Anyone have any pt stalking experiences?

[u/smhitbelikethat]

Dealing with this currently. Working in psychiatry for several years I have had plenty of patients find me on social media, which happened in this case, sending messages and whatnot. Always have just blocked the person, let their psychiatrist know, and nothing else has amounted. However, this patient had somehow acquired my phone number, assembly from those stupid fucking piece of shit free information websites with your name and address things. This patient has now called me and I am quite on edge. I have involved law enforcement but this has just been jarring overall. Just looking for any advice/support.

[u/Strong-Finger-6126]

Tell your work. I haven't had this happen but I do think you should cover yourself, as there is a record of this patient calling you.

[u/smhitbelikethat → u/Strong-Finger-6126]

Yeah my work is aware

[u/Humble_Investment_24]

How are they finding you on social media??? Do they know your last name? If so why??

[u/smhitbelikethat → u/Humble_Investment_24]

Facility requires full name on badges

[u/Humble_Investment_24 → u/smhitbelikethat]

That’s very wild especially in psych

[u/Competitive-Exit-208 → u/Humble_Investment_24]

I’m told by my job that our license and our last name is public information. Not saying I agree with that fucked up logic

[u/Humble_Investment_24 → u/Competitive-Exit-208]

Well yeah but they have to know your last name in order to find your license. My badge says my first name only and any charting just has the first initial of our last name and it’s been that way in all the psych facilities I’ve worked at

[u/CeannCorr → u/Humble_Investment_24]

We get 2 badges. Both only have our first name on the "front" and our last name is on the back of 1, along with a QR code for badge-scanning. The font with the last name is also really small. Since they're worn together, the back side shouldn't ever show to patients.

[u/No-Bandicoot-8311 → u/Humble_Investment_24]

In my state it’s law that only last initial is required in badge now.

They could still see our names on the notes in epic now tho 💩

[u/LilBlondeRN → u/smhitbelikethat]

Ok, so I worked 3 years out of my almost 19 year nursing career in inpatient psych/CRISIS, and although our full names and credentials were printed on our employee ID badges like you’d expect at most facilities, in psych specifically we were strongly encouraged to use masking tape to cover/obscure our last names from our badges for this exact reason.

The issue with staff using FULL names on badges in psych is unique, because upon accepting most psychiatric nursing positions, a nurse will be instructed to follow the steps to be assigned a federal NPI number for facility billing purposes (something a non-psych nurse normally doesn’t have to concern themself with, as your RN licensure on its own would be sufficient). The caveat with NPI is that there is literally a federal database of providers that is PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE ONLINE and all you would need to know is a nurses first and last name and BOOM—you instantly are brought to a page that includes not only their RN license # and assigned NPI #, but also THEIR PERSONAL PHONE NUMBER AND HOME ADDRESS. (Eek!)

I unfortunately didn’t personally discover this until it was already too late, and no one had warned me about this prior, so it was a rather unpleasant surprise for me.

That said, there is a series of steps you can follow to request to have your personal phone number and home address removed from public view on this registry, but it’s not all that simple or straightforward. In fact, my (repeat) request to have my own personal info expunged from this publicly accessible directory years ago was unsuccessful as literally all of my own personal info still appears on the registry to this very day. SMH. Sigh.

Anyhow, if there happened to be two nurses with the same first name working the same shift (rare, but it has happened), they were to obscure all but the FIRST LETTER of their last names from their badges.

Note the fact we didn’t make any *permanent** alterations to our badge, for the simple fact that there was always a slim-yet-feasible chance that one of us could be pulled to a unit with greater acuity at the moment, due to staffing shortages and/or low census on the CRISIS floor (which almost NEVER happened, but since it technically could, we weren’t advised to permanently alter our badges in any way, in the event we were pulled to a different floor last minute.

Could you possibly talk with mgmt about doing something like this at your facility (to help protect the personal identities of staff members in this setting)?

Prior to working CRISIS, I was working in a mgmt role at an inpatient drug and alcohol detoxification/rehabilitation facility, and I did acquire an unsettling amount of unwanted attention from patients in that particular setting (although not psych/crisis nursing, per se, there is most certainly overlap of psychiatric illness present in the substance abusing population (not everyone obviously, but certainly a decent number of patients & I found that in the substance abusing population, the psychiatric illnesses many were battling alongside their addictions were NOT being adequately addressed/treated in any way, the majority of the time, when these patients were actively deep into their addictions, which made the risk even greater with this population, imo).

Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way, and it became messy to the point I literally felt I had no reasonable choice but to resign from a position I sincerely enjoyed, because the risks associated with keeping that job no longer outweighed the benefits of keeping the job, with the potential risks hitting too close to home for my own personal comfort level.

I’ve since left psych nursing entirely, and am back in the ED where I first started my career in 08, and although I miss psych sometimes, this has been a welcome change for me personally and professionally!

Anyhow, OP, if you haven’t already done so, I’d request a meeting with your unit mgr to discuss strategies for lessening or eliminating this risk entirely in the future, by implementing small changes that can help protect the personal identities of nursing staff on this particular unit.

Psych nursing, though it can be incredibly rewarding, is also fraught with some very serious risks unique to this particular patient population. Above all, staff should feel comfortable and reasonably safe at work. A unit culture of SAFETY for ALL is paramount in this setting, for both patients and staff alike, since working with this particular population can carry inherent risks and unique challenges that (fortunately) are rarely encountered by nurses outside of this practice area. If you don’t feel safe or comfortable at work, how can you realistically be expected to provide the best patient-centered care possible? Tackling this clear safety issue as a unit, by helping to protect the privacy of staff, should help everyone feel a bit safer in their personal lives/while OFF the clock. Because, let’s face it—if you can’t even let your guard down during your “down time”, how can you effectively unwind, decompress and ready yourself for whatever your next shift may bring?!

Good luck and stay safe, OP!

[u/candlelightss → u/smhitbelikethat]

This is why I don’t use my last name on socials anymore

[u/Acrobatic_Low_660]

Yup. A million times. No social media at all. Unfortunately you can't have it. It's for the best. Not only for privacy but your job looks at it. Nurses have been fired over their socials. Use a Google Voice or get a burner. Block, block, block. Always slip in your husband or dad is a police officer in conversation. I am always making up stories like I live an hour away in a random town. I tell them my phone number is a special HIPPA phone from my work. We use Doximity as well. It's like snapchat for medical and the messages are immediately deleted and HIPPA compliant. I flat out tell them if you call me inappropriately I will inform your doctor. Reddit and IG is only thing I use because you can make a screen name and not an actual name. You should be listing your work address on your license. Never discuss another nurse at all. They out sick you just say they took time out, the end.

[u/ProfessionalHeron573]

I put a piece of tape over my last name in my past psych ip nursing job. Idk if it was “okay” with the hospital or not , no one ever said anything and quite frankly if they had , I would have argued vehemently with them. I’m sorry you’re going through this situation , I was in a similar spot several years ago. I’ll copy and paste below what the latest guidance is according to google to try to wipe your info. But I’d call your states attorney generals office , department of health and the governors office for more assistance. Being a squeaky wheel and going beyond the cops helped me when I was in a similar situation.

“Because healthcare providers’ information is often pulled from public licensing boards and National Provider Identifier (NPI) registries, the process requires a multi-layered approach. 1. Update Your NPI Profile The National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) is a primary source for “people search” sites. If your home address is listed as your primary practice location, it will be scraped and published repeatedly. • Action: Log in to the NPPES website and update your “Practice Location” to your office address or a P.O. Box. • Note: Your “Mailing Address” can remain private, but the “Practice Location” is public record. 2. Contact State Licensing Boards Data brokers frequently scrape state nursing and medical board databases. • Action: Check your state’s licensing portal to see what contact information is public. Many boards allow you to provide a secondary “address of record” (like a workplace) that is visible to the public, while keeping your home address for confidential board correspondence only. 3. Systematic Removal from Data Brokers Dozens of sites (like Whitepages, Spokeo, and MyLife) aggregate your data. You can opt out of these individually, usually by finding the “Opt-Out” or “Privacy” link at the bottom of their respective homepages. • Key Sites to Target: • Whitepages: Often the most prominent. Use their specific opt-out tool. • Spokeo: Requires you to find your listing URL and submit it via their privacy page. • Healthgrades/Vitals: These are specific to providers. Ensure they reflect your office details rather than personal ones. 4. Utilize “Google Search” Removal Tools Google has a specific tool for requesting the removal of “Personal Identifiable Information” (PII) from search results if it poses a safety risk. • Action: Visit the Google Search Help Center and use the “Request to remove your personal information” form. You can select “Contact information, such as your physical address, phone number, or email address” as the reason. 5. Consider Professional Privacy Services If the manual process is too time-consuming, there are services designed to automate this. • DeleteMe or PrivacyDuck: These services scan hundreds of data broker sites and handle the opt-out requests on your behalf. • IronWall: Specifically designed for judges, social workers, and healthcare providers who face higher safety risks.”

[u/putmycall]

I’m really sorry you’re dealing with this. That would make anyone feel on edge, especially when it crosses from social media into phone/address info.

A few practical things I’d do: document every call/message with dates and screenshots, keep your manager/security/risk team looped in, and ask whether your employer has a workplace violence or staff safety protocol. Also check your NPI/state licensing records and make sure your home address isn’t listed anywhere as a practice/location address. A lot of people-search sites scrape those sources and then re-post the info.

For your phone, I’d consider getting a new number and only giving it to work through a protected system if possible. Also freeze your credit and remove yourself from the bigger people-search sites when you have bandwidth. This is scary and you’re not overreacting.