"Hidden" cameras on the floor--do you have them??

[linzjane88]

After a few years of being undermanaged on our floor (we went through 7+ managers in ten years so issues were never followed up on) we recently got a new manager who seems to want to stay a while. A TON of people have been fired lately (7 in a matter of six months or so--lots of narc issues). You know those people who are at work every day and you just think "HOW do they still have a job?". It was all those people, LOL.

So one of the docs let it slip the other day that they were called in to review security tapes regarding a fired employee. NO ONE had any clue we had cameras on the floor. Then one of our nurses neighbors came over and asked "so are you one of the new floors with cameras?". Appearantly this neighbor knows someone in maintenance who said they were installing them on certain floors and "big brother is watching".

CREEPY! It felt really awkward the rest of the night. Do you know how many wedgies I have secretly picked at the desk?

Is that a common thing? Do you have them?

[AngelicDarkness]

Never seen/heard in my area but wow! I agree with above posters, I'd be very nervous about everything I'd do.

[opossum]

I haven't thought about hidden cameras on our units.

Wedgies were my first concern...also, how many times have I gone into the med room or food storage room to cry???

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Wedgies are the LEAST of the problem! I could care less if I am seen in THAT situation. There is a RUMOR that cameras have been installed.

I can't change that... I never do anything that could compromise my professional integrity. If security sees me picking my nose... have fun guys!

[kids]

I don't think we do. At least not to my knowledge. Legally, are they able to put up video cameras without our knowledge? just curious, sounds a little sketchy to me.

Yes, it is legal for an employer to install hidden cameras in most areas.

Various Supreme Courts have ruled that employees have a limited expectation of privacy in the workplace.

[FutureOBNurse2118]

I don't really see a problem with cameras as long as they are used appropriately. For instance, would they really have cameras in bathrooms like one poster said???? That's just ridiculous.. and a privacy issue. I also heard from a fellow nursing student of mine who is doing her preceptorship at a different hospital than me, that they are starting to put cameras in certain patient's rooms... I don't know about anyone else, but that just seems wrong to me.

[ChuckeRN, BSN, RN]

As I work in a prison, the cameras aren't hidden and they are and should be all over the place. If anything, I am comforted by the fact that they are there (for my protection).

[nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN]

We have cameras everywhere. So I'm sure at some point someone's got a good peak down the top of my scrubs or watched me scratch my backside when I didn't think anyone's around.

FYI...if you get a really cheap AM radio turn it down to the lowest possible channel, and hold it by something you think's suspicious (like a second fire suppression sprinkler that wasn't there 2 days ago), you'll hear a really loud hiss from the transmitter. You can also find unshielded cables behind thin drywall that can lead to a camera. Back in the old days, we had a crazy boss who was just sure everyone was stealing from the company. About the third time he came in and all the cameras were piled on his desk, he knocked it off.

BTW -- he was fired for embezzlement about a year later. Nobody's as suspicious as the guilty...

[whichone'spink, BSN, RN]

I also heard from a fellow nursing student of mine who is doing her preceptorship at a different hospital than me, that they are starting to put cameras in certain patient's rooms... I don't know about anyone else, but that just seems wrong to me.

Not really. In one hospital I have done clinicals at, all rooms had cameras, but were only turned on for high-risk patients, such as the confused geriatric patient or the high fall risk. They would specifically put someone to monitor the cameras and answer call lights, so that the high risk patients do not fall out of bed. I like it, and wish all hospitals would do something like that.

[kenyacka]

We have cameras EVERYWHERE... it's hard to find a place that isn't on camera, except patients rooms and the bathrooms lol. However, security told us in orientation that they rarely are sitting and watching live feeds. The cameras and videos are there for down the road when they have to investigate something. The only time you're ever really being watched is in the parking lot. At least that's what we were told.... but you never know. Don't feel bad... the people watching you pick your wedgies are probably picking their noses lol.

[NamasteNurse, BSN, RN]

In the bathroom? I doubt that.

[PMFB-RN, RN]

Nope no hidden cameras where I work. Nor would I consent to working for any faciliety that had HIDDEN cameras. If I found my hospital had hidden cameras I would immediatly start looking for another job. It is highly un ethical to have hidden cameras on employees. Any managment that would do such a dispicable, underhanded, dirty trick is no manager I would work for.

Now we do have cameras in many locations in our hospital but they are in plain view and in areas where there is no expectation of privacy.

[PMFB-RN, RN]

We have cameras EVERYWHERE... it's hard to find a place that isn't on camera, except patients rooms and the bathrooms lol.

*** If you know about them I doubt they are hidden.