept? That's a lot of video to keep in the expectation that it could someday be used to counter a personal injury suit. Odds are that recording and saving every minute of every patient's stay would actually backfire more than it would help.

[IheartICUnursing]

Yes, ours do record. Due to a situation recently, I asked to make sure. Not sure how long they keep the recordings for, but if there is any suspicion that a lawsuit may be in the future, I'm sure that they would hold on to those particular recordings for an extended period. Our hospital has a very good legal team, and is very used to dealing with suits. We are known for being a great hospital, but that also means that people want to sue every time we can't magically cure a chronic disease!!