Our admin is adamant that our last names be visible on our name badges. We've all done the cover-it-up-with-tape thing, but she has us remove the tape. Last night made me really think about this policy.
Had a just released inmate from prison who flipped because he couldn't smoke. He started throwing things and we had to call security. Three of us were holding him down while we waited (and waited) for security. He let loose a string of threats that I will try to tone down...to the effect of 'I'm gonna rape you, you f-ing whores, I'll rape you in your *** and afterward I'll bash your brains in, you'll find out what pain really is...blah blah'...this went on for about five minutes, MUCH more graphic than the above.
Now I for one, have an unusual name--there is only one of me in this town. What else can I do besides go unlisted in the phonebook? He could even look me up by name under Florida's Nursing Board, too I think. I hate to over-react, but I'd hate to be sorry later.
Our admin is adamant that our last names be visible on our name badges. We've all done the cover-it-up-with-tape thing, but she has us remove the tape. Last night made me really think about this policy.
Had a just released inmate from prison who flipped because he couldn't smoke. He started throwing things and we had to call security. Three of us were holding him down while we waited (and waited) for security. He let loose a string of threats that I will try to tone down...to the effect of 'I'm gonna rape you, you f-ing whores, I'll rape you in your *** and afterward I'll bash your brains in, you'll find out what pain really is...blah blah'...this went on for about five minutes, MUCH more graphic than the above.
Now I for one, have an unusual name--there is only one of me in this town. What else can I do besides go unlisted in the phonebook? He could even look me up by name under Florida's Nursing Board, too I think. I hate to over-react, but I'd hate to be sorry later.
I have a friend that was stalked in this manner, and NO LAST NAMES on badges is a good idea. If it wasn't for my friend's last name on her badge (she too has a distinctive last name), she wouldn't have had to go thru the breaking and entering of her home, and worse yet, the attempted rape by a psycho she treated and was nice to in the ER where she works! Who knows what some mentally disturbed people think, or what thought processes their minds go thru?
I used to work in the county jail as a detention officer. Our names plates had our first initial and last name. We were to be called by our last names by fellow workers and by the inmates. We were required to have an unlisted phone number.
I can remember a couple of (newsworthy) stalking incidents of detention employees in this area in the last 25 years, or so. One resulted in a murder, but there was more contact (personal) between the inmate and the detention officer than just run-of-the-mill, workaday experience. Most inmates, when released from jail have much more pressing matters on their minds than stalking detention officers and other sheriff's office employees, but every now and then... well, you know, it only takes one. I can pretty well assure you, if somebody like this is going to stalk you, they usually won't be looking your name up in the phone book, (although some might - hence the unlisted number), to find you. They will follow you home.
In my opinion and experience, it is much more important to take precautions against being followed, than hiding your name. Always be aware of who is around you. Park in different areas. Take different routes home. Change clothes before leaving work. Don't go straight home, etc..
People say some pretty horrendous things when they are being held against their will - and especially while being restrained. When they are freed they are as likely to flee the trap, and never look back, as a rabbit. Still, it's important to be careful.
In my opinion and experience, it is much more important to take precautions against being followed, than hiding your name. Always be aware of who is around you. Park in different areas. Take different routes home. Change clothes before leaving work. Don't go straight home, etc..
People say some pretty horrendous things when they are being held against their will - and especially while being restrained. When they are freed they are as likely to flee the trap, and never look back, as a rabbit. Still, it's important to be careful.
I agree. If people choose to focus on being afraid of clients, that's your choice, but it's going to affect your clinical practice and your interaction with clients, and not in a good way. If you look at the literature (not that there is much; I'm including a couple links at the end of this post) you'll see that the few studies done on the subject of mental health clinicians being stalked by clients show that the rate of stalking is somewhere between (depending on which study you're looking at) 6 - 11%. Guess what? That's about the same rate of stalking of members of the general public -- so you have about the same risk of being stalked by someone who has nothing to do with your employment as you do of being stalked by a client. The literature also reports that pychiatrists and psychologists are much more likely to be stalked by clients than mental health nurses. The literature also talks about all the interventions/steps/training that can (should) be provided to staff to help minimize the risk of stalking that have nothing to do with name tags.
You are much more likely to be assaulted at work, on the unit. You are much more likely to have any number of awful things happen to you than being stalked by a client. To me, it's the same phenomenon as people who are perfectly comfortable riding in cars but are scared to death to fly because they're afraid of dying in a plane crash. We all know (or should, anyway) that we're much more likely, statistically, to be injured or killed in a MVA (or in our own bathtub/shower, for that matter) than a plane crash -- but it's the dramatic, rare, unlikely risks that people are scared of. Please note, I'm not saying that plane crashes don't happen and people don't die in them -- just that the risk is much less than any number of "normal," everyday risks to which we never give a second thought ...
To me, the whole "client stalking me" thing is the same kind of issue. The risk is so much lower than other risks I take every day that I don't worry about it, beyond being safe and alert in my practice. I'm also quite confident that, of all the factors that might play into whether I'm ever stalked by a client, what my name tag says will be the least significant issue ...
Specializes in ER, ICU, Infusion, peds, informatics.
when i was in college, i volunteered for a crisis line. through a series of major manipulation on the caller's part, and some (in retrospect) pretty stupid things on our part, one of our "repeat callers" was able to get the names of some of our volunteers. i want to emphasize, however, that the caller did some major manipulation (and we were young and naive).
there are several of us who were then stalked for many months, although i got the worst of it because i was the only one who lived alone. nothing really major -- my car was spray-painted, lights broken on the porch, bike tires slashed -- just enough for us to know we were being watched/followed. we all had many, many crank phone calls.
we eventually figured it all out. no real harm was done. but the series of events still sits with me.
here we are, over 10 years later, and i am still very leary of giving out any personal information. i even cringe when the lab asks me for my last name when they are calling a critical lab result (gut reaction -- i'm not worried about being stalked by them :) . my hosptial system is kind enough to let er nurses keep their last names off of their badges. but, because my full-time position is not with the er, my last name was on my badge. i used to put a white sticker over it, until i finally managed to convince hr that my last name shouldn't be on my badge. like florida, the department of health in the state where i work publishes the names/addresses of nurses (and maybe others?). as a single woman who lives alone, this makes me very nervous.
a few years ago, i was working in an inner-city hospital that was located a few blocks from the employee parking garage. we had a patient on our unit whose family was not happy with the care their loved one was receiving. they followed two of our nurses to the parking garage one night, threatening them the whole way. they called them by name -- first and last -- and told them they would find out where they lived.
why does the public need to know my last name? if they have a complaint against me, they can have my employee id number off my badge. no big deal. but i, too, have a fairly unusual last name. it doesn't matter to me that the incidence of stalking is low. it happens; i know, i've been there. i take other precautions. it seems to me only reasonable that my employer should not undermine me in my attempts to stay safe.
Our hospital is getting new badges next month. We've always had our last names on them, and a lot of nurses have requested that they be taken off. We don't have a final answer yet, but I have a feeling they might stay.
Where there is a will, there is a way... Remember too that if someone really wants to know your last name, they will find a way. Patients have the right to request copies of their charts at any time, and everytime you chart, you sign your last name in their records.
Thanks SO MUCH for the moral support and practical advice. Angie, I will definitely take your advice.
Tonight was more of the same..."I'll sodomize you, b!tch--make you take it like a man" etc...on and on about rape.
I should have been clearer, the guy just did his 2 years in prison and he was released, so there is no one to report to. He is a sociopath by diagnosis. We will also be calling a local government office when he is released, because he told me many times that he is going down there with a .45 caliber weapon and going to kill the social security people for with-holding his check. He was very specific about what he would do and said to me "I'll shoot them first in the knees, make them suffer...and YOU will have to be there too, you will witness the beautiful bloodbath for me".
I know and understand that I have a chosen a field and this type of thing is kind of the nature of the beast, so I guess I can't complain. But we did have a doc stalked by a patient, and it got so bad that he had top move out of state. Thanks again for all your input.
look up the law. I worked in TX as a teller and by law they could not force me to put my last name on anything that was in the public view. I was robbed (the first robbery in that bank ever!), by note and bomb threat, he knew only my first name and lisence plate #. thank god the car was not registered to me, I would have freaked. As for you, check the law, ask a lawyer. If you have the law behind you it may make your case to your employer easier. Don't just say we want our last names off, offer solutions. Like for example, last initials, employee Id numbers, things of that nature.
How do I look up a law regarding names in public view?
Making the threats that he makes are illegal. They should be documented verbatim and the authorities should be called. He is probably on parole and this may be a parole violation. You should also go to your management. They have an obligation to you, as well. The management is taking a chance by not allowing you to take steps to prevent this person from knowing your last name. If anything happens to you or your co-workers, your hospital and management will be facing a lawsuit. Take the appropriate steps to protect yourself. Even consider obtaining something that you can protect yourself with if he or someone else should try to invade your home and carry out these vicious disgusting and illegal threats. Good luck and don't err on the side of caution. Trust your guts and look out for yourself. If you do not, no one else will.
I'm sorry but there is no reason that your last name needs to be on your badge. I have my first name and the initial of my last name. I work in the ER. The manager keeps a schedule of when I work. So if there's an issue, then it's not that hard to figure it out. I work in a fairly big hospital.
Specializes in Med Surg, ICU, Infection, Home Health, and LTC.
i know and understand that i have a chosen a field and this type of thing is kind of the nature of the beast, so i guess i can't complain.
actually you can complain and doing so in writing through the chain of command is the first step. becoming a nurse does not mean that we give up our legal rights as citizens. no one has the right to threaten the life of another human being. clocking in to work does not mean that we are supposed to allow any and all abuse that occurs and just grin and bear it.
if the individual is alert and oriented and basically in his right mind, then he is competent and responsible for his choice's of behavior. i would definitely document the threats and the repeated threats and give them to my department head. ((i would also retain a copy))
if management is unable to provide a safe work enviroment, then i would consider going to the police station and filing a complaint there and i would also let management know what action i am prepared to take.
i would also cover my last name on my badge. this is a safety issue. you only have one life and i would let the mangement staff know what i was doing with my badge and document that too.
Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.
Making the threats that he makes are illegal. They should be documented verbatim and the authorities should be called. He is probably on parole and this may be a parole violation. You should also go to your management. They have an obligation to you, as well. The management is taking a chance by not allowing you to take steps to prevent this person from knowing your last name. If anything happens to you or your co-workers, your hospital and management will be facing a lawsuit. Take the appropriate steps to protect yourself. Even consider obtaining something that you can protect yourself with if he or someone else should try to invade your home and carry out these vicious disgusting and illegal threats. Good luck and don't err on the side of caution. Trust your guts and look out for yourself. If you do not, no one else will.
I agree completely with this advice. This sounds like a serious threat to me- it sounds as if he means it. He knows and says exactly what he means to do, to whom, where, and how. This is not "I'll get you for this," it's a detailed plan.
In your situation, I would probably tell my admin to go ahead and fire me for insubordination, because I would not wear my name badge, period. I would then proceed to get legal representation. You and your co-workers are being put into a position of being unsafe and that is not tolerable.
You might also, among other things, check out the OSHA website to see if there is anything there which can be addressed by them. When OSHA speaks, employers listen!
I also fully agree with letting local law enforcement know exactly what has been said and done. Again, document and keep a copy.
It's worth repeating one more time: look out for yourself. Good luck!
And for what it's worth: I think anyone in administration who thinks people like this guy needs to know your first and last names should be the first person to go introduce himself or herself to the patient and be there first-hand to hear what he has to say!
NoWaNrN, ASN, RN
219 Posts
I think the no last name on the name tag is a good thing, that or be call only by your last name and no first name.