Bill Text: NJ S4112 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Revises identification badge requirements for hospital staff.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-09-12 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee [S4112 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-S4112-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator JOSEPH F. VITALE
District 19 (Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Revises identification badge requirements for hospital staff.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act revising identification badge requirements for hospital staff and amending P.L.1997, c.76.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 3 of P.L.1997, c.76 (C.26:2H-12.8a) is amended to read as follows:
3. a. A general hospital, licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et al.), shall require a student nurse [or], nurse, and any other facility staff member to wear an identifying badge that includes, at the discretion of hospital administrators, either the person's full first name and the first letter of the person's last name or the person's full first and last name, along with the person's licensure status[, and,]. The hospital shall also, if appropriate, require a student nurse, nurse, and any other facility staff member to verbally identify himself by name and licensure status to the patient and to any guardian or other responsible party when necessary, prior to examining, observing, or treating the patient.
b. Each general hospital shall develop a transparent reporting system whereby a patient, or the patient's guardian or other responsible party, may utilize the information displayed on an identification badge worn pursuant to subsection a. of this section to file a complaint against a student nurse, nurse, or other facility staff member. This reporting system shall be designed to enable hospital administrators to authenticate the identity of a student nurse, nurse, or other facility staff member who is the subject of a complaint, prior to any referral for disciplinary action.
(cf: P.L.1997, c.76, s.3)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill permits general hospitals to choose the manner in which staff names are displayed on identification badges worn by student nurses, nurses, and other facility staff. Additionally, the bill requires hospitals to establish a transparent reporting system that enables facility administrators to authenticate the identity of any staff member who is the subject of a patient complaint before any disciplinary action is taken.
Under current law, all general hospitals issue identification badges to student nurses and facility staff that display the individual's name and licensure status. This bill would give hospitals the option to require that the identification badges either list the employee's full first and last name, or the employee's full first name and the first letter of their last name, along with the employee's licensure status. This proposed change would enable hospitals to protect the personal information of their staff in the event that a patient files a complaint against a particular staff member or a student nurse, or seeks to identify the staff member or nurse on social media platforms.
The bill also directs hospitals to develop a transparent reporting system that would enable hospital administrators to authenticate the identity of a staff member who is the subject of a patient complaint prior to any referral for disciplinary action.
