No cellphone policy at work? What about PDAs?

caliotter3 · Nov 10, 2009

Perhaps you can pose this question to your supervisors or the HR department. I think the policy is in place to preclude misuse of the phone. A discreet peek at a PDA type device every now and then should not be a problem.

jennjen512 · Nov 10, 2009

My hospital also has a strict no cell phone policy and I also use my phone as a PDA and calculator. I have had a manager come to me and say, "You know we can't text at work." When I told her that I was using my phone to look up a medication she replied "OK then, that's fine. Just no phone calls or texting." She seemed to be OK with it and all of my coworkers know when I have my phone out that it isn't for personal chatting, but for work related into finding.

~♥Living2Learn&#9829 · Nov 10, 2009

The best thing to do is just confirm it with your supervisior. The iphone does have a "airplane mode" option that will allow the phone portion to be disabled where you should still be able to utilize the iphone as a pda only. (I think that is worth mentioning to your supervisor so there is no confusion when using your phone)

nghtfltguy, BSN, RN · Nov 10, 2009

i honestly don't know how i ever lived w/out my iphone!

my workplace has a no cell phone policy as well but no one seems to care that 75% of us ER nurses use their iphones all the time for *medical stuff*..

that new medscape app from web md is awesome!!

not gonna lie.... i do text now and then but then again... so does everyone else!...

best place to text.... the med room!!! LOL

:cool:

Callisonanne · Nov 10, 2009

I know for our clinicals for school we are allowed to use a PDA but only if it has no actual phone on it. Kinda lame but oh well. It also can't have a camera for privacy purposes.

shodobe · Nov 11, 2009

We have no cell phone policy and everyone it seems carries theirs. MDs are starting to use them more than pagers.

mustlovepoodles, RN · Nov 11, 2009

We had a no cell phone policy at my last job. The trouble was, we couldn't make or take calls from the nurses desk either. I'm sorry, but I have a sick husband and severely handicapped child at home. It's all I can do to even get myself to work with all I've got on my plate. I don't make frivolous calls and I keep my phone on silent. If my DH needs me during my shift, you bet your boots he can call me on my cell!:angryfire

WarmBlanket · Nov 11, 2009

I ask because I am wanting to get an iphone and download programs on it to help me at my job, but we have a strict no cellphone policy. I wonder if a PDA is seen differently?

Treehugger , I had to smile when I read some of the reply's because they were all SO true. I work in the operating room and sometimes my little desk looks like a phone store display : all the doctors place their phones and pagers in a pile. They ring and chirp , buzz and beep and somehow they expect me to know how each one works and who owns it.

But back to your question - I have an Itouch and it is great . Tons of apps that are extremely useful are available and lots of them are free.It plugs into your computer and will sync and download from a USB port. With an Iphone you have to pay a monthly fee , but after your initial purchase the itouch has no fees unless you want wi-fi . Most hospitals have wi-fi and its free . My itouch has 16 gigs of space ( they have a 32 gig) and can hold thousands of songs in itunes and all your pictures along with every app that iphone owners can get. Hope this might help. Lots more info on the apple site and some good deals on Ebay . P.S. I had a Palm TX PDA and found it very difficult to use.

litenbug · Nov 14, 2009

It was mandatory that the students in my program get a PDA. Mostly everyone got the Itouch. It is very useful. I think the hospitals wants you just to be professional in reference to the cell phones. They dont want to see you talking on the phone will conducting business.

diane227, LPN, RN · Nov 14, 2009

You need to talk this over with your manager. We also have a no cellphone policy but a few of the nurses use iphones for reference purposes and that is OK as long as they limit their use of the cell phone part to their break times.

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Nov 14, 2009

It must stink to work at a hospital with such little respect for their nurses. Then they go and tell you you're a professional. Ugh. I'm fortunate to work at a facility that does treat their nurses professionally. But seriously, so long as what needs to get done gets done, what's the issue? My facility has very few rules about what we're not allowed to do at work. We're allowed to make personal phone calls, browse the web, listen to the radio, etc, etc, etc. We don't clock in or out. The expectation is that you will accomplish what you need to do, go above and beyond, and help out any coworkers in need. Probably 95% of the nurses on my unit live up to this expectation. It seems like the more rules come in to play the more people try and break them and the less professionally people act.

/rant