Light at the End of the Tunnel: RN to BSN

Dear Nurse Beth, I work in a Hospice In-pt unit which rents space in a hospital. The hospice has installed its own cameras in the nurses station and med room. When the technician was there, a nurse asked if the recordings were recording all conversations. His reply was he was not at liberty to say. I live in Florida where, I believe, prohibits conversations recording without a person’s knowledge. If I question this, they will find a way to fire me. Any suggestions?

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Light at the End of the Tunnel: RN to BSN

Dear Being Videotaped at Work,

With the caveat that I am not an attorney, the short answer is I do believe your Florida employer has to notify you if you are being audio recorded in the workplace. Please consult an attorney as a legal answer is beyond my scope, but here is my best understanding.

How to Find Out if You Are Being Recorded

If you have a union, contact your union representative regarding your privacy rights. You say you are concerned about retaliation if you ask the question, but it does seem extreme to fire an employee for asking a manager or Human Resources "Am I being audio recorded at work?". It's understandable, though, if you are working in an environment that breeds fear such as you describe.

If you know someone in IT, ask them if employees are being audio recorded-they'll know.

Video Recording

Employees have fewer privacy rights at work than at home and employers can use video surveillance for legitimate business reasons. Recording staff at the nurses' station and in the med room, which are work areas, is legitimate. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) is federal and does not prohibit video monitoring. The fact that your facility installed cameras in these two employer-protected areas says that most likely they are aware of and understand the law and employee's privacy rights.

Employers can monitor telephone calls, keyboard strokes, email...anything and everything electronic as well. For example, if you used your work device (computer) to go on E-Bay or facebook a year ago....your employer has the ability to pull it up.

However, states can define what constitutes acceptable video surveillance at work. Not all have done so. California, Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Rhode Island and West Virginia all have placed some limits on video recording of employees, mostly in bathrooms and changing areas. That means that other areas are permitted.

Common law, which governs video surveillance, says that employers can videotape employees as long as it doesn't violate "reasonable privacy" (break rooms and bathrooms). Essentially, you employer's right to videotape you trumps your individual privacy when you are in the work setting and on the clock.

Audio Recording

According to the American Bar Association retrieved February 2016, "Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) also applies to audio monitoring of the workplace. Employers can install recording devices in any location that is used primarily for work. But employers may not conduct audio recording of nonworking areas such as cafeterias, break rooms, or locker rooms. In practice, this means little because employers are not required to notify employees that they are being recorded and employees are unlikely to discover the hidden microphone."

However, Florida and a handful of other states have further defined and supersede this by enacting their own laws that do require "two-part" consent when being audio recorded. That means if you are being audio recorded, your employer in Florida must, at the very least, inform you.

In general, courts are on the side of the employer in cases of individual privacy versus employer's rights.

Actually, in our hi-tech world, if you think about it, you can pretty much assume that you are being recorded or can be recorded almost anywhere you go. 7-11, walking downtown, shopping in a store.

Bottom line is, be 100% professional when on the clock. It can work to your favor-I have used this tip as an aid in my own personal growth and communication- I imagine that I am being recorded as I speak, and that the recording will later be published in public, or for my mother to hear, or on Dateline.

It really, really, helps me to be professional and courteous. As you can imagine. ? Thanks for your great question. Let us know what you find out.

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Nurse Beth

About Nurse Beth, MSN

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Nurse Beth is an Educator, Writer, Blogger and Subject Matter Expert who blogs about nursing career advice.

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Specializes in Psych,LTC,.

Actual legal rights, and rights as a human being can be pretty far apart. Facilities relying on video evidence for employee monitoring can be very intimidating, and interfere with workflow. At one facility there was an issue about how long a patient was on a bedpan regarding a CNA. It was a week before it was brought to my attention, and through the investigation I was grilled mercilessly, now mind you, I usually don't document what time , on a floor of 50, an aid puts someone on a bedpan. I was asked what time, and I week later I'm scratching my head...after my med pass....but before this one's PRN, so maybe x o'clock. "well the video shows you were here at x o'clock not there, but you went into this other patient's room momentarily, why", I don't know, maybe the call bell went off. etc, etc. and I told them I heard about it, I talked to the aid, and it'll never happen again. My nerves were so wracked I could hardly work after that. and following days I was so concerned where I was when, at what time, in what order that I barely had enough headspace left to do my work.

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Specializes in Orthopedics, Med-Surg.

Time to find a new employer if it bothers you. Who wants to work under Big Brother?

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Specializes in Psych,LTC,.

I didn't last much longer, my nerves were shot.

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Specializes in Psych,LTC,.

They also had computerized med cart that would report you anytime you were outside preset parameters. So even if the patient was in the bathroom and you had to come back later, the DON would get an E-mail that you would have to answer for. Most nurses found ways to circumvent the system, but, It wasn't something I wanted to do..

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Specializes in Orthopedics, Med-Surg.

The best way around that is a to-do list combined with a willingness for subterfuge. The med cart may be able to report when you took the meds out but perhaps not when you actually give them. If that's the case, take the meds out within parameters, make a notation on your to-do list, and then actually give them at your first opportunity. If the patient's in the bathroom, hide the meds in their room until you actually give them. Scratch off the entry on your to-do list as you get it done. Your to-do list ought to be completely obliterated by the end of shift.

A lot of places these days require scanning a patient's wrist band to show when you gave the meds. Just get a copy of their bar code off their chart and you can scan them whenever you need to.

There is always a way to beat the system. I'm very glad I no longer work in it. Retired without a gig mark in several years before I did retire, too.

For those who are offended at my less than procedurally correct coping mechanisms: I didn't start the war. 7-8 med-surg patients on a day shift; 12 patients on a night shift drove me to it. I got tired of being written up for things Florence Nightingale herself couldn't have accomplished on time.

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Most places, hospitals or private practices have some type of monitoring. That is just the way the world is today. Always try to behave like you are being watch. I usually forget about the monitors. I agree that nurses, will make it happen. I have been telling managers that for years. If your facility makes it difficult for the nurses to do their jobs without cheating. the nurses will cheat. sometimes the nurses think it is more important to document they did something than to actually do it. this is so dangerous. Example. I was at a facility where it was required for the nurse to address the patient's care plan each shift. the computer automatically created nursing care plans with every change in the patient condition. Even temporary changes. I saw one patient with 23 nursing diagnoses. I asked the nurse how on earth is it possible to address all those diagnoses in one shift. she replied "F12" . F12 was the key, hit for "progressing towards goal." and that is how it is done. The nurse did not even look at the care plan. just hit the key.

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Specializes in Private Duty Pediatrics.

I work in the home care setting, pediatrics. Most homes nowadays have nursery monitors. The monitor is aimed at the crib, and the receiver is in the parents room. So, I am being audio recorded all the time, and everything I do with the child while he is in the crib is visible to the parents. In addition, it doesn't matter if the bedroom door is closed, a parent may enter whenever they want.

Hey, this is their child, and they want to protect him. And yes, the child does need protection from some nurses. I've heard some horror stories. It shouldn't happen, and the nurse in each case was not allowed back in the home, but this is the reality that some parents live with.

Nurse Beth pointed out that in our high-tech world, we are being recorded a lot! Yeah, the potential for Big Brother to intrude is there, but I don't know how we can turn back the clock.

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Unfortunately, easier said than done sometimes :-(

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I feel that is very different than the situation "Being videotaped at work" is writing about. Like you, I feel in your setting, the nursery being videotaped is completely understandable as it involves the physical safety of a child, dependent on others for 100% of it's needs to live. Hospitals videotaping nurse's stations I feel is inappropriate though videotaping a med. room I see as acceptable. I work in an outpatient primary care clinic where all areas except bathrooms and exam rooms are videotaped. We literally have them right above our desks and also in our break room. Interestingly enough, there isn't one aimed at the employee entrance/exit door. I'm told it was installed when employee's personal items went missing. How about locked cabinets instead of constant monitoring making you feel as if your every breath is being watched? Typically I agree with giving up certain freedoms in exchange for increased public/personal safety (i.e. TSA checkpoints, sobriety checkpoints, mandatory seatbelt use, cameras in medication rooms etc.). I feel many employers take it way too far. Along that line, I think it is ABSOLUTELY appalling that employers can review potential employees PERSONAL credit reports for jobs that have NO contact with money. Stepping down off my soapbox.

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Specializes in psych.
sometimes the nurses think it is more important to document they did something than to actually do it. this is so dangerous.

I think about that when someone says "You know what they say, 'If you didn't document it you didn't do it." What if you documented it and you didn't do it?

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Specializes in Orthopedics, Med-Surg.
I think about that when someone says "You know what they say, 'If you didn't document it you didn't do it." What if you documented it and you didn't do it?

You mean like q1Hr nursing checks? Personally, I never missed a single one but that was only because I was a superior nurse. I believe those other people were all lying. :rolleyes:

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