How do I find a nurse years later??

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I know this sounds silly, but back in 1998 I was in the Broward General Hospital for 10 days with a fractured femur, patella and foot. I had an amazing nurse that stood out above all of the rest; she made me feel comfortable and safe, and I will never forget her. She is one of the reasons I am attempting to go back to school for my BSN. I don't remember her name, but I really want to find her to thank her and see how she is doing. How can I go about doing this? Is it an impossible task? Just curious if anyone else has been in this situation. Realistically I know I'll probably never find her, but I would love to try.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

Hire a private detective? And no, I'm NOT meaning to be a smartypants. I'm really serious.

I'm sure they do missing person searches all the time and they would know all the legalities re privacy laws and stalking/harassment. Law enforcement does searches too so there must be folk out there who know how to do a search.

You're hampered in that you don't even have a name to start with.

I'd be curious how much they charge $.

There was a site from google that looked interesting for me to start.

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Specializes in ICU.

That's a tough one. At least you know what hospital you were in. Do you remember what unit? Maybe you could find the nurse manager for that unit and ask if she has records of the staffing for when you were in that unit.

Maybe you could go to medical records at that hospital and request a copy of your chart. It might just have who wrote what on it, and you could figure out who the nurse is from an assessment or note she charted.

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Specializes in Cardiac, Home Health, Primary Care.
That's a tough one. At least you know what hospital you were in. Do you remember what unit? Maybe you could find the nurse manager for that unit and ask if she has records of the staffing for when you were in that unit.

Maybe you could go to medical records at that hospital and request a copy of your chart. It might just have who wrote what on it, and you could figure out who the nurse is from an assessment or note she charted.

I agree with getting your medical records. There should be medicine administration records and assessments with the nurses information. With it being 18 years later it's possible the nurse manager may be helpful but not sure they could give you information. If you truly want the information for positive purposes and the nurse is still there sometimes they can use the story as a positive PR story for the organization.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Medical records are archived & destroyed at a point. Laws were different 18 years ago

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

Easiest way would be to look at the medical records from your hospital stay if they are still available. The staff that cared for you would probably be included, especially if nursing notes were kept as part of the record. Of course finding out who this nurse was if that is even possible is only the first step. You would then need to find out where she is now.

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Thank you all so much for the input. I will try the medical records first, then go from there. 18 years is a pretty long time, probably should have started looking sooner.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
Thank you all so much for the input. I will try the medical records first, then go from there. 18 years is a pretty long time, probably should have started looking sooner.

Good luck but be prepared that your records may be inaccessible if they even still exist.

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Keep us posted on what happens. This is so cool.

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