HAve you noticed an increase in your coworkers on facebook, or texting CONSTANTLY on their cell phones?
So much that when you have a pt. going bad, and in front of your coworkers ( who are on the computer, giggling and texting too) and you are asking the unit sec. to place orders for a STAT stuff while you are on the phone with the doctor....that these coworkers ignore you, only to ask you later " You had a pt going bad, why didn't you ask for help??" The same coworkers who have no obligation for teamwork, and are too busy to help you when they seem to have PLENTY of freetime to help out? What is the appropriate way to handle this? I have already mentioned several times that they are too loud at the nurses station, and suggested they are on facebook way too much. Now I am the bad guy because I reported above incident to my supervisor, and now one of the nurses is playing the "i'm-not-talking-to -you" game. I feel bad she got singled out, and yes it should have been handled better, but spending 4 hours a nite on facebook is ridiculous. And it sets an example for our new staff! Plus I am so embarrassed when pts family members come to the desk and my coworkers are watching you tube and laughing loudly. And my favorite, texting while in a pts. room. Sigh......
A nurse was recently fired for comments she made on her Facebook about a patient's family while on duty in the hospital. It doesn't get much more stupid than to make horribly inconsiderate and derrogatory remarks about a patient and their family when you have co-workers who are friends of yours on Facebook.
is this not also why that airliner went one and 1/2 hours OVER their destination last year? And what also played into the Buffalo plane crash that occurred a year ago as well..? texting while flying the aircraft... how EASY it is to get distracted. How easy to get nonchalant... how easy to put ME before my patient... my customers, my passengers.... It's a sad reflection on our work ethic these days. Very sad. "
THANK YOU!!!! COME ON PEOPLE...Your not dealing with stuffed animals, your dealing with HUMANS!!
Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care, Cardiac, EMS.
I've said this before, and whether or not your place of employment has a specific policy in place regarding FB or other social media at work - be cautious. The use of company computers to access your personal accounts is generally considered misuse of resources. The posting of information, even simply to say "I'm working" that reveals your place of employment - can be loosely construed as divulging corporate information. And if you should post anything remotely negative about work, your day, your co-workers, or your patients - you can be fired, you may be sued for libel, because you may have in fact published defamatory information on the Internet.
Oh, and there is no reasonable right to or expectation of privacy in cyberspace, either. It's all out there, it's all fair game, and there's always a record of it somewhere. If you post it, they will find it.
Never put anything on the web you wouldn't want your boss - or a prospective employer - to see.
And texting/phone apps/handheld games at work? Does this really need to be addressed? That's just sad.
seeing nurses on their cell phones texting or answering personal phone calls in patient rooms have ALWAYS bothered me.
i'm not a nurse yet (will be starting the ABSN program in may) but my dad has recently been diagnosed with lung cancer before christmas. since he's been in the hospital, i visit him everyday and every time i have been there, there are occasions when the nurse is texting or answering personal phone calls while changing my dad's IV or giving him medication.
i mean...are you seriously going to talk to your friend on your cell phone while you are changing my dad's IV? or are you seriously going to walk into my dad's room and finish your text message to your friend before you even acknowledge my dad? seriously? especially since you claim to be a nurse for "several years" and is pretty much as old as my mom. it annoys me.
i've also seen nurses stand outside patient rooms to text or show their coworkers a text message they have received.
i know i'm not a nurse or anything but i'm speaking from a patient's family member's perspective. you think people don't see you trying to "discreetly" text or use your phone while hiding it in your pocket but they do and it's very unprofessional.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
a couple of our nurses got suspended recently for being on facebook all night at work. it was fairly obvious because they kept taking pictures of each other and posting them on facebook . . . . one of them is in graduate school and the suspension means he won't get tuition reimbursement for this semester. he's incensed that he was "singled out" for "unreasonable punishment." but really -- what do you expect when you spend all night on facebook and allmost everyone you work with is on your friends list?
i was shocked to see a nurse admitting a patient from the or to the sicu while chatting on her cellphone tucked up against her shoulder.
the texting, though -- i'm not always sure it is texting. i have reference material on my iphone, and what you see as texting may be me entering in the name of a drug to check compatibility with other drugs, setting a timer so i remember to unclamp my og tube after the meds i've given, putting the date and time of that workshop into my calendar, adding something to my task list or actually texting the surgeon to tell him about the chest tube output. it is absolutely not me facebooking!
surely if they have so much time for facebook and texting i am sure they aren't doing their jobs...making them poor nurses...a shame to our profession..how sad:crying2:
Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care, Cardiac, EMS.
the texting, though -- i'm not always sure it is texting. i have reference material on my iphone, and what you see as texting may be me entering in the name of a drug to check compatibility with other drugs, setting a timer so i remember to unclamp my og tube after the meds i've given, putting the date and time of that workshop into my calendar, adding something to my task list or actually texting the surgeon to tell him about the chest tube output. it is absolutely not me facebooking!
yeah, that.
if you see my iphone out at work - i'm using medcalc, or on taber's, or epocrates, or davis', or looking up a lab value, or one of a thousand things i used to use my palm tungsten for until it died and i discovered the icrackpipe.
unfortunately, if they ban the use of phones for texting at work ... i'm kind of hosed. and i'll blame some annoying 20-something punk kids who think that their downtime at work is their own to play games with.
same old sad story - it's a tool, not a toy - but those who misuse it will ruin it for everyone.
HAve you noticed an increase in your coworkers on facebook, or texting CONSTANTLY on their cell phones?
So much that when you have a pt. going bad, and in front of your coworkers ( who are on the computer, giggling and texting too) and you are asking the unit sec. to place orders for a STAT stuff while you are on the phone with the doctor....that these coworkers ignore you, only to ask you later " You had a pt going bad, why didn't you ask for help??" The same coworkers who have no obligation for teamwork, and are too busy to help you when they seem to have PLENTY of freetime to help out? What is the appropriate way to handle this? I have already mentioned several times that they are too loud at the nurses station, and suggested they are on facebook way too much. Now I am the bad guy because I reported above incident to my supervisor, and now one of the nurses is playing the "i'm-not-talking-to -you" game. I feel bad she got singled out, and yes it should have been handled better, but spending 4 hours a nite on facebook is ridiculous. And it sets an example for our new staff! Plus I am so embarrassed when pts family members come to the desk and my coworkers are watching you tube and laughing loudly. And my favorite, texting while in a pts. room. Sigh......
Does your institution have a policy re: facebook, or other social networks?
We have to leave our cell phones in our cars. We are issued cell phones for calls from docs and other staff while in the surgical unit.
No one dares to use anything other than the online pharmacology reference when on the Internet in this economy.
If you have colleagues doing this crap, report them and get them fired. I'm sure that there are plenty of new grads who are just dying to have their jobs for perhaps even a little less pay.
I'm an NP, and we had an MA student who was supposed to be doing an EKG on a pt - stopped the EKG to text a friend, then finished the EKG. RIDICULOUS!. And I'm an LPN instructor. If I see a cell phone while on clinicals, it's mine till the end of the day, and all the students know it.
:uhoh3:
That's just sad.
shortnorthstudent
357 Posts
A nurse was recently fired for comments she made on her Facebook about a patient's family while on duty in the hospital. It doesn't get much more stupid than to make horribly inconsiderate and derrogatory remarks about a patient and their family when you have co-workers who are friends of yours on Facebook.