“So and so’s family member is calling but they don’t have the pin number”

[missnursingstudent19]

I have had this happen so many times and I don’t know the right way to handle it. So many times the secretary or another nurse will say “so and so’s family member is on the phone but they don’t have the pin number - it’s completely up to you” making me have to be the bad guy and tell the family member I won’t talk to them without the pin - or talk to the family member and risk that it’s some random stranger or someone the patient wouldn’t want to have any info. Why wouldn’t the secretary or other nurse just tell the family member to begin with “well the nurse can’t give any information without a pin”? Why pass it off? The secretary/nurse usually just looks at me like I should just talk to the family member anyways. 

[CommunityRNBSN, BSN, RN]

On 3/13/2021 at 8:35 PM, sevensonnets said:

Somebody from a local LTC kept leaving me voice mails to notify me of changes in my father's condition, even gave the man's name and details. My father's condition is he's been dead since 1981. I finally called this place to tell them Hey, you're calling the WRONG person, and they wouldn't talk to me because I didn't know the pin!! I didn't need it anyway. They called back three days later with the result of the urine culture and his temp was down after two days of ABX.

This is absolutely hilarious (and awful). Talk about people following rules at the expense of ANY AND ALL common sense. They were leaving detailed medical info on the wrong person’s phone and wouldn’t take your phone number off because you didn’t have the PIN. Sweet baby Jesus help us all.