Would you use a cell phone at work? Do you need a cell phone at work?

[2BSure]

Hey all,

I work somewhere where cell phones are forbidden and I am OK with that. We have pagers if necessary, a phone in every room and if you are on nights or have a large area to cover you are given a wireless handset that clips to your belt.

Recently my mum went into hospital via ER for a cardiac emergency and was admitted. On a number of occasions nurses or techs cell phones would ring while they were in my mum's room. Sometimes they answered and had a brief "I'll call you back I am with a patient" moment. Sometimes they did not answer. Sometimes they answered and it sounded work related.

I suppose I did not really care about all of this until one nurse, when about to insert a new IV into my mother, answered her phone, had what sounded like a work conversation and then went back to my mum. I can't say I was overly impressed. She didn't reglove or anything. Frankly, I was so taken aback I didn't say anything at the time.

So if you guys use cell phones at work (I mean working in a LTCF, hospital or similar) why are they necessary? Do you use personal cell phones at work? What are your facility's reasoning against them?

I am just interested.

[Katnip, RN]

I work at a desk now and do use my cell phone. And my pager.

But when on the floor I never had my cell phone with me.

[perfectbluebuildings, BSN, RN]

We have pagers that are used to contact us for anything patient-related and can put the message as to what's needed in the page; usually it's the secretary passing on what a patient needs. I'm glad we don't have cell phones for that purpose, as it seems more intrusive because you have to answer it immediately to know what's needed, whereas with the pager, if you have your hands in the middle of something you don't have to drop it to answer. I do keep my personal cell phone in my pocket on vibrate or silent in case of family emergencies, but never answer it at work unless I'm on break... if it does go off, I check the message next time I have a quiet moment.

It sounds, from how you describe their conversations, like the hospital your mother was at chooses to use cell phones for staff to communicate re: patient needs. There is not a lot the individual nurses who work there can do to change that fact, whether they would like to use those cell phones or not. That doesn't make them bad nurses. However, that one particular nurse should have washed her hands before returning to the IV attempt- simple infection control and clean technique issues there.

[2BSure]

I do have a vague recollection of hearing someone say their facility did not use or permit personal ones on the floor because of concerns with patient confidentiality -- however I think they were more concerned about the cameras in the cell phones.

[April, RN, BSN, RN]

Many of us where I work keep our personal cell phones in our pockets on silent or vibrate. I've never seen a nurse talk on their personal phone in any patient care area, even at the nurses' station.

Like perfectbluebuildings mentioned, the hospital your mother was at probably uses cell phones as pagers. We tried using cell phones at our hospital at one point. I personally hated them, as did many other nurses. We no longer use that system. It was annoying and embarrassing to have them repeatedly ring while you were in a room providing patient/family teaching or had hands tied up with dirty gloves. And what were we supposed to do, answer the phone while we were attending to one patient so the secretary can tell us about the needs of another? I'm sure patients and their families just thought our personal cell phones were going off in our pockets.

[OldPhatMC]

I carry a phone PDA (BlackBerry) with my drug and wound care references in it. I would not part with it. Frankly, the telephone function is only there as a back up and it's only important to me because the bedside phones and call bell system at my facility are really not reliable. I work at another hospital with the in-house wi-fi phones. They are enormously useful because any call back can be directly to you with no intervening steps. Being able to call out from bedside is mostly helpful in emergencies, but also nice when you're completely dressed in isolation gear and need something brought in to you. I'd rather decontaminate a phone than completely doff and don isolation gear another time.

I don't believe in taking any personal calls, no matter how urgent, at bedside.

I'd only give up the cell/PDA if I had the same resources provided by the employer. I have a PDA without phone capacity that I use at the second job and I could live with that. But I would be highly uncomfortable without some sort of communications equipment not attached to me.

[MaverickyMaverick]

every nurse where i work is issued a phone that looks just like a cell phone and it is for work...they ring like a cell, have text messaging, etc. when there pts hit the call bell it forwards to their phones. i think it is pretty common. not regloving? nasty.

[puddingpie]

Yes, I keep my phone with me at all times,on viberator but, I never answer it when I am with a patient.

think it is rude to have a personal conversation... however MD's answer their phones all the time and they never get any complaints.

[travel50]

I work at a nursing home. As a rule, staff are not allowed to keep their cell phones on them. Having personal calls on a cell phone, playing games on it, etc., is grounds for immediate termination. However, they are welcome to keep them in their purses and use them on their breaks.

For 2 weeks this month, we had no phone service b/c lightening hit and destroyed a main terminal. We are in a rural area and almost then entire county was out of phone and internet service. So I had my staff keep their cell phones on them so we could continue to function on a normal level.

[StNeotser, ASN, RN]

Yes I carry one and I've called out on it in four years.

Once, my mother was admitted to hospital in the UK - I am in the USA.

The next time my fourteen year old had called 911 because a carbon monoxide detector had gone off in the hour between my ex husband dropping her off and me arriving home.

I keep it obviously because of emergencies only.

[RNperdiem, RN]

My cell phone stays off and is tucked away in the bottom of my backpack somewhere.

I can't think of any reason I need it at work.

My family knows my work number.

Most problems can wait until I get home anyway.

My husband is a competent adult, he does not need to be calling me with everything.

I have enough interruptions from monitors to phone calls to call lights; why would I add a cell phone to the mix?

[BrnEyedGirl, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN]

I don't use my person cell phone at work..(ER), but when in charge I do carry a blackberry or another phone. I often wonder about what the pts think when I answer it. I use an ear piece and often answer while I cont with whatever I'm doing,...often it's a call from triage or the communications nurse telling me about an ambulance on the way or asking where to bring a pt who needs back ASAP,...they are calls I need to answer and the only other option would be to stay out of pt's rooms,....not an option!