Using Smart Phones on Your Unit

Nurses General Nursing

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Just curious what your facility's policy is regarding the use of smart phones for pertinent information retrieval at work on your unit. I am hearing things that range from cell phones prohibited to facilities who issue I-touches to their nurses and will download their formulary to their phones for retrieval as needed.

I have a colleague who recently informed us that using cell phones at work is a HIPAA violation, since you could send pictures and text on it, and that this is well documented in the literature. This really doesn't fit with what I understand to be a HIPPA violation, as I thought you had to actually access or give out data in a manner that was prohibited, not just ac cess data that you store on your own personal smart phone.

So, my questions to AN readers are:

1. Does you facility have any rules against using your smart phone or an I-Touch (or similar device) for nursing information retrieval at work? if so, what is allowed and what is prohibited?

2. What is your opinion of smart phones being a HIPAA violation when used in a hospitla setting? (ie Am I missing something here?)

Thanks in advance for your opinions and thoughts. I have thought about this all day and thought I'd see what AN readers think. -Penguin67

Specializes in CDI Supervisor; Formerly NICU.

I have a colleague who recently informed us that using cell phones at work is a HIPAA violation, since you could send pictures and text on it, and that this is well documented in the literature. This really doesn't fit with what I understand to be a HIPPA violation, as I thought you had to actually access or give out data in a manner that was prohibited, not just ac cess data that you store on your own personal smart phone.

You could write personal information on a piece of paper and give it to someone too. Is paper a violation of HIPAA? You could tell your husband this same info during pillow talk...is having a tongue a violation of HIPAA?

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Im currently in a+e as a student and a few of the nurses have smart phones with language apps. The problem is that the area that we live in has a very high percentage of patients who speak next to no english and there is not a nurse who speaks polish in the department so the nurses use an app that enables the patient to communicate with the staff.

I would hope that nurses would be mature enough not to abuse the phones by taking pictures, thats just beyond belief that a nurse would take photos of patients.

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

It's only a HIPAA violation if you USE it to transmit protected information. There is no legal violation for having the potential to break the law. That's like saying you should not be allowed to come to work because you have the potential to assault other employees. That said, your employer may prohibit those devices, for that reason, if they choose. Just like they can mandate your scrub color. We are not allowed to make personal calls or texts at work, but we are not prohibited from carry the device. Many of us play our IPods on small speakers at our work station overnight without any problem.

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where i work, the company pays for the doc's blackberries. the non physicians, we have our cell phones sitting on our desks all day (just not the front desk girls) and the higher ups dont say anything. as long as wer get our job done, its fine.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
My facility has a policy that we are not allowed to have our phones on us while working.

That said, myself, and everyone I work with, carry our phones with us. It's not an enforced rule, and it sure comes in handy. I love my drug programs. I use them all the time.

And sometimes I can really make a patient's day when I can look up a football score for them. :)

That's the same way my facility does it........no carrying cell phones while working, but they more or less look the other way because almost everyone does. My take on it is "Hey, I'm not leaving a $200 iPhone that has my whole life in it laying around in the car or in my purse where it can easily be stolen!" I don't have a locker, and I'm sure as heck not leaving it in the break room......besides, I have MedScape and ICD-9 codes on my phone, and those apps sure come in handy on the job!

My own rule, when I'm charge on a unit, is that I don't want to see aides using phones while caring for residents---absolutely NO texting/talking in the dining room or in resident rooms. I let them carry their phones with them, as I do my own, but I don't tolerate using them anywhere but in the nurse's station or on their breaks.

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Thank you to each of those who responded for sharing your thoughts. I now can see that I wasn't too far off in my thinking about this issue, and there are legitimate uses for a smart phone. I think the biggest one is that you don't have to lug around reference books. As far as HIPAA violations go, I am glad to see the supportive comments for not considering the use of a smart phone a violation in and of itself. I will definitely ask to see the literature that my colleague is referring to. Again, thanks for the input.

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New nurse here..... I was just hired to work LTC and the nurses frequently text the doctor about patient complaints and receive orders via text... is that a HIPAA violation?

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