Cell Phones: Help or Hindrance?

Nurses General Nursing

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  1. Cell phones: help or hindrance?

    • 11
      I love having a cell phone to alert me of patient needs.
    • 23
      It's OK, more pros than cons.
    • 34
      It's OK, but I think more cons than pros.
    • 15
      No opinion/Other. Feel free to explain/discuss.

83 members have participated

Specializes in Utilization Management.

Do you have a cell phone that the facility makes you use at work? What's your opinion - do you like them, hate them, are they a help or a hindrance to do your job?

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

Personally, I think they're valuable, but I think it's rude and contrary to "good customer service" that it's OK for me to be interrupted by the phone while I'm in a patient's room.

If the phone only rang for true emergencies or doc phone calls, that'd be OK, but the other day, my phone rang no less than 5 times while I was trying to assess my patients. None of the calls were high priority and all of them interrupted a process that should not be interrupted.

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I find cell phones helpful sometimes, but it is awkward to have the phone ring when I'm trying to assess my patients. Once when I was in the middle of a complicated dressing change, I was called and paged multiple times by the clerk. When I finally answered, it turned out to be something that could have been easily handled by the desk clerk. :no:

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Specializes in LTC/SNF, Psychiatric, Pharmaceutical.

I would be happy to never see another cell phone for as long as I live.

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Specializes in anything that I had my clinicals in.

I HATE the cell phones. Most of the calls are peddy things that the CNA can handle. I would be in a pt room giving lasix and a call comes in.....so and so needs help to the BR. That's nice, where the heck is the CNA at, I am a little busy. I had a student nurse who told me that at the university hospital the call goes to the CNA first and then if the CNA can't do it than the call is transfered to the Nurse. It is required at my work that all the nurses have a phone but not for the CNA's and some of them refuse to carry a phone. There are times when I am trying to get an order for a pt for high BP maybe and a call comes in that a pt needs up to the bs commode, and the CNA does not have a phone... What am I to do! I think that phones can be good but maybe we need a different system for what kind of calls come in. I like the system the student nurse told me about. That sounds like that would work nicely.

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Specializes in med-surg 5 years geriatrics 12 years.

I like my cell phone in my personal life but HATE them at work. I have seen people texting and/or talking and ignoring their patients while doing so. Once worked with a nurse who walked into the patient'sroom talking away and both patient and I thought he was talking to us. So...keep the cell phones in your locker and off the floor. That's just my opinion.

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Specializes in Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic).

Only the charge nurses and the TN (delivery room nurse) carry phones. Luckily if I am assigned to TN, the phone rarely rings.

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I thought the idea was great, until we got them. Some days it is not too bad. Others it is insane. The other day it rang 13 times during a dressing change of a patient on contact precautions. You may be saying "don't answer it", but it rolls over to my buddy nurse, who I know is equally busy, and I paged a doc about an hour before. Of course I degloved and regloved each time while my poor tech was holding the patient. I decided to count my calls one day (a pretty typical day) and in a 12 hour shift I got 84. Our phones are hooked up to our call lights so these account for about 3/4ths of my calls.

Like others have mentioned it is annoying to have the phone ring several times during an assessment. Even worse was when I was sitting with the family who just decided to make my patient comfort care and I'm explaining what they can expect to see when we turn the vent off and my phone rang. I should probably just turn the darn thing off during those times, but how often do discussions come up unplanned. Like my guy the other day that during med pass asked me what the chances are that he would die while he is going for surgery... and the phone rang. When we first got the phones and I was in a patient room I would say, "excuse me", and step out of the room. That didn't last long. I don't think a day goes by that I'm not in the restroom with someone helping them get cleaned up while talking on the phone at the same time - not the most customer service friendly.

One nice thing about the phones: when I page someone I can get on with what I'm doing and don't have to sit around waiting.

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Specializes in ER.

I would hate to have them ring while I'm doing patient care. I don't even answer the desk phone if I'm in the middle of patient care- let it ring. Maybe if we put our patients ahead of the customer service work we'd get something done.

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I have no opinion since I haven't experienced it - but my gut feeling is I would hate it.

steph

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They are used in our ER by the Doctor's, Charge Nurse, Triage Nurse, and the unit Secretary, to make it easier to communicate with each other. However, since being implemented a few months ago, I haven't seen them being used that much.....

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Company cell phone where the phone goes off while you are in pt room vs being called out of a pt's room to take a call. Yes, both have pros and cons--both are EQUALLY bothersome when you are trying to get something done. (Nursing is so fragmented most days.) But the company cell phone is probably more bothersome to the PATIENT when it goes off in their room at 2 a.m.

What is really bothersome is the supposed forbidden personal cell phone. Some nurses and A LOT of aides spend too much talking on personal cell phones--but that is a different question.

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