Bluetooth Headsets

Forcemaster · Aug 30, 2008

Are they making personal calls or are they talking to other members of the health care team???

I would have to say that any nurse making personal calls near patients while at work is acting in an unprofessional manner. It is one thing to use your mobile to talk to other members of the health care team about a patient because it gives you access to the rest of the team at the bedside, an invaluable source of information, but to discuss with your fiends the plans for the weekend...

jmtndl · Aug 30, 2008

I work in as a supervisor, and when I am at work the ear bugs come off. No questions,no requests.you will not be that unfocused or distracted, and you certainly will not make the patient feel as if they are not your primary focus. I cannot think of anything more unprofessional and in my facility they are not allowed.

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Aug 30, 2008

In the ER it's the poorest patients that come in with one of those things in their ears. They keep them on throughout the entire visit, and not one call comes through. I doubt they even have service- it's just an expensive decoration.

Indulgence · Aug 30, 2008

Oh! It drives me nuts all the cell phone usage going on while on duty..

texting all the time,always on the cell with personal business.They don't even bother with the blue tooths,they just talk on the regular handset !

Makes me crazy to have to wait for someone to get off the cell phone so I can

discuss a patient issue! :banghead:

nightmare, RN · Aug 30, 2008

I would have though health and safety would have something to say about this! For instance using bluetooth near pacemakers for one.For another ,confused patient grabs it out of ear.Nurse is hurt,"bug" is broken...who is to blame etc.Turning it on and off with possibly unwashed hands would be a great way to introduce ear infections in the wearer I would have thought.Also if your ear is full of the Bluetooth 'bug' how can you hear your patients?

NurseExec · Aug 30, 2008

We have a policy that forbids personal calls during working hours--specifically using cell phones in resident areas. I have no issue with people using them on their break, but won't tolerate people using them around residents. Seeing someone talking with a bluetooth earbud wound be grounds for a verbal warning, followed by a formal coaching if the behavior continued.

Murse901, MSN, RN · Aug 30, 2008

I always want to smack people who come to work with those things in. Actually, I always want to smack ANYONE wearing those. The whole concept is so stupid. I can understand if you are some bigshot executive who is constantly doing 15 different things all while making business calls to clients all day. But, really, how many people do you know who are in a situation where they cannot either take the call at a later time, or put down whatever they are doing to answer their cell phone?

One of the worst cases was something I saw just the day before yesterday -- I was driving past a big wreck on the interstate, several emergency vehicles blocking all but one lane of traffic, so there was plenty of time to rubberneck at the pace we were moving at. Anyway, one of the medics assessing one of the patients had a stupid bluetooth in! This is supposed to be a medical professional, and here she is with this stupid gawky chrome thing hanging out of her ear as if to say, "I know you're seriously injured, but if I get an important call, I'm going to answer it".

What kind of phone call could a paramedic possibly receive at an accident scene in the middle of patient care that she would need a bluetooth for? (and don't say Medical Control, supervisor, or anything like that.. that's what radios are for)

I just hope these things are a fad and disappear within the next 5 years, along with spinning rims.

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Aug 30, 2008

I would have though health and safety would have something to say about this! For instance using bluetooth near pacemakers for one.

Uhhh.... I have a pacer. And a bluetooth. What's the problem?:uhoh21:

But rest easy, I don't use the bluetooth while I'm working, only the cell phone that's issued to me. And yes, it rings a lot and yes, I think it's very distracting to have to answer it a dozen times while I'm assessing a patient. So I guess personal phone calls = unprofessional, business phone calls = OK.

nightmare, RN · Aug 30, 2008

Uhhh.... I have a pacer. And a bluetooth. What's the problem?:uhoh21:
But rest easy, I don't use the bluetooth while I'm working, only the cell phone that's issued to me. And yes, it rings a lot and yes, I think it's very distracting to have to answer it a dozen times while I'm assessing a patient. So I guess personal phone calls = unprofessional, business phone calls = OK.

We were always told not to have mobile devices within 30 feet of pacer.Is this not true anymore then?Same with microwaves.

gonzo1, ASN, RN · Aug 30, 2008

They scream "look at me, I'm really important". I wouldn't be caught dead with one.

PiPhi2004 · Aug 30, 2008

I'd like to know who REALLY gets called that much that you have to have some stupid thing attached to your head. If a nurse had one of these on in my unit and I had a particularly bad day I may rip it off her head and stomp on it. As far as work calls, I may average 5/day. Plus, what if you are talking to someone about a patient in front of another patient IF its a work call? That just sounds like a big mess if these are being used for that purpose. Just use a regular phone, geez!!!!