24/7 Video Cameras in ICU rooms

Kashia, ASN, LVN · Oct 30, 2011

I think the presumption should be we are always being watched.

I do not feel comfortable being the nurse and if I were a patient - is this a huge

invasion of privacy? Patients rights..being informed, refusing treatment:-) and

policy in place if they decline. I call this throw a gown over camera. haha

We are having cameras installed in some rooms. next year maybe more.

Laurie52 · Oct 30, 2011

I work in a large university affiliated hospital. It is also a level 1 trauma center. All resuscitations in the trauma room are video taped for QA purposes. If you are doing what you are supposed to do--no worries.

npschuma · Oct 30, 2011

This brings up some interesting issues - it seems to me that if patients are to be recorded then they would have to consent to this practice. I am unaware of the laws regarding this in different states but at my facility we have cameras in patient rooms for the purpose of safety - patients at risk for falls or other issues can be watched by a tech who will call the floor if the patient appears unsafe but they are not recorded... I would have an issue if I were a patient and I was recorded just as it would be unacceptable for a patient to be photographed without consent

umcRN, BSN, RN · Oct 30, 2011

I agree that we are always being watched. However without going into too much detail there was an event that happened some time ago with a post op patient who was "smooth sailing" after surgery...maybe too smooth sailing for the procedure she had done. Anyways, she arrested and went on ecmo. There was a lot of "finger pointing" as to whose "fault" it was when maybe it was just the nature of her defect and repair. The nurse stood up for herself and was backed by our management and doctors did back off but now with these camera's it will be a lot easier to place blame. Anyways the nurse didn't do anything she wouldn't have done if there were a camera there, just routine patient care, would the child have arrested if she hadn't been touched for 12 hours, who knows.

Also I forgot to mention there is a "privacy" setting you can use so the camera will just point elsewhere in the room but when you are done using it (for example giving an adult a bath you can put privacy on) you are supposed to return it to how it was. I have no idea if there will be consent forms or anything else but I agree some patients are not going to like being videotaped. (I wouldnt!). And it will be strictly video, not monitoring as there will be no one watching them 24/7...that's what we were told at least.

wooh, BSN, RN · Oct 30, 2011

Oh h to the no. It's just creepy. For nurse and especially for patient. I get weirded out enough being in rooms that are getting video eeg's. Especially the bigger kids. I'm laying in a hospital bed, last thing I want is a camera on me when I scratch my crotch. It's easy to say, "If you don't do anything wrong" but I've seen cameras used for evil in my workplace (the hallway cameras). Last thing we need is one in every room every minute.

JessiekRN · Oct 30, 2011

Hi!! I work on a seizure unit..every patient is on continuous video EEG monitoring. The patient does have to sign consent for the video monitoring on admission, and we make them aware that they have complete privacy in the bathroom, but none in the room (a nurse must always be at the nurse's station, monitoring each patient for seizure activity, and we are able to move the cameras to "follow" the patients if they are ambulatory). It's recorded, and the neurologists are able to go back to view any seizure activity and correlate the clinical event with the EEG recording. Personally, like other posters have mentioned, I have found that if you are doing the appropriate thing, at all times, the camera monitoring is not an issue or even something I'm aware of most of the time. Once in a while I've done something that makes me think.. oh gosh that was something silly to say and now I'm on TV...lol.. but the thing is unless there's some kind of major event that just happened, the neurologists rarely watch the videos (there are hours and hours of recording and they only need to review 2 minutes, for example). Once, a patient accused an aide of "hitting her"; the neurologits, at the request of my nurse manager, did review the tapes and the aide was fired after some strange behavior was seen- this is the only instance I know of where the tapes were used for non-clinical reasons). Anyway I hope this helps. My thoughts are- if it helps the patient's condition, then let 'em tape away.. no one is very interested in what I have to do or say in the room anyway, unless they're seizing, for instance, and I fail to intervene. After a while, you won't notice the cameras anymore.

DixieRedHead, ASN, RN · Oct 30, 2011

If I am the nurse, OK, fine with me. I don't care.

If I am the patient, NO, not OK, not going to happen. I know my rights.

MomRN0913 · Oct 30, 2011

Unrelated question.

So, those Hypoplasts keep on livin now, huh? I am very very glad to hear it, as my best friend's 6 year old daughter is one. She does wonderfully too, and my friend has her enrolled in studies at CHOP to follow her through her life so that they can see what can help those kids live longer and longer.

So, a 40 year old with HLHS is going to your peds cardiac unit? They do not go to regular cardiac units when they grow up/ Can you share why? Is it because the adult cardiologists have never dealt with the syndrome because as we know for many years kids were not making it that long?

I hope they start to have cardiologists get used to adults living with HLHS, because I have a feeling it is going to keep happening and for much longer.

Vaxene · Oct 30, 2011

telemedicine....it's the route everything will transition over time. the last hospital i worked at had video monitoring in all of the ICU rooms with a central "bunker" with screens that could see all of the rooms. in our hospital, though, the cameras were not on continuously. they could be turned on and off from the bunker location. the purpose of ours was to enable one physician (most of the time one intensivist on at night to cover 5 ICU's) to see multiple patients if need be. NP's and PA's were brought on board with the intesivist service. all of the nursing staff felt the same way many of you mentioned...that we didn't like it. the setup turned out to work very well. this is how healthcare will continue to move. fewer doctors, more mid-levels covering larger patient volumes. saves costs, increases workload so the technology attempts to lessen the load. i love it now that i've seen it and cannot wait for the hospital i am at now to transition to it....

Jenni811, RN · Oct 30, 2011

we have video cameras in our unit and patient rooms. They are NEVER turned on, unless their telemetry shows some cardiac event. Then it turns on and records.

Patients always ask about them and have concern over video cameras being on and their privacy. we just have to assure them they are never on unless they need to be.

I honestly never felt they were used against us in any way.

healthstar, BSN, RN · Oct 30, 2011

I wish every room in the hospital had a camera so they can actually see what kind of nurses they have hired, and how often they check on patients, and how often they wash their hands etc :)