cell phones at work

[tuxedopenguino]

How common is it for cell phones to be assigned to nurses in other hospitals? They drive me crazy! Throughout the shift is filled with constant interruptions. I understand how useful they are with calling docs and other departments. And I work on a tele floor so it buzzes us when something is off with someone's heart monitor--which is useful. The phones are also connected to call bells as well. But the amount of calls we get and interruptions amaze me. There are times where I have to stop and recalibrate my brain because I completely lost track of what I was about to do!

So much for minimizing interruptions for safer patient care...it seems like we can't work without it but at the same time can't work well with it. Sigh.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

We carry Voceras where I work. I would seriously address the way yours are used with your hospital's Risk Management dept. Those constant interruptions sound like a serious safety issue.

I used to work in an SNF that issued them. They weren't connected to call lights though, and residents didn't have the numbers. Our unit secretary used to chide me a lot because I didn't answer the call right when she transferred it to me. I'd tell her, "Yeah I was toileting someone. It is very inappropriate to answer a cell phone in earshot of someone's BM." Or, "I was at lunch. I don't bring my phone into the lunch room because I am off the clock and don't work for free."

[Luckyyou, BSN, RN]

There have been nights when I'm carrying around my unit cell phone, the transport cell phone, the code pager, and (depending on the time of night) my personal cell phone. And then my pants try to fall down.

[proud nurse, BSN, RN]

I have a love/hate relationship with the phones. I love that I can get calls directly from docs, pharmacy, lab, etc.. when I want and need to talk to them. I love that I can call a nurse friend's phone to bounce ideas off of, or say "I need to vent for a minute, meet me in the supply room."

I hate that the HUC can put calls straight through from family members when I'm not prepared to discuss the patient's status with them because I am in another patient's room. I cannot stand when dietary calls in the morning to ask if a patient can have their breakfast tray, and I can see them calling me less than 10 feet away. I hate getting calls when I have gotten away from the unit for only 2 minutes to have a bathroom break.

I know being accessible is part of the job, but that darn phone is one of the many work sounds I hear when I'm nowhere near that place.

[ScrappytheCoco]

In the ED we used to carry walkie talkies...I loved it. Now I'm on a mother/baby floor and we have the cell phones connected to the call lights, they make me nuts! It hardly works and then the secretary is complaining that I'm ignoring my call lights when the phone never even rang.

[wannabecnl]

When I bring patients up from PACU, it would be AWESOME to be able to text the patient's nurse and just say, "I'm here with Dr. McDreamy's postop in 487-1 and will meet you at the back station." I don't expect the receiving nurse to sit at the nurses' station with bated breath waiting for my arrival and report, and I know if they aren't there, they are in a patient's room doing something that needs to be done. The reality is, though, that my transfer times are noted, and the longer I wander around trying to find the nurse, the more things slow down for everyone and the longer the patient is in his/her room without being seen. It could be a real nuisance for floor nurses to be flooded with texts, though.

[MatrixRn]

I have read a few of these threads about nurses carrying phones. A quick question.

I am guessing that a system like vocera can track if someone does not answer on a regular basis etc, does this then impact that nurses evaluation? I am hoping not, but I can see it as a possibility.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

I don't know what vocera is. At my facility we use spectralink which is just like a regular cordless phone that we all carry. I have always had a love hate relationship with them.

I also have a text pager which pages me for every red level and blue level trauma, code blues, rapid responses, stroke alerts, and the occasional IV and lab draw requests that get put in the pager.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

I have read a few of these threads about nurses carrying phones. A quick question.

I am guessing that a system like vocera can track if someone does not answer on a regular basis etc, does this then impact that nurses evaluation? I am hoping not, but I can see it as a possibility.

Ours is not a system that can track anyone. I have never heard of one that can do that. Some units at the previous hospital I worked at had a nurse lo jack (a locator) that they wore. I don't know if they used it in evaluations or not.

[Overland1, RN]

We do not have hospital issued cell phones at work (other than those carried by RT), but we do have Cisco IP phones (wired and wireless), and they work OK most of the time. They are annoying when the phone rings and your hands are full when performing a necessary task. And yes, they always ring while the person is in the bathroom.

One consideration of the "network" phones is that the access points are often insufficient and placed poorly. Using one in an elevator is usually futile, while cell phones usually work OK.

[imenid37]

The nurses carry phones at my facility. As for logging when they are answered, I guessnthat is possible. I worked in another facility where we had "locators" connected to the call light system. They were by Hill-Rom and you could download reports about nurses in the patient rooms, locker room, bathroom, etc. This was done and could be brought up if there was a problem. I prefer the phones to the locator or beepers we had 20 years ago. I would love too have something like a smart phone tied to call lights and the EMR so nuurses could be alerted when there were orders, rather than hanging over the COW, WOW, or whatever we call it this week.

[Julius Seizure]

I sometimes have to carry a phone......I would rather have more of the things that make my phone ring be changed to text alerts than phone calls. "Pt arrived in room 206" can be a text, for example, instead of a phone call from the clerk. I would love to be able to text doctors and recieve texts back.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

It was worse without them...way worse. You had to walk down long halls calling for the nurses.I spent too much time looking for people and apologizing. The key is to remember you are in charge of the technology and do not let the technology control you.I use the do not disturb feature on my vocera a lot unless I am waiting for a call back.It took me a few weeks of vocera use for me to realize I was the boss of the device and how I chose to use it to minimize disruption.