Hand Hygiene Dispensers
ARE NURSES BEING MONITORED?!
Recently, HPAE has come to learn about sensors being placed in soap and/or Purell dispensers. In addition, sensors will be placed in or on employee ID badges. HPAE did not learn of these changes at our monthly JNPC meeting; the appropriate venue, given its objective, is to enhance labor-management relations. No, we learned through the slip of the tongue by a manager in a council meeting. We must ask ourselves, why weren’t we informed? Let’s take a look at what sensors are used for at Jersey Shore Medical Center (JSMC), one of the HPAE Locals. They place sensors in the ID badges of nurses and monitor the following:
- if nurses made rounds on their patients every hour
- if the nurses spent at least 3 minutes in each patient room when they made rounds.
In essence, JSMC can monitor every movement of a nurse while at work.
This is certainly a new low for hospital administrators who, on the one hand praise their nurses for their commitment to patient care and to the “nursing team who shine brighter and brighter every day”. Do you think the “shine” is from a chip placed in your ID badge?
HPAE has sent a demand to bargain over these changes to H. Pripas, Director of Employee and Labor Relations at EHMC. We have also asked for the following information.
- What is the business reason for installing sensors both in soap dispensers and in or on ID badges?
- What is the current infection rate at EHMC?
- What other uses of these sensors are intended by EHMC?
4) What data will be collected with sensors in soap dispensers and in or on employee ID badges? - What is the impact of data collected on bargaining unit employees?
- What is the intended use of data collected by EHMC?
- Will these sensors identify individuals by name?
- Will the data collected be used for improvement plans and/or any other initiatives?
- Will the data collected be used for disciplinary purposes?
We will keep you informed. If you have any questions/comments, please contact any union officer.