Personal Address Disclosed to the public? what does this mean?

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I hold an RN license in several states as my husbands job keeps us forever moving, I see that it says our address is disclosed to the public? when I look up my licensure from outside my account it does not show my personal address? so what exactly does this mean? The area I work in currently is Psych and we do not even have our full names on our badges- is it possible these patients can find out my home address through the board of nursing? this would be unsettling. Can someone explain to me what this means? thanks (:

I worked in-patient psych for two years. If a patient is off their meds, and is psychotic, they can react physically, and amazingly very quickly. Never come up to a patient from behind, and certainly don't touch them. A friendly tap on the shoulder can cause chaos. In reality they are more likely to hurt themselves. Heroin addicts can become angry once the realize they will not get what they were seeking, and their behavior can escalate once determine they are on a locked unit. I never felt I was in danger.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
I am more unsettled that a nurse who is working in Psych and is afraid the patients are somehow a danger to her!

Patients with serious psychiatric illness are not a danger to the public, including any care givers they come into contact with during their hopspitlization.

I would say that this is a gross over generalization of psychiatric patients. I have been working in acute in patient psych for 17 years and while I agree that many of our patients are pretty harmless I was seriously injured by a patient I never would have guessed was violent until he hit me in the face and broke my nose. Every psych patient with a diagnosis of psychosis has the potential for violence. The hospital where I work is in a small community where I also live and I have on occasion encountered some of our frequent flyers in the community. We exchange hello's and that's usually it.

Still I would be a bit nonplussed if I thought My address was just out there easily accessible on some public website. Still I have two handguns and a beautiful Benelli Over Under 828U under my bed so I really don't worry too much.

Hppy

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
I am more unsettled that a nurse who is working in Psych and is afraid the patients are somehow a danger to her!

Patients with serious psychiatric illness are not a danger to the public, including any care givers they come into contact with during their hopspitlization.

Not all patients on a psychiatric unit have a serious psychiatric illness. Some are criminals who may or may not have a psychiatric illness. Nurses on a psychiatric unit should not presume they are safe.

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I am more unsettled that a nurse who is working in Psych and is afraid the patients are somehow a danger to her!

Patients with serious psychiatric illness are not a danger to the public, including any care givers they come into contact with during their hopspitlization.

I beg to differ. I've seen and heard of numerous staff seriously injured by Psych patients. What makes you think Psych is not dangerous?

And since Psych patients are not always cared for on a Psych floor, they can be dangerous wherever they are - the ER, ICU, clinics, etc.

Also, patients on locked Psych wards are often still a threat to themselves or others. And there is often insufficient staff for personnel on those wards to feel truly safe.

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I am more unsettled that a nurse who is working in Psych and is afraid the patients are somehow a danger to her!

Patients with serious psychiatric illness are not a danger to the public, including any care givers they come into contact with during their hopspitlization.

Are you kidding me? They can and do get out of the hospital and they can and will look caregivers up. I've had patients try to add me to social media, ask for me phone number/address, etc.

Why would you EVER think they would not be a danger?

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Yes an unmedicated or inadequately medicated psychiatric patient can be very violent. I was the night superviser in a hospital with a locked psychiatric facility. I have responded to our version of codes for violent patients, I have had to call the sheriff dept., which fortunately was located next door, when our in hospital response was not enough.

Medicated psych patients who are treated and discharged are not to be feared.

You are preventing the public from admitting they need psychiatric help.

You are implying if an acquaintance, friend, or relative, has a psychiatric illness you need to be cautious around them, they might become violent.

"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough inta an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you" Nietzsche

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Not all patients on a psychiatric unit have a serious psychiatric illness. Some are criminals who may or may not have a psychiatric illness. Nurses on a psychiatric unit should not presume they are safe.

Agree. My facility had a guy who escaped a few years ago. He wasn't found for months. He was arrogant and manipulative and smart enough to pass all the shrink evals and earn his way to minimum security. Then *poof* gone.

Some of the patients I've seen are really, really sick and have no organization skills where they could plan ahead to look up caregivers and go after them personally. But some are also sociopaths who had great lawyers or made great deals with law enforcement to be in the facility vs jail. And if given the chance, they sure as hell know how to get their revenge and hurt people. One guy had his people on the outside planting guns for his use to try and escape from the hospital. Better safe than sorry.

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Specializes in ICU.
I am more unsettled that a nurse who is working in Psych and is afraid the patients are somehow a danger to her!

Patients with serious psychiatric illness are not a danger to the public, including any care givers they come into contact with during their hopspitlization.

Really? I know several nurses who have been stalked. Several of my classmates got stalked at various points during nursing school.

Who cares that it's psych patients? Any patients can be stalkers, whether they're psych patients or not. I've had patients and patient family members both try to track me down and harass me through Facebook, and I don't even use my real last name on there. People are creepy in general. You must be a very trusting person if you trust the general public with your personal information. I certainly don't.

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brownbook with all due respect you have not had the experiences I have had. You can go ahead and blindly judge and that's fine - I in fact have had violent rapists and criminals as patients with sheriffs at the beside and have had threats made against my life by pts with psychiatric illnesses.Until you've had a violent rapist tell you how beautiful your hair and ass look and he'll see you soon with a knife to your throat ....then you can talk to me about being unsettled.

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