I have recently taken a position as a clinical resource nurse. I am able to stay at bedside and also teach with the staff. However, along with this job comes many various and sundry different committees that I am now on. I am a floor nurse at heart--not an administrator type--so I try to look at the issues and how they will affect the 'real' people (not the suits who are spending our raises).
Anyway here is my question: The hosp is looking into a new call light system. The one that was presented today includes a monitor that the nursing staff would wear. It is called a 'locator'. It is an infared device combined with a wireless transmitter so each nurse can be located during the shift. My first instinct is "Big Brother" is watching. They also discussed a tracking system (which would mean another useless committee to see what patients were not having their needs met in a "timely" fashion (like moving the kleenix box over 2"). I am worried this will also become a "monitor the nurse for her time management" allocation. (as in--you don't get a merit increase of .03% this year because you spent too much time in the bathroom(more than once every shift would be about right).
Am I being paranoid???:imbar Does anyone else use a system like this??? What do you find is beneficial or not. I do believe that we need a way to communicate better from the nurses station for call lights, but this seems too far the other extreme.
