Nurse tracking devices

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

How do you guys feel about wearing tracking devices on your person? Your location displays on a computer screen where you are at inside the hospital at all times.

Thanks

I would LOVE to have these devices in my unit!!! Especially with the smoke-free environment coming.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I have worked at multiple facilities that use "tracking devices." It always seems like there is a marked increase in patient care in these facilities. CNA's are on the floor instead of wherever they get off to in non tracking facilities, and it seems like I get to care for my own pts instead of picking up the slack for other nurses who always seem to find someplace else to be in non tracking facilities. The only draw back is the big brother feeling, but guess what.... the fact that nursing continues to allow sorry nurses to work in our healthcare environments, instead of consistently reporting these sorry providers and facilitating their termination means we get what we deserve. If nurses would be accountable for reporting others who do not hold up the standard then we would not have to track each other to get rid of the ones who do not hold up the standard.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

The system we currently use, is a nurse locator. It is a device alittle smaller than a beeper. The nurses station has the master control, they press locate and can find the nurse and call into the area. It has pros and cons. Some people are overly dependent on it and other don't use it and look for the person. Like anything it is good as the users want it to be.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Why don't they just tag our ears like cattle and be done with it?

be careful what we ask for lol - second to last place i worked to clock in we hd to use fingerprint ID - no fingerprint no clocking in or out - wsa quite the laugh watching them try to get diabetics to work - we thought theyd make em use thier toes but they let them slide cause they didnt think they could get thier toes up that high lol. no joke!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in PACU/Cardiac/Nrsg. Mgmt./M/S.

most hospitals are going to this system. its in place so that the hospital can defend itself appropriately when patients and family members state that the nurse didn't arrive prompty when called, etc. so, in other words, it saves the hospitals the cost of a pricey lawsuit.

on the other hand, i believe that it is a personal invasion of privacy for the nurse. yes, nurses do tend to their patients properly, but what happens when the computer screen (they are all capable of being 'watched' and administration can print out a log of your whereabouts) doesn't show where the nurse might be and she in the bathroom because she has ibs with a couple of episodes a day (she couldn't miss work...perhaps a single mom or whatever and needs her pay) and it suddenly crops up on her review that on the average, she spent 12 additional minutes over her alotted break/lunch time, unavailable and unable to picked up by the computer screens?

i know that this has happened to a nurse before.

so the tracking devices are not only for patient safety, but also for the hospital to do exactly what the devices imitate: 'tracking' the nurses...

if that isn't an invasion of privacy, i don't know what is...

but then again...i believe nurses do not have full personal rights while working.

just my two cents :banghead:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
My supervisor has talked to us about a similar device that we may start using. Supposedly it will tell tptb who isn't answering lights in a timely fashion and if we spend too much time in the breakroom or the bathroom. All of this is because some bigwig complained that his wife waited too long to have her light answered on another floor. Not sure I will comply with wearing one.

Hate it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :scrying:

Ours downloads info into a computer so if management chooses they can figure out how much direct care is given to patients, how much time is spent "elsewhere". They say it can replace those dumb time studies we've been a part of, but I see where they can tell how many minutes/hours of a shift is spent in rooms with patients.

Some of our staff remove them and leave them in rooms LOL and "move the tracker" because they don't want their minutes accounted for!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac, Ortho, Surg.

I personally am offended at having to wear one and it's not because I am a slacker, to the contrary, I bust my butt. However after reading all the posts on this subject I can see where I could use it against the hospital I work at. The hospital automatically deducts a 30 minute lunch break whether you get one or not. In order to be compensated for not taking a lunch a time sheet correction form needs to be filled out each day you don't get a lunch. My unit director told me she would not approve my time correction forms anymore so I can tell her to access the tracking device and see where I am and that I did not get a lunch break.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I personally am offended at having to wear one and it's not because I am a slacker, to the contrary, I bust my butt. However after reading all the posts on this subject I can see where I could use it against the hospital I work at. The hospital automatically deducts a 30 minute lunch break whether you get one or not. In order to be compensated for not taking a lunch a time sheet correction form needs to be filled out each day you don't get a lunch. My unit director told me she would not approve my time correction forms anymore so I can tell her to access the tracking device and see where I am and that I did not get a lunch break.

Pam I Am: Wow. Ever wonder why nurses continue to put up with this crap?

How many professional people would put up with regularly not getting a lunch break? I find the "trackers" downright offensive, too. Ya think doctors would put up with this? Despite the strides the nursing profession has taken, there still are vestiges from when nurses were considered one notch up from prostitutes. The trackers, to my mind, is one of them.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac, Ortho, Surg.

Diahni I do wonder why nurses put up with this crap. If we stood together we could make a difference but too many nurses are afraid to rock the boat for fear of losing their jobs. If all nurses united then what could hospitals do but listen? Hospitals would be immobilized if nurses went on strike until conditions improved.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Diahni I do wonder why nurses put up with this crap. If we stood together we could make a difference but too many nurses are afraid to rock the boat for fear of losing their jobs. If all nurses united then what could hospitals do but listen? Hospitals would be immobilized if nurses went on strike until conditions improved.

The way I see it is you can have all the power in the world. Yes, hospitals would be in big trouble without nurses, eh? But if people don't get together and wield this power, what good is it? Looks like all the squabbles that happen between nurses would be put to better uses against a common foe. And yes, the hospitals can be formidable foes.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
The system we currently use, is a nurse locator. It is a device alittle smaller than a beeper. The nurses station has the master control, they press locate and can find the nurse and call into the area. It has pros and cons. Some people are overly dependent on it and other don't use it and look for the person. Like anything it is good as the users want it to be.

We have the same thing and I really like it. It saves a lot of time looking for people and decreases overhead announcements. I have been using them for 2 years and have never heard of anyone being tracked on where they were and for how long. We use the Hillrom call system. Maybe it has those capabilities, I am not sure. I don't feel violated one bit wearing it at work.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac, Ortho, Surg.

I would agree with you BSNgrad if we didn't also have pocket phones. I am usually called on my pocket phone rather than found by the locater. How many professional organizations/companies do you know that require only certain employees (nurses/cna's) to wear tracking devices? What about the Dr's, PT's, OT's, Social Workers, Housekeeping, Unit Clerks, Unit Supervisors, Maintenance, etc?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment