no cell phones no personal phone calls at work

[ohmeowzer RN]

just wanted your opinion on this... my friend who just graduated from nursing school just started a job where he cannot get personal phone calls or cannot bring his cell phone into the unit.. they are worried about pictures being taken ectra with the cell phone.. he has 6 kids and his wife has MS .. they told him if they catch him with a cell phone on the unit it is a write up .. it is a psych unit.. i understand the facility worries.. but to cut you off of all communication from family seems to much .. they told him they wrote up 2 nurses last week for bringing their cell phones in .. you cannot even use them on your break .. that is where they caught the nurses to write them up.. they also warned him they have cameras and voice recording all over the unit and will catch them if they are not on target with their job ... is this excessive control over a nurse about cell phones and personal calls for a psych unit.... seems like it to me... they use the cameras to see if the nurse really does her job and what she says besides the safety of the staff and patients...

what do you think ?? thank you in advance !!

[happy2learn]

SummitAP you sound very well educated on the topic baldee brought up (not saying you aren't smart baldee). But going into that debate is going to get the thread off topic.

Maybe you two might want to start a new thread to further discuss it?

[HealthShepherd]

they also warned him they have cameras and voice recording all over the unit and will catch them if they are not on target with their job ..... they use the cameras to see if the nurse really does her job and what she says besides the safety of the staff and patients...

The paranoid patients must love that....

Seriously, though, I don't understand how video/voice recordings could possibly be seen as OK in the hospital. I can understand the security desk having visual monitors on the entrances and perhaps some non-patient care areas (like where narcotics are stored). But if you're filming nurses at work, then you're filming patients being treated, which is a gross violation of privacy. And while confidentiality is important everywhere in health care, I think it's especially important in psych because of the stigmatization of mental illness.

Even if they had the cameras/voice recorders in the common areas and not the patient rooms - again, this is a psych unit. It's good for patients to get out and hang out in the lounge or dining area to talk or play ping pong or whatever, rather than staying in their rooms the way a med-surg patient does. Do they want the patients to feel that their rooms are the only safe place?

Maybe this camera talk is just a bluff to scare the employees. I hope so.

[skittlebear]

Sorry, but I do agree: No cell phones…this takes away from the care of the patients. In case you should have an emergency, maybe you should give your family the work places number.

I remember when I was in clinical, I saw something that upset me greatly! I was in a nursing home walking down the hall. One of the patients was getting a bed bath. Her door was wide open for all to see. To top it off, the CNA was talking on her cell phone while giving care!

[ohmeowzer RN, RN]

i love every comment posted !! they were very interesting to read !! my friend nurse wonderful was told " no cell phones in the unit at all no exceptions .. no personal calls .. his wife has MS and gets around ok but does have flare ups once in awhile .. he told me he rarely gets phone calls but worries that one day he may need to have a personal call .. he was not told this on hire nor did he sign anything stating he cannot have personal phone calls ...

i understand the units concern and i'm sure they want 100% attention on the patients but it seems very strange to just cut you off from the world... thank you all so much for your thoughts .. and thank you in advance for the upcoming comments !!

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

Personally I am tired of going into the utility room or med room and finding a coworker hiding out there texting. I'm also tired of having to cover for nurse X when the doc needs a hand with her patients. At work your mind should be on patients, not on the little crises that happen at home and your family calls about. Every time your concentration is broken by a vibrating phone your attention is taken away from the person being cared for.

Team no cell phones. Go team.

[ohmeowzer RN, RN]

many nurses bring cell phones to work and keep them in their pocket .. but there are guidelines established by the hospital for use of cell phones.. like only on your break.. but to ban completely is overkill

[jerenemarie]

My pet peeve is cell phones on the floor. I had a complaint from a patient that her aide was talking on her cell phone as she was giving her HS cares; when I talked to the aide about it, she admitted she was doing this but couldn't understand what the problem was...duh...& then she walked off the job right then & there! Another time I saw an LPN with her cell phone on her med cart & she also would go hide in the med room or bathroom to make calls on it (we could hear her talking). She was given warnings but it did not help...one eve I was super busy, ran in the med room to get something & there she was again hiding & yakking on her cell phone. I reported her, she was immediately fired. Staff could use their phones on their breaks but were expected to keep their phones in their lockers & we put personal calls through in emergencies so it wasn't like administration were being jerks about it!

Thanks,

Jerenemarie

[elkpark]

I've worked in psych all my career, and these rules and policies (except for the part about not being able to use your own phone when you're on your official meal break) are standard and reasonable. My current facility has the "no cell phones in the hospital" rule, and I only wish they actually enforced it!! I work with some techs and even other nurses who spend half the shift texting their friends, playing games, etc., on their phones instead of paying attention to what's going on with the clients. I also have worked with people whose family members and friends call repeatedly during a shift, obviously not for any emergency reason. If there is an actual emergency, my facility is v. good about making sure an employee is able to leave (if necessary) to attend to it.

And security cameras are not all that unusual in psychiatric settings.

I realized I'm a ridiculous, outdated, out of touch, old fogey by this time, but what ever happened to the days when people came to work to do their jobs, rather than managing their social lives and catching up with all their friends?? I've never been in a work situation where a family member couldn't get through to someone at work in a real emergency and that situation wasn't dealt with promptly and appropriately, but those situations are few and far between.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

just wanted your opinion on this... my friend who just graduated from nursing school just started a job where he cannot get personal phone calls or cannot bring his cell phone into the unit.. they are worried about pictures being taken ectra with the cell phone.. he has 6 kids and his wife has MS .. they told him if they catch him with a cell phone on the unit it is a write up .. it is a psych unit.. i understand the facility worries.. but to cut you off of all communication from family seems to much .. they told him they wrote up 2 nurses last week for bringing their cell phones in .. you cannot even use them on your break .. that is where they caught the nurses to write them up.. they also warned him they have cameras and voice recording all over the unit and will catch them if they are not on target with their job ... is this excessive control over a nurse about cell phones and personal calls for a psych unit.... seems like it to me... they use the cameras to see if the nurse really does her job and what she says besides the safety of the staff and patients...

what do you think ?? thank you in advance !!

I'd find another job!!!!!!!!!!! Creepy.......cameras really? Sounds like they are pretty paranoid and need an eval themselves!

[happy2learn]

My facility also has a no cell phone policy, except in the main lobby.

[shiccy]

When I am at work, I do have my cell phone, and it *is* in my pocket. We have a strict no cell phone rule, HOWEVER, my phone is also my PDA. It has the ability to do calculations including BMI's, unit conversions, etc, as well as being my own personal portable always on and highly searchable PDR. My phone is ALWAYS on airplane mode until I sit down for lunch, which then it goes on for a while so I can see what new things are happening w/ e-mail and txting. Afterwards back off it goes, and either back in the pocket or in the bag for the rest of the morning (rarely need it after my HS med pass)

[itsmejuli]

Back in the days before cell phones and pagers I'd give my family the number at work for emergencies only.

If I had an urgent call to make, I'd ask my supervisor permission to use the phone.

What's the big deal? Cell phones are a convenient form of communication, not a necessity.