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Hi, I was recently informed that I had to have my picture taken for a "new project" at our hospital. Nsg admin is gonna take all staff nurses pics and then put them up in the rooms of the patients that nurse is assigned to for the shift. I find that a little bit strange myself. We are a small community hospital (25 beds including ICU and OB) and everyone works 12 hr shifts, so it's not like we r continually changing assignments, staff, etc. Does anyone else have anything like this where they work? we also have the white boards with r name, title, doc, etc in every room.
don't laugh. my hospital wants to put a digital picture of their nurse for the day on their flat screen -- as one of their channel choices.
how incredibly exciting for the pt...
and how incredibly embarrassing for that poor nurse.
how creepy would it be if you noticed your pt was watching you non-stop for 12 hours?
i am laughing
How does putting up a picture of a patient's nurse for the shift impinge on the nurse's right to privacy? Unless the nurse is working with a bag on their head the patient is seeing their face.Why not put your address and phone numbers up as well? Don't nurses have privacy rights too?
As for the OP's situation, I don't see a lot of point in such a small facility. In larger hospitals where there can be a steady stream of people through a room it can be difficult (for a patient) to keep track of which one was actually their nurse.
My job does this. They introduced the idea first as a 'welcome board' at the entry to the unit - a list of all the staff (including secretaries, housekeepers, maintenance, etc) on our unit and a photo of each of us. The actual event of taking the photos and making the board was handled so poorly that I'm surprised no one complained. I heard the photographer telling one nurse, (who was upset to be photographed, as she felt heavy after just having her baby), "don't worry, I'm definitely photoshopping you! You need it!
So, they made the board. No one looks at it, ever, except other employees who enjoy snarking on others. Next, they decided they wanted to make a welcome pamphlet. Again, they snuck up on us and took candid photos, some of which showed you in the midst of patient care. Oy. Last, they decided they wanted to make videos showcasing our enthusiasm and asked us to sign up or 'be given a role'.
(I didn't show up for that last one but was never reprimanded.)
This photo on the whiteboard thing is the newest one. To those who asked - it is (of course) the nurse's job to put your photo on the board and fill it out. I wonder what's next. *sigh
How incredibly exciting for the pt...And how incredibly embarrassing for that poor nurse.
How creepy would it be if you noticed your pt was watching you non-stop for 12 hours?
I am laughing
Bit of a thread hijack here. when I was a working as a student nurse, I sat a 1:1 with a suicidal pt who had a psych hx and polysubstance abuse. He sat and stared at me until he fell asleep. when someone came in his room, he realized he rolled over, and wasn't facing me anymore, so he promptly turned over stared at me until he fell asleep again. Wash, rinse and repeat over and over.
I later ran into the pt again when he was admitted for psychosis, he was highly delusional. He had some e-lyte imbalances so wasn't medically cleared for psych. He remembered me, tried to corner me in his room, said I was his long lost love.
That said, there are creeps out there...I just try to be as safe as possible, and take what measures I can. I always notify security and management if I feel any sort of threat. I worked with a nurse who was stabbed by a pt, tends to make one a trust those gut instincts a bit more.
I don't think having pictures of nurses in the room is a big deal, frankly if the pt wants s/he can just take one with theier phone and you would never know. I'm sure nurses who work in L&D/mother&baby have their photos taken all the time.
What I greatly dislike more than anything is the touchy feely pts and families. Patting hands or arms is ok, but hugs or even worse when they try to kiss my hand or cheek eeekkk.
i had a neighbor who followed me around, peeking in the space between the mini-blinds and the window frame...had to put duct tape up. finally had enough stalking and was let out of my lease. when she saw me go to the u-haull, she stopped me and said "i really did love you" (she was 78, and her husband hit the road for the library every morning on foot)....
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh
xtxrn, ASN, RN
4,267 Posts
I think it stinks, also....but, the illiteracy (or functional illiteracy) rate.....NOT including those who don't speak English well from a host of countries, and lousy name tags that don't identify clearly who is from what department are big issues (check out old threads re: people saying they're nurses when they're not- there are LOADS of them).