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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2019 - 2020
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | August 12, 2019 02:42 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Keith Gillespie |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Health Care Facilities Photo Identification Badges |
| In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation that would remove the requirement for surnames to be displayed on health care employees identification badges. In recent years, incidents of serious workplace violence were on average four times more likely in health care settings than in private industry. Oftentimes, the largest sources of violence towards health care workers are patients and other clients or customers. In today’s modern age, personal information about a health care worker, such as their photo and first and last name on an identification badge, can easily assist an ill-intentioned person in committing physical assault or other threatening behavior. Unfortunately, this has been the experience for several health care professionals in Pennsylvania due to current requirements in state law regarding photo identification badges in health care facilities. Though well-meaning, these requirements have enabled patients to stalk, threaten, and otherwise harass health care workers both inside, and outside the workplace. This information can be especially detrimental on cyber venues such as Facebook and Twitter. As a former health care professional, please join me in this proactive approach to ensuring the safety and welfare of some of our Commonwealth’s most needed and respected professionals by allowing the omission of health care workers’ last names from their facility identification badges. |
Introduced as HB1880