National Nurses United

RNs In Motion CNA-NNU

Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/1399555

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 32 of 55

A Case Study RNs Refuse to Wear Nurse Locator Buttons — Eden Medical Center, Castro Valley, California In a spontaneous action over a 2002 Labor Day weekend, 50 Eden Medical Center RNs turned in their nurse locator buttons in protest of a sys- tem that was installed without legally-mandated negotiations. The nurse locator button system was introduced for use on the two medical-surgical floors to "better track the movements of nurses," replacing inter- coms and paging devices. The CNA/NNU nurse representative/shop steward had expressed health and personal privacy concerns related to the locator system to hospital administration — without results. Hospital management also insisted that the stored data could be gathered for legal or disciplinary mat- ters against a nurse. "I don't like it and I refuse to wear it," said Annette Bearden, an RN on one of the medical-surgical units required to wear the device. "This is infrared radi- ation that you are required to wear on your body for eight hours a day and no one can assure us that there are no long-term health effects — no thanks." The manufacturer didn't adequately answer RN questions about the safety of their product. The but- tons emitted nonionizing radiation, which can burn the retina, injure the lens (cataracts) and iris, and cause depigmentation. RNs had also expressed concerns about a system that tracks and reports their movements and loca- tions over time, and allows management to listen to conversations in all areas. An overwhelming major- ity of Eden RNs signed petitions protesting the sys- tem and refused to wear the buttons. Management backed down and made the wearing of the locator buttons voluntary, and the system was eventually abandoned. 33

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of National Nurses United - RNs In Motion CNA-NNU