Why aren't pt phones & TV free?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I really hate to see (mostly) elderly patients, sometimes bedridden, with visitors maybe once every couple of days, just staring at the wall. At least TV and phone would offer a distraction. The prices are outrageous though. And our hospital does not provide a portable phone for the patients like a previous hospital I was at did.

The nurses are so busy most of the time that they're lucky if they get their assessments, meds, & charting done on time never mind having the time to connect and talk with the patients.

Imagine staring at the wall all day. Most of us would get antsy if we are stuck home on a rainy day - they're stuck in a tiny, sterile, room for god knows how long. I try to bring them newspapers and magazines so that they would at least have something to read & look at.

As annoying as most visitors are - I really wish more of them would visit regularly.

It's really sad.

The hospital that i work at has personal tv's/phones at each bedside. It is thought that you need to pay £1.50-£2.50 a day to watch tv/use the phone and it costs a bomb for your family to ring you on these phones.

But on the other hand it is a nightmare having to field phone calls from the family who have rung the ward itself to talk to the patient whilst trying to get everything else done that needs to be done(not to mention it ties up the ward phones so docs cannot get through)

It is a service that has to be paid for like everything else in this world. I would like to see 'day rooms' bought back as that way the patients could be sat around a communal area with one tv and socialising.

Usually if our patients can get up to a communal area and socialize-they need to go home. I have seen the day room on Behavioral Health Units though.

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The last time I was in a hospital there was a sticker on the phone that said you had to give a third party billing authorization in order to make long distance calls. I guess when we are in a place where phone and TV are provided with the room, we should be thankful.

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Usually if our patients can get up to a communal area and socialize-they need to go home. I have seen the day room on Behavioral Health Units though.

Ahhh true :D The patients that i was thinking of initially were the elderly ones that spend weeks on the same ward waiting for a care package to be set up so that they can go home, you know the ones that need a hand with personal hygiene needs but that is about all that is wrong with them.

maybe its a way of getting the patients to go home, if they are well enough to complain about no tv then they can bugger off :D

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Specializes in pulm/cardiology pcu, surgical onc.
WOW... Wi-Fi, flat screen TV, room service, all private rooms, coffee/tea service, warm washcloth and free paper.

"Boutique hospitals".

That ain't no hospital, it's the Ritz Carlton.

No wonder your patients treat you like garbage!

Actually our surgical pts treat us with respect and are awesome!

It's the medical pts we have to admit that sometimes treat us like garbage.

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Wow! I've never heard of that. Phone and TV are free here where I live. In our local community hospital there are 14 channels, phone, and WiFi.....all free.

Nothing is free. Your hospital is taking those services into consideration as a cost of business and billing appropriately. They just don't itemize them. Somewhere they are adding the hospital cost of the sevices to the patients bill, maybe by adding a few dollars somewhere else...

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Specializes in OB, ER.

We have free phones, tv, wifi, ect. I think tv's are actually very important. They are a huge distraction for sick people. That means less time on call lights, less time thinking about pain, less time thinking about food. It keeps them busy! Otherwise they just stare at the wall and come up with things they need. It is a huge help for kids, patients and visitors both. We are also supposed to turn them on for privacy when appropriate. It drowns out the noise in the hall and next door so they don't hear as much. I think they have much benefit and actually make our jobs easier!

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Nothing is free. Your hospital is taking those services into consideration as a cost of business and billing appropriately. They just don't itemize them. Somewhere they are adding the hospital cost of the sevices to the patients bill, maybe by adding a few dollars somewhere else...

This is probably true in all cases. Either way, it is a much better system for it to be added into the bill in my opinion. During clinicals I would hate to tell a patient that sorry, you can't watch tv because you do not have $10 cash on hand. The patient saying "bill me" or just automatically getting it and not realizing it is in the bill seems like it would result in less frustrations on their (and our) part. Sometimes the illusions of "free" makes people happy!

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Specializes in FNP.
We have free phones, tv, wifi, ect. I think tv's are actually very important. They are a huge distraction for sick people. That means less time on call lights, less time thinking about pain, less time thinking about food. It keeps them busy! Otherwise they just stare at the wall and come up with things they need. It is a huge help for kids, patients and visitors both. We are also supposed to turn them on for privacy when appropriate. It drowns out the noise in the hall and next door so they don't hear as much. I think they have much benefit and actually make our jobs easier!

I don't have a problem with TV in the rooms, but cable TV is something else. IMO hospitals have no business spending money on such nonsense until real needs are met. Minimal healthcare for every man, woman and child in this country, and then we can talk about cable. Our place has older model TVs, and I think they get 3 or 4 channels. We don't provide patient phones, but this is critical care and if they can talk on the phone, it's time to go to step down! Most people have cell phones anyway.

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We have free cable, wifi, and local phone calls at both hospitals I work at. I have never really thought about it as it is standard here. However, it seems unfair for the insurance companys to have to pay for these. Even if it is not listed as a daily charge someone is paying for it. I could see individual charges for it becomeing more popular.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
Food orders? You can't be serious. At my hospital you get the frozen swanson dinner they bring you, or you go hungry. Menus seem like almost as big a waste of money as cable tv. Flat screens? ***** How many disenfranchised people could be given some medication for that money? No wonder health care is broke, no priorities! Gotta have our Dancing with the Stars, even if it means people can't get their lifesaving medications!

Not only do they have menus, food service will call you if you haven't placed your order within the appropriate time frame.

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Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

I haven't seen charges since the early 80s. On Sundays, the volunteers would go around and turn on everyone's TV so they could see our pro football team play (go Broncos!); then turn them off again in the evenings.

Different hospital, we even have TVs in the ER rooms, and it has cut down on the complaints about how long people are waiting for results etc. Especially for the ones who are stuck in the ER, when we have no beds left in house and they are stuck in ER cubicles for a day or more.

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