on the topic of active badges...

[Robert Olson]

 From risks digest.

Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2002 16:31:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: Duane Thompson <dst at rmhcn.org>
Subject: Nurses refuse to wear locator devices

   [This is interesting.  It was forwarded via a Healthcare Management e-mail
   list to which I subscribe.  DT]

Since Monday, nearly half of the 120 nurses at Castro Valley, Calif.-based
Eden Medical Center who were assigned to wear personal locator badges as
part of a program to provide more efficient care have turned in their
devices to protest a system they say invades their privacy and could be
misused by managers. The nurse locator system-launched in October on two
floors with plans to expand to a third-allows hospital administrators to
locate a nurse or a supervisor anywhere at any time. Although the systems,
which are used by hospitals across the U.S., can record response times,
number of nurse visits to a patient room, and length of time of each visit,
Eden uses its $273,000 system to record only response times. According to
hospital officials, the system is meant to help nurses answer patient calls
faster and allow the hospital to track nurses more easily in case of
emergency. They add that since the installation of the system, patient
satisfaction ratings have increased and response times have decreased. But
nurses say the devices invade their privacy, interfere with patient care by
disrupting conversations between nurses and patients, and contain
potentially harmful infrared sensors-a charge the hospital's
radiation-safety officer rejects. The nurses note that the hospital has
installed the system in the nurses' lounge and kitchen and say that
supervisors could use the vocal communication feature to listen in on
conversations; the hospital says it has no intention of using the system to
listen to nurses. Eden has not taken action against the nurses who refuse to
wear the badges.   [Reang, *San Jose Mercury News*, 6 Sep 2002; Tate, (Contra
Costa Times*, 6 Sep 2002.]