am I over-reacting?

[JackieOnLine]

latest stress at work is the new policy of printing out a page with the patient's therapy schedule on it and putting it in their rooms every morning. my objection is that the therapist's first and last names are on there.

seems like single woman in the city 101 that you don't have your name posted all over yet mine will now be on dozens of sheets of paper every week, floating around a huge nursing home where patients, family members, visitors, staff and anyone can see it. some of them are mentally ill, now and then they are violent. right now I have a patient whose son is so angry she is planning to sell her house and move to assisted living that social work is going to have the police escort her when she goes to the house.

I already told my boss I don't want my full name out there and I'm told they can't change this. what do you think? I already wear a name badge with my full name on it but it's not easy for people to see it and I can tell when they are reading it. also, it flips itself over all the time.

 

[Munchkin]

I can see why you wouldn't want this done. I wouldn't like it either. Big safety concerns!

 

[Charris]

I can surely see your concern. Recently a ton of female coworkers of mines just recently started using aliases because society has too many ways to find out TOO much of your business. My mother was an RN and I never realized back then how unsafe it was for her and why she had taken to using black electrical tape and putting it over her last name.

Honestly I would put my concern in writing via email to whomever makes the calls so that if something ever does happen you will have no problem proving that you felt this was an unsafe practice and had requested that something else be done, even if its nothing but creating an alias last name for everyone to be listed by.

 

[RockDoc]

Absolutely agree with you. By the time you take into consideration phone books, facebook, insecure medical records, insurance companies, etc etc, your name is ALL over the place, no matter what the assurances. Best to remove anything that allows somebody to track you home. Shudder.

 

[k9ophile]

They can change it. Enlist some help with your co-workers.

 

[JackieOnLine]

I am not the only one who complained about this and it was brought up in our weekly meeting...but I can't even tell if anything was decided. the meeting ran over and I chose to leave and see my first person on time. my day is all screwed up anyway, but at least I started on time!

meanwhile, I am not going to put up with this.

 

[DianaCox]

You might want to post your question here: http://nursinghomereality.wordpress.com/

 

[Spiky Bugger]

I looked at OR labor websites, and I can't think of a category under which this activity would be a violation of YOUR rights.

Which sucks.

Maybe a call to the state bar/legal aid...or go online for a few bucks...and ask. It seems like an unsafe work environment, but it likely isn't legally an unsafe work environment.

Time to go undercover on all your documents EXCEPT at work?

 

[Sheanie]

First name only on name tags, if a tag is used at all. We had an employee years ago whose ex was looking for her (as in to kill her). We stopped using name tags completely back then. When I worked in a hospital, we wore each others name tags, and they only had first names.

So what's wrong with telling them you have a stalker and cannot wear your last name? Or using your middle name as the only name on your tag?

 

[JackieOnLine]

You might want to post your question here: http://nursinghomereality.wordpress.com/

ooh, nice site, thanks!

 

[Spiky Bugger]

First name only on name tags, if a tag is used at all. We had an employee years ago whose ex was looking for her (as in to kill her). We stopped using name tags completely back then. When I worked in a hospital, we wore each others name tags, and they only had first names.

So what's wrong with telling them you have a stalker and cannot wear your last name? Or using your middle name as the only name on your tag?

Good ideas.

It's scary, Jackie. The "professional" types...with licenses...have had time to figure out how "public" to be. But for Regular Joes, it is rough to have that sprung on you.