Got To Vent! I really hate Cell phones!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Please I have to let this out! I had the night from hell! Patient Y is on the monitor.....everything is fine......Heart Rate-80 SR-SB with an elevated T wave. Okay no biggie...has a history of an MI, but nothing else.

All of a sudden, Heart rate jump to 178 from 80. Okay, down the hall I go in a run....hip is sore from lifiting and positioning patients for the last few weeks.....get down to the room to see what is going on....MA is cleaning her up...listen to her heart rate and it is 80.

Go back to the monitors and look at others...all of them are showing weird rates! Some of them look like the stock market graph......what in the world?? The Telley Clerk says...security has told the family in room 666 not to use their cell phones and the family in room 333 were told the same thing!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR I told the family in room 333 cell phone were not to be used on the floor! Whoever it was that used the cell phone last night on the floor, just cause this lady to have chest Xrays, EKGs and blood test! Can I prove anything..nope, but when I left this morning everything had come back normal....GRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

Thanks for letting me vent!

I hardly ever use my cell phone, but it's nice to have just in case. I'm starting to let my teenagers use it to call home when they need picked up etc.. ;)

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Specializes in Interventional Pain Mgmt NP; Prior ICU and L/D RN.

We have the hardest time getting visitors to NOT USE THEIR CELL PHONES TOO!!! They just say, oh well it's just for a sec...NO TURN IT OFF!!! GEEZ....thick headed people.....

I'm so tired of visitors/family members that won't cooperate and follow hospital rules!

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Ok, I have a question. I was at a conference last week regarding the use of alcohol and illegal drugs during pregnancy and I swear, at least 20 times during the day a cell phone went off.

My question is why? Why do people leave their ringers on when they are at a conference?

I could understand one or two forgetting . . . but 20 or more?

I really want to know why.

steph

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Specializes in Geriatrics/Oncology/Psych/College Health.

A local pub has comedy nights and they make an announcement prior to the show that anyone who has a beeper or cell go off during the show will be asked to leave for the night. About half the audience generally pulls out something to turn off.

I read an article this week that said 45% of young people between the ages of 13 and 19 have cell phones.

As far as using them in the hospital - strictly forbidden in ours.

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Okay, how about cell phones that are provided by the hospital to "enhance" patient care. We used to carry pagers, so the secretary could get a hold of us. Now it is cell phones. Doctors, family members, other personell call and are able to reach you. No matter if you are in the middle of a sterile dsg. change or procedure in another room. Or worse yet, you actually get 1 minute to go to the bathroom.... And it rings. Personally whoever thought of this idea needs their head examined...

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Specializes in home health.

I absolutely agree it's MUCH better to reach out and touch someone personally, but a bit difficult to do 1500 miles away.

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Originally posted by Nursebelle

Okay, how about cell phones that are provided by the hospital to "enhance" patient care. We used to carry pagers, so the secretary could get a hold of us. Now it is cell phones. Doctors, family members, other personell call and are able to reach you. No matter if you are in the middle of a sterile dsg. change or procedure in another room. Or worse yet, you actually get 1 minute to go to the bathroom.... And it rings. Personally whoever thought of this idea needs their head examined...

I totally agree with you.Anyone who wants nurses to use a cell phone is asking for trouble in my opinion.If any staff want to get ahold of a nurse so badly have them wear a pager!

Nine mounths ago I was a pacient at a huge teaching hospital on a critical care floor,so of course their are tons of people on vents,drug pumps, and lord knows what else.Well one day I was walking down the hall with my morphine pump and other paraphnilla ,here comes some guy walking down the hall talking on his@#$% cell phone!My first thought was "Great all of us are going to die,thanks to this idiot"!Well this poor nurse sees him,drops everthing in her hands,and grabs it out of his hands,and turns it off.She then asks him if he saw the HUGE sign in BIG BOLD BLACK LETTERS thats says no cell phone aloud!He said that he did ,but he was just going to use it for a minute.

There should be some sort of test people have to take before they can purchase a cell phone.I'm not against the use of them ,when they are used at a proper time and place,but when I see people use them in a hospital,while driving ,in a library just to chat,in class,or a movie theatre I just want to slap some common sence into them.

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Specializes in Telemetry, Case Management.

OK, I am the exception. I am a cell phone freak. Have the latest greatest and all the goodies (appointment book, song and game downloads, text messaging, etc) and can work them. Sorry. I am a misfit among my peers here, I can see. (Hides head in shame).

HOWEVER, I don't talk on at work unless I take it downstairs or outside if my kids page me or something. AND I don't leave it on in the movies or church. There is a lady who sits in the pew in front of me who will actually leave the sanctuary and go to the foyer and talk on her cell phone during services (and no she's not a dr. she's a kindergarten teacher!)!!!! THAT is outrageous to me!

If you're so important you can't be unreachable for an hour in church, you ought to at least be King of Some Unpronouncable country or something. Good grief.

And we have SEVERAL docs who wear their cell phones turned on in the building and will talk on them at the nurses' station!!!

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Has anyone see people walking around with the hands free cell phone (the mic in their ear...like the employees at Old Navy use)? I saw a few people in the grocery store the other day pushing their cart, yacking away. Maybe more people will use these in their car...so they won't cause so many accidents!

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Yeah, I saw this guy once using a hands free phone in the grocery store. He kept walking behind me talking and making hand gestures. I kept looking around cuz I thought he was nuts, talking to himself. Then I realized he had a little wire coming out of his ear.

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I admit it too. I have a cell phone and I use it now and then. Twice my car broke down at night nowhere near a phone. I used my cell phone.

I broke down once before in 10 degree weather and 8 months pregnant in a neighborhood and not one person would let me use their phone or even call a police car for help. Sooo. I have a cell. Since then, I take it with me.

I do not use it in restaurants, theaters, or classrooms. I do use it to call my kids if they're expecting me at a certain time and I'm going to be late. Beats the heck out of trying to find change for a pay phone. IF there's a pay phone around and IF it works.

Yes, they can be abused. But I'll bet lives have been saved because someone witnessed a nasty accident and called for help far sooner than could have happened without a cell phone.

I was once driving behind a man who had a cell phone in one hand and gesturing wildly with the other. He was weaving all over the road. So, good citizen that I am, I stopped, called the police from my cell and had the pleasure of seeing a police car come around the corner and nail him.

Cell phones are not inherently evil or nasty. Some people who use them may be.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

Unfortunately this is the way of the future

remember the old wrist radios with the view screen worn by our favorite detective in the fight against crime. AKA Dick Tracy

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