Would being a patient at a clinic keep me from getting a job there?

sauconyrunner · Jul 9, 2012

I would think it depends on the type of clinic.

If it is say a diabetes clinic, fertiity, or a lipid clinic...probably not a big deal.

A psychiatry clinic, might be an issue...as those seem to be sensitive issues...

Also it would depend on how often you need to go to the clinic. If you are there as a patient weekly, then that may seem odd, but if you go once a month or less, they may not even remember you...unless you are "outstanding in some way"

elkpark · Jul 9, 2012

I would not find that acceptable, but that's just me.

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Jul 9, 2012

Id think conflict of interest potential--so not ok. Just my opinion though

Trauma Columnist · Jul 9, 2012

I agree with others that say, nope would never ever want to work where I was a pt.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Jul 9, 2012

Technically, being a former patient at the facility should not affect whether you could ever get hired there--if that was the case, there'd be many nurses ineligible to work in a lot of places :)

Reality: depends if you're OK with working there AND if management would be OK with your working there. Management may not feel comfortable having you on that side of the fence because you're going to have a dual relationship with them: as staff and as patient.

Also, HIPAA can protect your PHI, but HIPAA doesn't protect against a patient seeing you and saying to their friends/family, "hey, the nurse there is also a patient of Dr. X!" So some of your privacy can be at risk, especially if you keep running into the same people in the waiting room as you go to your own appointments.

Personally, I wouldn't do it.

Best of luck whatever you decide!

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Jul 9, 2012

My grandmother used to have a colorful expression "You don't **** where you eat".

In other words, leave your personal (and probably sometimes messy) life of the clinic AT the clinic, and find a job elsewhere.

This isn't a good combination.

brillohead, ADN, RN · Jul 9, 2012

Honestly, I think it really depends on the type of clinic and the type of care you're getting there.

For me, I have a rare esophageal disease. Because of my experiences with that disease, I think that I could provide "above and beyond" care to patients with the same disease or things along that line. I've been 'scoped more times than I can remember (and technically, thanks to the wonders of Versed, I can't remember much! LOL). I've had esophageal manometry performed numerous times. I've swallowed enough barium to plaster a medium-sized subdivision. I wouldn't hesitate to work in a clinic with any of the leaders (all four of them! LOL) in the treatment of my disease, even if I were being treated there.

HOWEVER -- I have nothing in my PMH that is in any way, shape, or form "embarrassing" to me if my coworkers were to find out about it. I don't care if they know I take an anti-depressant, or if they know I have an IUD, or if they know the date of my LMP (which, thanks to my IUD, was about seven years ago!), or if they know that I'm adopted, or if they know that I never had the chicken pox and I'm HIV negative, or if they know that I had my appendix out in the early 80s and my tonsils out in the 90s and a c-section in 2000. In the process of treating my disease, they would have no reason to see me nekkid or insert anything into an orifice that I would find uncomfortable with my coworkers. There is nothing at all in my medical life that I would mind a coworker seeing.

So I think that this is something that only YOU can decide....