Not that it would be used for anything but an emergency, but how do you feel about being told that you may not carry your cell phone while working?
Even if it's off, even if it's on vibrate. Even if it's part of your PDA that helps you get your job done.
I kinda feel like I'm back in high school. All the "grownups" -- docs, managers, administrators -- may keep their cell phones. But I, a lowly staff nurse (middle-aged, educated, professional, and presumably with decent morals and good judgment), cannot.
I have to add, when I was a unit manager in LTC, the policy was the same, no cellphones on your person. However I had been given a cell phone so I would be accessible 24/7. I did point out the irony of me answering my phone on the unit when no one else could. I was told because it was facility business it was acceptable. Just an example of bending the rules to suit management.
I made it clear to my aides and nurses that I expected no one to answer a phone in a pts room, in a pts presence or in a pt area. I also did not want to hear a phone ringing. I did not care if it was on vibrate in their pockets, or if they checked messages and returned a quick call, but it had to be off the floor and not excessive. I really had no problems with the staff once I put my expectations out there. I did have to counsel a couple who I found chatting away, but overall it was one less thing I had to manage that in the grand scheme of things was not a priority.
I don't carry mine with me, it stays in my locker when i'm working and I get it out when on my tea and lunch breaks.
if there was an emergency of some kind my mum and my partner both have the ward number so i could be contacted by that. Some nurses carry their phone in their pocket and some answer their phone by going into the treatment room. I don't actually get that many texts of phone calls so it's not a big deal for me not to have my phone on me whilst working.
I would think that if more nurses and CNAs stopped abusing the cell phone, then more places would be less strict with the rules. I have been a CNA for over 3 years, and the I have yet to see or hear (since people who have cells tend to answer them whenever they ring) an actual emergency phone call,. However, I have seen plenty of calls that often leads to a meaningless conversation/argument during report, patient care, med passes, etc.
The nurses and CNAs who have cells, in my experience and based on what my coworkers have told me about other facilities, DO NOT keep them on vibrate, and they stop their nursing duties to answer AND talk on them. And based on the posts in this thread, this seems to happen everywhere.
If you, a nurse or a CNA, do this, you are being unprofessional. Also, you are punishing those who want to keep their cells on themselves, but use them the right way: no gossip calls, no arguments, only deaths, accidents, illnesses, alarms, toitet overflows, etc.
This thread really still amazes me, even after 12 pages.
We are not children. We should not be treated like children. In my past 13 years of working in other industries, I have NEVER been told I was "not allowed" to have my cell phone on me. It was also never seen as horrible to be in contact with my family during the day. I never took advantage of it, and also never saw anything wrong with a 5 min conversation with my husband during the day. Nobody else that I worked with ever had a problem doing it/me doing it either.
You should be able to be in contact with your family without being persecuted. My family is by far more important than my job. I will do my job, and take care of patients and my duties, but I will be available to my family 24/7 one way or another. If the place that I work cannot handle that, then I have no problem finding another place to work.
If we tolerate bad working conditions and being treated like children, then we will continue to be treated like children. I guarantee that if nurses en mass stopped working at places that treated them poorly, they would revamp their rules just to stay afloat. Hospitals, nursing homes, and the like cannot function without us. They like to think they're in charge, but if we were to band together on this sort of thing, I think many would be surprised at the shift in things.
Dear God. How petty have things become. Sometimes I think that I was treated more like a professional before I went back and got my nursing degree! "Susie did this, Johnny did that." I don't give a Sam Hill what anyone else does as long as it doesn't get in the way for me to provide care to my patients. If my coworkers have extra time and check their email or call their family, who cares? Most of them are more than willing to help out as long as asked.
I started carrying my cell in my pocket so that I could screen when to best answer calls from my son who calls to check in after school. We carry spectra link phones at work that are tied into our call lights. When it says "outside call" on the caller ID, I don't know if that is a pt family member checking in, a doctor calling from the office, or my son calling to tell me that he's going to the mall. When my cell buzzes in my pocket, I know that it's personal and I don't have to answer it while in a patient room. I can return the call if necessary when I get done.
Being a nurse doesn't mean that you have to give up being a parent. I disagree with the post of the nursing student that her babysitter should only call if there is copious blood. I worked a number of jobs before I was an RN and none of them ever expected me to dissallow personal call from my family. It is more profitable for us to be martyrs. Maybe it's time that we start standing up for ourselves. I give up federally mandated breaks every day because it seems there are no other choices. This is where I draw the line in the sand.
I am still a student, but will graduate in Dec 09. I have went to school for a long time, and worked very hard. I have the student loans to prove it. When I graduate I will be a licensed professional RN. I will give 100% to my patients and employer. That being said I feel I have a choice about where I work. I can work in any one of many hospitals in the metro area I live in. I can work for a Dr's office, home health, hospice or travel nursing. So why would I want to work for a place that treats me like I am an uneducated, unskilled, desperate person who will accept bad treatment just to be employed by THEM.
The main reason for not carrying the cell phone is that it is a distraction to your work/patient care. We all know to well of the co-workers that take advantage of using their cell phone for non-emergencies and they have caused it to be a clause in our hand books that its "No No".
Me on the other hand...I carry my cell phone with all sounds off and use it for a link to my kids/family as most of us do. But when I use it I step away from patient areas.
I always carry my cell phone on me, even in clinicals. It is on silent but it is on at all times. The people that call me know when I am unavailable, but if there is an emergency I need to be able to be contacted. No one even knows I carry my cell, because I don't talk on it, only peek at it in the bathroom and hide it facing my tummy so that the light does not flash out of my scrubs :-)
MzGurl
28 Posts
Ok thas understandable.