Protecting yourself from disgruntled patients

toomuchbaloney · Mar 30, 2014

I have not.

But...my phone number has NEVER been published in the phone book online or in print.

My address has always been private as well.

psychRNmom2 · Mar 30, 2014

I have not.
But...my phone number has NEVER been published in the phone book online or in print.
My address has always been private as well.

Mine isn't either, but if I google myself I can pay $9.95 to get my address. It already lists my name, age and places I have lived without paying.

Larry77, RN · Mar 30, 2014

It was an uncomfortable change for me because I also came from the Inpatient Psych world, but I have not run into any issues. Usually I'm one degree away from what the patients are "disgruntled" about. Most of the complaints I deal with are patients that are unhappy with the MD or the bill but not me. I feel like when I was the one restraining them, or the one not giving them meds, or not allowing them to leave, I was more at risk than now that I'm the one dealing with their complaint days later.

When I give my business card (which is not every time), it even has my work cell number on it...that was also scary to me, but I have had no issues thus far.

Larry

toomuchbaloney · Mar 30, 2014

Mine isn't either, but if I google myself I can pay $9.95 to get my address. It already lists my name, age and places I have lived without paying.

that is interesting to me.

if I google my name I come up with a LinkedN and FB reference, neither of which hold my address or phone number. No other history about residences, age, etc is available to me. My FB is as private as I can make it.

My information was unavailable to the White Pages before the internet was more than an infant and before the time of cellphones and digital doppelgangers. I have always been very private about my personal information. Perhaps that is why?

psychRNmom2 · Mar 30, 2014

that is interesting to me.
if I google my name I come up with a LinkedN and FB reference, neither of which hold my address or phone number. No other history about residences, age, etc is available to me. My FB is as private as I can make it.
My information was unavailable to the White Pages before the internet was more than an infant and before the time of cellphones and digital doppelgangers. I have always been very private about my personal information. Perhaps that is why?

I should clarify. The same shows up if I google myself. But if I look myself up on whitepages.com, that information shows up. Since graduating college, I have always only had a cellphone so I was never in the phonebook.

psychRNmom2 · Mar 30, 2014

It was an uncomfortable change for me because I also came from the Inpatient Psych world, but I have not run into any issues. Usually I'm one degree away from what the patients are "disgruntled" about. Most of the complaints I deal with are patients that are unhappy with the MD or the bill but not me. I feel like when I was the one restraining them, or the one not giving them meds, or not allowing them to leave, I was more at risk than now that I'm the one dealing with their complaint days later.
When I give my business card (which is not every time), it even has my work cell number on it...that was also scary to me, but I have had no issues thus far.
Larry

We use our personal cell phones so my personal cell phone number is on my business card and I never give it out to patients. I think I need to have separate cards with only my office number listed. I am not always removed from the situation since I staff the unit part time so that adds another layer of complexity.

MrChicagoRN, RN · Mar 30, 2014

My first and last name is known to all my patients, just as they know their doctors names.

Even though my number is unlisted, there's enough public information out there on the Internet that they could fairly easily find me if they really wanted to. However, I've never had a problem.