Front Desk Staff

[speeder]

Hi everyone

I'm a manager of administrative staff at a large hospital in Boston. My staff sits at the front desk of the Nurse's station and greets/assists patients, visitors, other hospital employees, as well as doing chart maintenance and manning the telephones and patient calls.

I'm curious as to how this staff is percieved by nurse's at other hospitals , especially in their personal appearance and attire. Also, what your facilitie's policies on cell phone use at the desk, and internet use.

Thank you, Jim

[lhflanurseNP, APRN]

Problem everywhere, not just to nursing. We have a policy of no personal cell phone use or internet use. Everyone signs it and it has been enforced from time to time. Internet searching can be tracked, I used to work as an informatics nurse and was taught how to audit for this, and with requiring a sign-in you can follow who is doing what. Personal phone use has gotten a little harder because everyone texts and you can do that "under the table". You almost have to become a super sleuth and sneak up on people while they are texting. In most cases, no-one really gets too excited over minor infractions, its up to you to determine how much you are willing to give and take.

[cayenne06, MSN, CNM]

It's tough in this day and age. As an RN and student CNM, I keep my phone on me at all times because it is my little pocket brain. I can quickly pull up CDC STD recommendations, drug info, USPSTF screening recs, etc. Much more accurate than using a book, which is out of date as soon as it is printed, and much more time efficient than running to a PC every time I need to look something up. However, I never (well, rarely) use it in front of patients, and I can't think of a reason that admin staff would need access to their phone.

I will admit I do also use it for texting and FB sometimes (hide).

[Caribbean Character]

At our local hospitals, staff are not allowed to carry personal cell phones while on duty.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

They should be dressed appropriately and professionally. Internet surfing and phone are prohibited. The internet is easy.... the phones however are not but it needs to be clear they if they are caught there will be disciplinary action.

[LightMyFire]

I absolutely adore our support staff. Our unit clerks are a valuable resource for anything from helping new nurses with policies to deciphering physician orders (many still prefer to write their orders). They know where things are located, they know our docs, and they even fetch simple things for pts. They wear scrubs but we are color coded at my hospital. When I was new our veteran clerk really helped me with what to do with orders and such.

We have a no cell phone use policy in pt care areas but we keep them with us and everyone acts responsibly with them so it's not an issue.