Key lanyards around neck

[rickbren.lds]

I work at a nursing home with an administrator that is certifiable. One of the nurses locked keys in the med room and the administrator had to come in at 0200 to get the master key. As a result, she now requires all nurses to wear the keys along with a pulse ox around our neck. Several nurses have said that this is against safety guidelines. But no one will confront her. Is this a safety issue?? If so she may be getting a visit.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Only time that could be bad is if you're working in psych, I'd imagine.

Why only psych? Psych patients aren't restricted to the psych unit- they can be found on pretty much any hospital floor, nursing home, outpatient setting, what have you. Additionally, any patient can become confused, agitated, or combative and grab hold of anything around the nurse's neck, be it a lanyard, necklace, stethoscope, or anything else. Don't assume anything is safe.

[Glycerine82, LPN]

It's a bad idea, for sure. Not just in psych, but with ANY patients that aren't A&0x3. Just get lanyards that break away when pulled on.

[RunBabyRN]

There are breakaway lanyards, but I really prefer a retractable one for infection control purposes. Keys just always go in my pocket.

Is is there only one nurse on duty? When I was at a SNF, we had two nurses on nights, and both of us had keys to the med rooms, so if one of us locked our keys in there, we would have been ok. However, there was only one set of keys for each med cart, so if you managed to lock those keys inside somehow, you would have had to call someone in. I get headaches and back aches when I wear something heavy around my neck, so even if they keys were on a lanyard, I'd stick them in my pocket.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Where I work pretty much everyone wears lanyards; the length depends on the person wearing it and how long they like the 'dangle', if they are doing direct patient care or not. BUT all lanyards are required to be breakaways for safety.

Admin doesn't care what we hang around our necks, I guess, as long as it'll pop off without strangling us if a crazed person grabs it!

[fangirl]

We aren't allowed to wear keys. They have to be in your pocket.

[CopperEmerald]

I don't wear things around my neck at work. Period. Years of psych showed me that even the breakaway lanyards aren't foolproof. (Such as, when the patient grabs it and twists it around your neck, doesn't matter if it can 'break' or not if it's twisted). Nope, I wear a pretty retractable badge. If it's pulled hard enough, it'll come off and if it breaks, then I'll get a new one. If I ever thought a situation was going to involve a confused and/or agitated patient getting that close to my neck, I always took it off, as did my coworkers.

[loriangel14, RN]

All we have are badges, no keys for anything.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Only time that could be bad is if you're working in psych, I'd imagine.

Some of us work in psychiatric facilities, but ALL of us encounter psych patients. It's a fact of life.

[kool-aide, RN]

Some of us work in psychiatric facilities, but ALL of us encounter psych patients. It's a fact of life.

Great point, anyone can strangle you anywhere! :)

[firstinfamily, RN]

I also see the lanyard as a health risk in the sense of infection(a good way to transmit MRSA) and safety(choking hazard), why is there not a master key for the med cart. We had this and whenever someone took the med cart keys home or locked them in the med cart we would at least have the master key which was kept in the Nursing Administrator's office. Instead of blaming the nurses, the administrator needs to get her act together and have a back-up system in place. Poor management!!!

[~PedsRN~, BSN, RN]

Only time that could be bad is if you're working in psych, I'd imagine.

Or with toddlers. *choke choke gag*

[VampyrSlayer, CNA]

Until you get this resolved with your crazy administrator, could you wear a break away lanyard and wear it under your scrub top so it's not quite as appealing to grabby hands?