Facebook while on the clock?

[maureen924]

I am in my last semster and will graduate in December. During my clinical rotations, I have noticed many of the nurses, while on the clock, playing on the computer, checking their email and Facebook, booking vacations and such. I know I am naive and I am new and excited to finally be in the role of a nurse, but if there is enough time to be playing on the computer, there shouldn't be any patient complaints about the quality of care they are receiving. Is this a problem across the board or just in my neck of the woods? We all deserve a little down time, but at some point in time, someone needs to draw the line!

[tainted1972, ASN, RN]

Before there were cell phones and internet. We used to spend our down time actually working on things like stocking and cleaning. There is always something that needs to be done. If you are being paid.. you should be working.

[eatmysoxRN, ASN, RN]

I'd have a lot of more stressful nights if I couldn't play Pandora on my phone for a few hours while I'm charting. It's low enough that even my coworkers don't notice it unless I start singing along. I use my 4G network and not my facility's wifi. It helps me and doesn't cause me to neglect patient care. I never post on any site while I'm working, although I browse Facebook occasionally. Even with a few thousand friends on Facebook, 2 am shows very few posts.

~ No One Can Make You Feel Inferior Without Your Consent -Eleanor Roosevelt ~

[itsnowornever, BSN, RN]

Before there were cell phones and internet. We used to spend our down time actually working on things like stocking and cleaning. There is always something that needs to be done. If you are being paid.. you should be working.

Apparently one of my preceptors never got that memo. I spent 6 down hours stocking, making an ordering list and pre-prepping charts while she was yaking on the phone, sitting in an empty room watching TV and cleaning her purse. All while telling me "ill help you in a second"...then when night shift came she proudly stated "we are all stocked for you if there's a problem" to which I replied "Yup, and it took me half the darn day!" This is the same lady who EVERY time I work with her states "You never should have been hired here, you should have waiting for a MedSurg floor spot" and "if our current director was here when you were hired, he never would have hired you". She has also taken personal calls WHILE DOING A VAG EXAM!!!! Yup, because of this ONE person I can't wait to leave.

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

Putting aside the whole "surfing the net while on the clock" issue, I am really, really confused by the allure of stuff like Facebook and incessant texting. Who are you texting? Why do you suppose anyone cares about all the minutiae of your boring, boring, banal lives? Did you just eat an apple? Are you glad it's Friday? Is it snowing? Well, by God, you better post an update on Facebook telling all your "friends"!

[Inori, BSN, RN]

nope don't do it and its not allowed. I signed a document or two in my hiring package that i would use company computer only for company use, agree to not use cellphone on the job, no cameras etc. If you must do FB use your own equiptment aka your cell and do it descretly as in the bathroom or on lunch because company computer means they have right to monitor, log, store your information including passwords. So with that being said I check my phone before I enter building, at lunch and ocassionally during a very fast bathroom trip where its pee 30 secs, wash and text, FB, VM for the next 3-4 mins.

My phone is equipt with better medical software then company computers but I do not use it to look up drugs, procedures exactly because anyone walking by will just see me using cell and report it as such. Still if i'm in a hurry need to know exactly how to reconsitute the drug and can't find it on company software I will go into an exam room close the door and lean on door so it can't be open while i check my drug guide on iphone.

[sistasoul]

I have never seen this behavior where I work either. It is way too busy. It seems nurses are always fighting against the clock to get all of their patient assessments and charting done. Where are these jobs that people have time to go on these sites? I do agree that it is OK to have some down time at work. Any other job I have worked at before becoming a nurse had a little down time or at least the pace was bearable. If nurses have some down time- good for them- it is well deserved. I would hope that people would not do this before patient care was done.

When I was an aide I could never understand why the nurses would not get up when bed alarms were going off. I now know that they were racing the clock trying to get their charting done, etc. so as not to incur overtime. I understand their reasons but I do not agree with it still. Nurses should get up any time a bed alarm is going off. Was not trying to hijack the thread but to show a comparison. Before I was a nurse there were many things I did not understand about being a nurse. The OP as a student has not worked as a nurse yet and can not understand things until he/she does.