I am a nursing student who would like input on her school's policy on ID badges. We are currently required to display our full first and last name on our name tags at our clinical sites.
I contend that this is a significant safety risk to me and my fellow students, especially in light of recent incidents of violence against health care workers.
Would you be willing to share your stories with me? I am specifically looking for instances where a patient or visitor found out your last name and was able to harass you as a result. I may share a few of these anecdotes in my presentation, so please let me know if I can include your story.
I am aware of an OSHA document that recommends against the use of last names on ID badges. Do you know of any other news or scholarly articles I can present to them.
I guess in a small town it makes little difference...they know ya anyway...LOL! but in the big city, you can better believe I take steps to protect myself. Too many entitled, hostile nutcases who get pizzed at the nurse and immediately eyeballs (and remembers) the full name. They just don't need to have it so readily, IMHO.
I still don't put my last name on though. It is my right.
...with the HIPAA in effect, we are to be careful not to give any identifying info of a patient to anyone who hasn't a "need to know", for patient confidentiality. This can be difficult when a patient has a roommate and the Pt. is HOH and we need to talk loudly. But we are to be very confidential with pt. information. While I always address my pt. first by title and last name, mrs. jones. I will ask what they prefer to be called. Sometimes it is a nickname that has nothing to do with name ie, "Dude" or "Babe", etc. AS for nurses...
...we have our first names, last initial and title with picture on our badges. Each pt. has a white board with the name of the nurse, aide and med nurse for their shift, using our first names only. If I help another nurse with a pt. I will say something like," Hi, I am Jackie, RN. I am giving you the pain med you requested because your RN is with another pt. now and we don't want you to have to wait." If there is another Jackie that night, I will use our last initials.
...having our last names on our badges didn't seem like a big deal until I worked in psych ward (which I like), and was asked are you married many times by an unstable pt. Or the time we had a prisoner on the med floor with shackles and 3 cops in attendance...one at the door at all times and 2 in the room. I had to write up one of the cops for reading the pt. chart after I had already told him the chart was off limits to him(we had the charts outside the pt. room in wallaroos).
...when an irate family member asks for my name, I give it as jackie A., RN. I also document the conversation and that the fam member asked for my name. Sometimes it is just to intimidate the nurse, other times it is more serious. But I agree with those who say, why make it easy for the stalkers, etc.
Specializes in Infection Preventionist/ Occ Health.
I agree with what you've said about not going through life afraid. I don't. You also said "obviously this involves not doing stupid things"...and I very much agree with this also. I just think that for me, putting a badge with my full name on my chest or around my neck falls into that category. I respectfully acknowledge that this is not your opinion. We just see things differently.
I work in the ER and we all have our full first and last names on our badges. I am against it. The patient has a right to privacy and I believe the nurse does to. I have my last name whited out. It is not the HR Dept, or the CEO, or any other management that has to hand over a bag full of pot to the police as they are cutting the clothes off a trauma while their friends are standing in the hallway watching.
The nurse by definition does not have a right to privacy. The patient has the right to complain about you or even sue you. That means they have a right to your name. You can not remain anonymous unfortunately. Whether you have to display your last name on the name tag is another issue.
I myself have had a male patient start calling me at home and work... My phone number was in my grandfather's name but the patient called every number in the book with my last name until he got me. I never persued it legally, but it was a pain until he finally quit. Thank goodness for caller ID.
I have been a nurse for over 30 years and have never had a problem with having my last name on my badge. Where I work now, the ED nurses are the only ones who don't get their last names on their badges. As if they are the only ones who deal with the "crazies"? They are everywhere so if that is the philosophy, then no nurse should have their last name on their badge.
I have been a nurse for more then 30 years and can honestly say that only one client (yes, client not patient) ever looked and found my home. I am aware of no reliable scholarly research that addresses this issue although a review of literature will reveal a great deal of anecdotal stories.
The issue of harassment is somewhat overblown, I believe. The client, who showed up at my door, served 15 years for threatening me with a gun. While I was initially terrified, I could not imagine handing out a card with only my first name. Nor would I consider it very professional.
Grannynurse :balloons:
Hello! But on the other hand, you are a Primary Care Provider. That does make all the difference in the world.
Where I work we have our full names printed on our ID tag. However, we are permitted to cover our family name to protect our privacy. Some use white tape, others make a label of their own with just their first name and RN. I use an elastic band which is removable (in the event that I go to a professional function like a seminar, or when I need to pass my card through a magnetic card reader) and doesn't mar the ID card.
I have had two former patients look up my phone number and call me at home. One was a psych patient - a very creepy one - and another one called to invite me to her baby's christening. One was completely unwelcome, the other one was kind of flattering. But my phone number not listed under my family name anymore.
You might want to check your phone company's regulations to see if you can change the name used for your phone listing. In my area, you can list the phone number under any name you want, so I use my maiden name. You spare yourself the cost of an unlisted phone number, and you can give your number to the people you actually WANT to have calling you. It helps weed out the telemarketers too. :chuckle
In some places, it is a legal requirement, I believe. I do know that New York State law dictates that nurses on duty must wear a name tag that clearly identifies them and their designation. It is a consumer protection issue and part of being a professional that renders care to the public.
Would you want an MD that you do not know the last name of?
While I am not at all happy with the requirement, I can understand the reasoning behind it. By the same token, there are patients that would probably not want some of us to know their last names and extensive medical issues but we need them to do our jobs.
That said, I have never (!!!!) had a patient track me down outside of work. And I have been working in many locales and for at least 13 years.
At our hospital, we do have only our first name with our title - RN, LVN, CNA, etc. If I understand our state board correctly, it is more concerned with identifying title than it is our full name. When I first started working there, we did have our full name on our badges, but that was changed after a nurse (who just so happens to be my aunt) was harassed by an irate husband of a patient. This guy was completely crazy and was suspected of leading to his wife's death - she was on peritoneal dialysis and he was adding insulin to her dialysis solution and not giving her sc insulin. What finally sent him completely over the edge was when the ICU nurse taking care of her called him to get phone consent for a blood transfusion for a critical low hemoglobin and he refused phone consent stating he would be in later. When it started approaching a couple hours, the nurse called his son and he gave phone consent for the transfusion. My aunt was not the one who called (nor could be mistaken for the other nurse - a guy.) He just happened to recognize her last name and he worked years ago with one of my uncles and he started calling our family and harassing. The last name is an unusual one, so it was easy for him to find her. For weeks after that, ICU had stationed security on the unit in case he decided to carry out some of the threats he made. Makes me nervous, we just did a merger and they are talking about adding our last names again. We have four nurses in our family that work at this facility and I can guarantee none of us will be quiet about it if they do try it!!
If you don't want people to be able to look you up, it's a good idea to get an unlisted number/address. If someone really wants to know where you live all they have to do is follow you from the hospital.
Unfortunately, the phone book is not the only way people can look people up. There are so many databases on the internet that give all that information, some including your birth date. I and several of my classmates did just that when searching for alumni for our high school class reunion. In this age of technology, it's not quite that easy.
Some state (FL being one of them) are looking at making public records for health care professionals "classified." Currently, I think Law Enforcement is the only profession afforded this protection. The other option is you can all go become the police! Then, you're information won't be public, and you can lawfully protect yourself!
Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN
11,305 Posts
I still don't put my last name on though. It is my right.
steph