Taking sons/daughters to work day

[jannrn]

I have a question. I have 3 boys and my oldest is 12 which means he is at the age he could come to work with me on one of those "take your son/daughter to work" days. My husband did it when he worked for Nike, but that was easy, they had a whole day of organized activities for the kids, free Nike stuff, lunch with dad, only a couple hours of seeing what dad does at his desk all day... but for me a night shift RN, what have any of you done? What about pt privacy, what about the fact I have boys? I really want them to know what I do, I want them to seriously think about nursing as a real possiblility for them, but it just seems less straightforward for my job!

[Altra, BSN, RN]

My 12-year old is also very curious about what I do at work, but at my facility the rules are firm: kids must be 16 to be in a clinical area. Risk management's view is that that is the minimum age for them to understand the implications of HIPAA.

[EmerNurse, BSN, RN]

I work nights in an ER and I couldn't imagine taking my 13 yo dau to work with me. Just the idea of having to keep track of all my work, plus keeping her occupied and out of things I don't want her to observe, would be insane.

That said, she hears enough of my "ohmygod what a night!" stories to get the gist of my work.

As others mentioned too, I wouldn't be comfy with HIPAA issues and her being around the patients (well maybe the kid with a sprained ankle but not the OD in room 3 hurling charcoal).

:wink2:

[mugwump]

At our hospital we arrange a day in the summer (most schools here frown on kids missing school) and we schedule activities to learn about diffrent healthcare careers. Pharmacy, nursing, physical therapy ER etc... We even try to have a medivac helicopter land. It goes over very well, I would highly recommend trying to get a program like this at your hospital we do it for kids 12-18.