Giving a patient your number

It happens, like the firefighter medic that married a domestic abuse victim he met on the job. But honestly, it is extremely unprofessional, and tacky
 
Sometimes a patient may feel a duty to acquiesce your requests. This could easily be depicted as abuse of authority (so to speak) if that person decided to screw with you. I suspect that you would have a difficult time defending yourself in court, or even if it was just a complaint.
 
It's impossible to tell without pictures
 
I have had past patients look me up on FB and try to add me.
They get immediately blocked. There's also an urban camper, who I frequently clear for detox, and refers to me as his "street b****".

So I get how it could happen (a Pt seeking you out), but I don't think it's appropriate to feed into it or engage in it.
 
^ Hence why our name badges are first name + last initial at work... And I use my middle name as my last name on FB
 
Jim37F said:
Pure hypothetical thought experiment here: what if it was the other way around? I.e. it's the patient who gave you their number or otherwise asked you out? Like someone you would want to go out with had you not met them at work, and they decided to leave their number written down on a piece of paper in the back? After making it clear they were asking you out so there's no misinterpretation? Would it make a difference if you were a volunteer vs paid? Small town where you could potentially run into said person off duty, or a large city where that wouldn't happen?

(I would personally never ask for a patients phone number nor give mine out in an attempt to get a date btw)
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It's obviously unprofessional, probably unethical, and opens you up to a huge amount of risk if she turns out to be crazy and wants to screw you over. I can imagine pursuing this some non-zero percentage of the time, but you're potentially risking your career so she had better be worth it!
 
gotshirtz001 said:
^ Hence why our name badges are first name + last initial at work... And I use my middle name as my last name on FB
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Ours are first initial, last name on our duty shirts.....and our full out first and last name on our class B name tags & badges. -_-

I had my middle name for a bit on fb, but because it was my last name prior to changing it, I would still pop up if they searched. I'd rather them not know my full name so I changed it back.
 
Unethical, unprofessional...don't know if it's illegal in your state/circumstance, but it should be.
 
I hand out my number to all patients after I have them sign my ePCR.

Serious answer: no. I would not hand out my number or make contact with a patient who gave me her number. If I run into her outside of work then that's fine but during work is a no.
 
I think whoever said Tacky hit the nail on the head. Epically Tacky
 
RobertAlfanoNJEMT said:
is it just immoral and unprofessional to give your number out to a patient or is it actually illegal? I'm in NJ if there are different laws state to state.
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Give the pt a blank PCR w/ the company's # circled, they should figure out everything else. Perfectly legal.
 
StCEMT said:
What could be more romantic than the back of an ambulance?
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Under the overpass of the local freeway where all the druggies shoot up
 
COmedic17 said:
Ours are first initial, last name on our duty shirts.....and our full out first and last name on our class B name tags & badges. -_-

I had my middle name for a bit on fb, but because it was my last name prior to changing it, I would still pop up if they searched. I'd rather them not know my full name so I changed it back.
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They tried to have us wear a name badge just like all other city workers before I got hired and apparently the medics refused to wear them and I guess they were successful because it hasn't been tried since, and this was 10 years ago.
 
Stay on topic.
 
There is no light where giving a patient your number while on a call could be considered ethical or professional.

Dating coworkers is another dangerous teritory...however I met my wife at work (and at one point she worked for me :eek:)
 
I did it a few times; I had business cards for CPR business on the side with my cell number on it.

When I did it I was looking to see how the patient turned out; We did a lot of long distance transports with serious to critical patients and was curious to see how they did. I would always give card to family member and ask them, politely, to call me and let me know how things went.
Example: 27 weeks pregnant with twins, with a foot sticking out (placenta hadn't ruptured); 30 mile transport from small ED to large Women's hospital. Asked the husband to let me know (if he felt like it). He called me a few weeks later and said that she just had her twins at 37 weeks, and they were in great shape..

Most things no I wouldn't give number out, probably gave it out 10 times in 12 years while working in Indianapolis. Here, I work, and live with my patients and see most of them after the fact and they usually tell me how things went. Got a surprise hug a few weeks ago from one patient
 
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