impersonating a Dr. warning

z's playa · Sep 26, 2004

You know what they say.....hindsight is 20/20.

It's good to follow your gut instinct because as women, our sensory network is highly sensitive to danger signals. You may feel a little foolish at reporting someone suspicious looking but if it turns out you were right...

And if you're wrong...the person your suspicions were directed at will probably understand given the present situation at large.

We have clip on name tags that say we're students I guess because our school is attached to the hospital. We haven't been asked to wear them yet though.

tmiller027 · Sep 26, 2004

You know what they say.....hindsight is 20/20.
It's good to follow your gut instinct because as women, our sensory network is highly sensitive to danger signals. You may feel a little foolish at reporting someone suspicious looking but if it turns out you were right...
And if you're wrong...the person your suspicions were directed at will probably understand given the present situation at large.
We have clip on name tags that say we're students I guess because our school is attached to the hospital. We haven't been asked to wear them yet though.

My school gives us really goofy looking uniforms with patches that say "ADN Nursing Student" and nametags that say the same thing. I noticed at the local hospital, a ton of employee's name badges are flipped around.

oldiebutgoodie, RN · Sep 27, 2004

Just a warning. Here in houston, we are on alert for a man whose posing as a physician and has assualted 3 women at a local hospital. We have a sketch posted for him, but even in other areas it could happen. My hospital is a teaching hospital and we have new residents and fellows all the time. Luckily our secretary at the front desk is very demanding of everyone having a name badge....flipped the right way. I am more watchful now...but must saw, I never thought of this before. The male had on scrubs a white jacket, stethescope..professional looking apparantly and had a flipped over badge so no one looked at him suspiciously.

Wow. I am a student with clinicals at a large urban teaching hospital. There are TONS of people running around the floors--nursing students, medical students, pharm students, PT and OT students, etc... The possibility of somebody sneaking in is scary, because it would be so easy.

Thanks for the heads-up.

Oldiebutgoodie

wam79 · Sep 27, 2004

I hear of hospitals getting robbed the same way. Guy with a lab coat and clip board takes the TV, computer or whatever for "repair". Stay alert. Be safe

sharann, BSN, RN · Sep 27, 2004

You know, I had a pediatric patient I was recovering one evening, and the family kept calling and trying to come in. I usually allow visitors of peds, but this was a very large and intrusive family(with crying mother etc...). I let the waiting room and desk and nursing office(ALL 3 called within 15 minutes) know that the kiddo was doing fine and we would be taking her up within 30 minutes. WELL, one female tried sneaking in but we redirected her. The patient was delerious on awakening(common with children )and we were trying to manage her pain and calm her. It is OUR call when to permit family in. Then a man comes in and says "I'm a doctor and her uncle and I'm sorry I just had to come see how she is" He then goes and kisses her. I am sure he was her uncle, but as for a doctor, how would I know. So I let him see her and threw him out nicely. I late found out he is an Internist in another hospital. So my long point is, you NEVER know who is around unless you are vigilant about checking.

mattsmom81 · Sep 27, 2004

In our crazy work environments it is always good to be alert to people around us we don't recognize, and be careful what we say in front of them if we're not sure exactly who they are.They could be there for sinister purposes like robbery or assault, or just there trying to glean protected health information. A woman in a labcoat was found sitting reading a chart at my post in a hospital I do agency with. Since I don't know everybody, its not my place to question her being there and assumed she was a doc or a nurse. Well, she had been given permission to sit there and read a chart by another nurse I was working with. No doc tho...she was the daughter of a patient in the unit and also an attorney. This was not brought to our attention so she possibly heard things in the station she should not have heard. A little communication among staff goes a long way with this sort of thing, but with today's 'open visiting' policies its almost like we can't even open our mouths and give report at the desk anymore...unless we're whispering we may be violating HIPAA.

nahjah · Sep 27, 2004

When we were doing our maternity rotation last semester, we used to meet in the nursery on the L&D floor (it isn't used unless there is a problem). We normally have to wear white pants and white tops but for maternity and peds, we were allowed to wear a colored top as long as our school patch was on it. Well, one morning, during change of shift, we were standing around waiting for report and assignments. In the back of the room was a lady standing there wearing scrubs and a name badge- it was flipped around. No one thought anything about it at first because we all thought she was a nurse on the floor. However, she told the unit secretary that she was a student and was directed to the nursery. We all got report and assignments and went onto the floor. On the floor, all of the children under 5 must wear a code alert bracelet- if it goes past a certain point on the floor, the code alarm goes off. About 2 minutes later, the fire alarm went off and we saw the lady running down the hall with a backpack on and a baby blanket sticking out the back. When the fire alarm goes off, all of the doors automatically open and the code alarm for the kids is disabled. We all went to check on our assigned patients and then stood by the door to make sure no one left the room. Security came up and were trying to figure out why the doors had unlocked. Meanwhile, the lady was out in her car. 15 minutes later, she came back onto the floor with the bag. The hospital that we were at is affiliated with a hospital 30 minutes away and she works for that other hospital. She was sent to do a drill to see if the staff would respond accordingly to a child kidnapping, and only the administrators knew. Well, all of the staff on the floor passed (except for the unit secretary who didn't check her ID) but the problem was with security. Instead of following her, they were more concerned about why the doors had become unlocked and unalarmed. Needless to say, the next day they had a company in to try to make sure that if the situation were to arise again, there would be a different outcome. very scary because she knew how to play both sides!

allnurses Guide · Sep 28, 2004

About those flipped name tags, mine usually is but not on purpose. I am always looking down and putting it right. Lots of us have this problem, there is something about the clipon thingie that won't stay right. I've tried turning it over, rehanging, you name it, but my picture and name is usually inside.

allnurses Guide · Sep 28, 2004

Our hospital CEO showed up one evening, standing at the desk asking questions. I asked him who he was (comeon, how many of us know our CEOs by face, especially on the night shift?), he said his name (no title, no position), I thought for a minute, then asked if he was the CEO? and where was his badge? I made him put it on! Every time he's been back, if he doesn't have it on he starts grabbing for it when he sees me. :rotfl:

sharann, BSN, RN · Sep 28, 2004

I hate tthat our badges always turn upsidedown...so, how do we keep 'em forward facing? We are required to wear two badges. One has our picture and status, the one behind it is a type of "key/ID card" for clocking in and accessing restricted areas. I have yet to figure out how to keep them on straight.

z's playa · Sep 28, 2004

My school gives us really goofy looking uniforms with patches that say "ADN Nursing Student" and nametags that say the same thing. I noticed at the local hospital, a ton of employee's name badges are flipped around.

Sad you have to look like a geek while everyone else looks cool :chuckle

Someday...tmiller027......someday!