Sorry if this has come up before. I have seen it a time or two, but saw it again over the weekend.
How do you feel about patients taking pictures for their own personal use of wounds, etc? I always wonder if it's going to be used for a legal purpose along the way. I think it's kind of odd? Pt was in his 40's, had bil left leg fasciotomies and an above the ankle guillotine amp due to an acute clot that failed thrombolysis. He stopped us in the middle of the dressing change to snap pics to "send to his buddy." Couldn't take one on his own of the amp site, so asked the LPN assisting me to do it (she declined, she doesn't have a cell phone with a camera and didn't konw how to work it.......I would've said no regardless, but his GF ended up taking the pic).
Specializes in PICU now, Peds and med-surg in the past.
I've seen patients/parents take pics of wounds and the like on occasion. I never thought 'lawsuit' but probably just because these were patients who largely were pleasant, cooperative and seemed appreciative of our efforts. And coming from a 26 year old nurse who loves Facebook, I would bet my next paycheck that if I had some wound or OR scar in most places I would take pics and post them on Facebook because I just love to document everything that happens!
To me no biggie if a patient wants pics of their wound. I worked doing home care for a while and one family actually video taped the dressing change procedure for a patient with an extremely complex dressing change. I was really happy waling in there as a weekend fill in that i was able to watch a brief video before i set off to do this crazy dressing. Granted, the nurse in the video was the patient's daughter who could do one dressing change a day, but not the AM - so no actual staff was harmed in the making of the video :)
It's really no different than an x-ray, ultrasound, MRI, or CT. Scan. It's their body. It's just an area where a picture might not usually be taken. As a patient I've taken pictures of some pretty cool bruises, it's kind of a trophy. LOL. My husband just had ACL surgery, we took pictures of the knee so we could send to his mother. It's not a big deal. Provided, it's not of a delicate area.
Preteen boys (and older ones too) love to have pictures of lacerations before repair to show their friends. It gives them something to talk about during the repair, and they leave with a smile.
Snap away....just as long as 1. I don't have to take the picture 2. I am not in the picture and 3. The Ansel Adams/Diane Arbus wanna-be photo shoot doesn't interfere with the care and treatments that I am providing.
Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.
As far as I am concerned they have the right to photograph any part of their body that is an issue and in fact I encourage this if they have been involved in an accident or an infection acquired as a result of a negative medical event. If they have a complicated dressing change to do, I would welcome having a family member video the procedure so they would have a great reference when they are discharged. I have had photos taken with patients and their families that I know well and have developed a long term relationship with. We cannot take photos of any area of the patient without their consent.
it seems that everyone universally agrees that you can't take pictures of the nurse providing care, or of the dressing change.
why is that? is there something i haven't heard about in nursing school?! Da*n ASN what did they leave out?!! :)
I wouldn't want my picture taken without consent. Any part of me, even my hands, whatever....I don't know where that pic will end up. I don't want half my face on someone's Myspace page, for example....
I wouldn't want my picture taken without consent. Any part of me, even my hands, whatever....I don't know where that pic will end up. I don't want half my face on someone's Myspace page, for example....
photoshopped on someone elses body.....we have a right to control how our images are used.....no pic/no worry
this has been my concern since this thread started....that is why i made the point about large bulky cameras... they can not, for the most part be used in close quarters with out being obvious.....we dont know nec. when a camera phone is being used.....and we all know there are persons who wouldnt care if we had said no pictures, they would/will do it anyway it they want to
I agree with the fact that I don't want any part of my body in a picture without my consent. They can take all the pictures they want as long as I'm no where near being in the frame.
LOL at being photoshopped on someone else's body! That would be just my luck!
southernbeegirl, BSN, RN
903 Posts
there's a website that i love called popthatzit.com
there are tons of videos on there of docs doing I&Ds on them and the docs have allowed it. i love those videos,lol