Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/1520212
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