My phone keeps going off at work...

Nurses Rock Toon

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Do you carry your phone around work? Does your place of work have a phone/technology policy?

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Please post these places so I don't work there. Deal w crap on a case by case basis. This is total laziness on Mgts and admin part.

They really just don't want pictures taken. It's all about control on their part.

Another plus for home care and working outside the hospital. No one making stupid rules like this. What stupidity. One more reason it sucks to be a nurse...you can't use good and vital technology bcc of a few nurses and stupid administrations/mgt. I see NPs use their smart phones all the time... Same w docs and pas. But let's treat nurses like servant-children. So freaking typical.

Based on the numerous anecdotes that others have shared involving inappropriate cell phone use, I think it's apparent that cell phones cause a widespread problem. If cell phones did in fact prove a greater utility than it did a disturbance, then an argument could be made against a ban. But clearly it does cause a problem and one that is too great to be managed on a case-by-case basis. You think it's a better idea to just fire everyone who has at some point given into the temptation of using their phones for social purposes rather than avoiding that problem altogether and keeping a probably otherwise productive staff member?

You think management isn't as overrun by a million responsibilities as you are? Yes, it's easier to not allow cell phones than to waste time figuring out if every person has their phone in their hand bc they plan on using it as a flashlight (LED keychain lights come cheap, btw) or bc they want to text their BFF. Also, I don't think this shouldn't be limited to nursing staff only.

I use mine to look up translations... I love seeing the relief on the patient and family's faces when I can at least speak a small bit of their language!

That reminds me.. I've done that too. It was awesome. But if my manager told me I had to stop, I wouldn't argue because I do have a translation service at my disposal.

I've used mine as a timer to remind me of tasks. I think people need to catch up with the times. Our facility allowed phones, and I never once abused that. I know others will, but I still see smart phones as very valuable tools without having to trek to the nurses station to look in a book or computer.

Based on the numerous anecdotes that others have shared involving inappropriate cell phone use, I think it's apparent that cell phones cause a widespread problem. If cell phones did in fact prove a greater utility than it did a disturbance, then an argument could be made against a ban. But clearly it does cause a problem and one that is too great to be managed on a case-by-case basis. You think it's a better idea to just fire everyone who has at some point given into the temptation of using their phones for social purposes rather than avoiding that problem altogether and keeping a probably otherwise productive staff member?

That's not scientific at all. Another problem in nursing. People and places, especially in nursing, tend to be reactionary more than anything else. The anecdotals here mean nothing in terms or reality, except that places don't care about being truly constructive over being punitive and reactionary. Do you see this as a problem with docs and nps or pas? It's BS. There plenty of utility w smart phones. I researched this with colleagues. Look at productivity of the individual in question, period.

It's like guns. They don't kill people. It's the individual and how they use it. Same thing with smart phones and other kinds of good technology.

This is a ridiculous argument to me.

You don't have to stand around wondering why each person is using their device. You look at those that are unproductive and unsafe....same way you would look to how someone would be wasting time on a hospital computer and not attending to their patients.

We use these devices in units all the time, and most people care enough about their pts to not waste time texting or on a device for no good reasons. The proof is I. Their work...and they won't last very long.

I keep mine in my pocket and will check messages on breaks only. What I will do is use it for unit conversions, calculator, and looking up medications I'm not familiar with at my med cart so I don't have to go all the way back and log onto a computer -- if I can find one. If I'm using the phone in the view of patients or visitors I will tell them what I am doing. It's like someone else said - a computer in my pocket that also happens to be a phone. Could I manage without it? Yes. But it is useful and convenient.

I keep mine in my pocket and will check messages on breaks only. What I will do is use it for unit conversions, calculator, and looking up medications I'm not familiar with at my med cart so I don't have to go all the way back and log onto a computer -- if I can find one. If I'm using the phone in the view of patients or visitors I will tell them what I am doing. It's like someone else said - a computer in my pocket that also happens to be a phone. Could I manage without it? Yes. But it is useful and convenient.

Right. The point is. You shouldn't have to, and proper use of smart technology increases efficiency. Myopic evaluations of people in and out of the orientation period, is a HUGE problem in nursing. There is already so much trouble with there being a major lack of objective approaches to nurse evaluation--both in and out of orientation periods. It is like my position that you cannot precept well if you don't have and use tools of objective evaluation. How can you assess a pt for, example, w/o striving for objective means of assessment and evaluation? We brag about assessment and evaluation as part of the nursing process, but we fail miserably in assessment and evaluation of new employee nurses, or even not so new nurses....b/c we don't strive for objectivity. Instead, we have come to rely on being reactionary; something we may not want in evaluating what's going on with patients. What is with this imbalance and dissimulation?

We don't have a cell phone policy but there is an unspoken rule that we aren't supposed use them at the desk or in front of patients. The nurses and CNAs all have hospital assigned phones that we carry during our shift so that we can find each other or the MD can reach us if need be. I'm pretty sure the phones are circa 1993, they are huge! You really can't carry them in your pocket so they are usually in view of the patient. We educate our patients on admission about the cell phones and reassure them that they aren't our personal phones. Our manager actually told us that we would eventually have iPhones and could chart on them...believe when I see it!

it really depends on the hospital or medical facilities your are in. most are firm on the "no cellphone policy" so that nurses wont be distracted during work hours. however, as technology develops, the use of smartphones can really increase efficiency.

I work in a different kind of specialty than a hospital. being in Home health, we use our phones almost constantly, and I dont know how people did it before our current technology of being able to get ahold of patients and doctors on the fly. That being said, I never have time to use my phone for personal reasons. I dont have a problem with nurses using their phones for work purposes but its those that abuse it that drive me nuts. At work is not a time for personal calls, checking social media or playing games. When I worked LTC, I used my phone as well because it was easier to have on you than rushing to grab the desk phone. But it was a smaller unit and we had clearance to forward the main line to our cell so we can be available. This was reserved for Noc shift only though and with a skeleton crew, there was nobody to answer calls should any come in. I also use my phone for research purposes. When in a home, I google things often to make sure that the info I am educating on is correct, especially medications.

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