tracking nursing movements

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is it legal for management to track nursing movement in and out of patients room. I have heard through the grapevine that this is going to start at the hospital i am working at (a non union hospital).

i would like also to see people's feedback on this issue if it would effect quality of care and also the legality. union vs non union.

thanks

I agree with Oramar, too. It is amazing to me that people bother to do nursing at all sometimes. I don't hear about this happening to other people at their non-nursing jobs.

Really? I used to work for a big retail outfit, an office job, and we had one of those efficiency expert firms come in to do exactly what the OP is describing. Not a big deal at all. And you know what? After the survey was complete and management saw what we did, we got one more secretary to run errands! :D

I think way too much is being made of this. To compare this type of survey to a dog being watched? I don't get the indignance on the part of some people over this. This isn't something "happening to you", it's a study of your unit, and it's nothing new.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, ER, Peds ER-CPEN.

I did many clinicals at site using this and most of the nurses didn't mind in fact it came to their defense at times when a family would holler and complain that the nurse had never been in all day when if fact she had been there several times, I think it depends on how the facility uses it, it can be a big brother type thing or a quality assurance, as a student it was nice to look at the lights in the door way and know if your assigned RN was in one of her rooms or if it was the CNA

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i think some persons are not understanding....this is not a survey....this would be ongoing. and i wouldnt work there either

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An on-going tracking system? Ok, that's different than I was talking about, but still not sure it would make a big difference to me. Like I said before, we have Vocera hanging around our necks, and at any time ANYONE can ask it to locate another employee. It will tell you the floor, wing, and room they are in or near. And no one cares.

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Specializes in Primary Care and ICU.

We have these things called vocera's at our hospital that can locate you and act as cell phones, but word is that they are being used to track the number of times we enter our pts rooms...sad. So me being the person I am

---I dont even pick mines up. :)

They'll think i was on the john for 12 hours.

Teleflurry RN

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This is not illegal, and the hospital where I am already has them. It's a little device that's attached to your nametag that basically records second by second, where you currently are and where you have been. The computer displays the patients' rooms that you've been in, for how long, etc. It even tells you which hallway you're in (and what part), nurses station, medication room, off the floor, and if you're in the breakroom/restroom!

It's like having Big Brother with you at all times.

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Specializes in UR/PA, Hematology/Oncology, Med Surg, Psych.

I don't work in a hospital so I have never heard of this. Wow, I wouldn't like it at all and don't believe that I would work anywhere that felt that they had to monitor me in such a way.

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Specializes in Cardiac, ER.

The hospital where I work started this 3 or 4 yrs ago. Our tracking system is similar to what others have mentioned,.green light outside the door is an RN,.yellow is CNA and a white light means the call light is going off. Our system is also tied into the call light system and actually tracks what time the call light is pushed from the bedside,.how long it took for anyone to answer the call light and how long before somone entered the room.

When this first started, the staff wasn't real keen on the idea,..but it actaully saved our rear ends a time or two!! The info from the tracking system is not part of the medical records,.meaning that no one outside of the hospital has access to it. However our NM never had a problem with printing out the data to share with family members when someone c/o no one being in their room for "hours at a time" and the call light "never" being answered. It was kind of nice when the NM could show the pt and the family,."call light went off at 2247,.was answered at 2249,.CNA in the room at 2251 until 2311,.RN in rm at 2254 until 2314" etc,..I personally liked having a bit of back up to show families of confused or difficult pts that yes I really am doing my job!!

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Nursing jobs are a dime a dozen. Why anyone would put up with this - legal or not - is beyond me.

I agree with the poster that mentioned Big Brother. Anyone ever read 1984? I don't care for this idea and I wouldn't work at a hospital that felt the need to keep tabs on me.

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The tracking thing would bother me. Yes, all the reasons explained seem logical and reasonable, but the pessimist in me sees this as another tool that will be used against us.

The tracking seems to much like factory automation where they are trying to turn us into interchangeable parts.

The loss of freedom that turns us from medical professional into medical factory workers is here. I see tracking in the same field as scripting(interesting thread on that), customer service, Press-Gainey, job performance measured as a quantity.

Try asking the doctors and high level administration if they are willing to be tracked.

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Specializes in NICU.

Maybe it doesn't bother me because I've never had a job that DOESN'T track it's employees. My part-time job tracks via GPS. My former career tracked through verbal reporting + GPS.

I've never had anyone attempt to use it against me, but it HAS done wonders for putting the damper on those crappy gossip claims by the not-so-nice staff members, and absurd complaints by the never-going-to-make-them-happy patient families.

And for what it's worth, our MD's are tracked, too.....both by the badge system, and self-reporting. Their daily charting references how much time they spent at the bedside, who they spoke with regarding the patient's care, etc.

I can understand why the 45-minute long break-takers wouldn't like it, but if everyone's doing their job, it's really not a big deal, IMO.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Home Health, LTC.

Surveillance society. Just what time it is, I believe will become more and more common in every area of our life. Of course, we can always choose to rationalize the purpose of surveillance in every instance, or we can begin to see the bigger picture.

I find it offensive and ignorant that people have stooped to the level of

watching us, counting us. I doubt I would work in such a facility...and I know there are more than a few.

It is not a matter of me being concerned of being watched as in I am doing something wrong or not caring for my patients. It is the bigger picture. No camera or counter could drive me to care more about my patients or give them the best care I can.

Lacking trust in the nurses on your floor is the real issue and again I need to say I would not work in such a dehumanized facility. And neither should you.

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