Hello, I'm your nurse today: get off the darned phone!

Published

I really hate going into someone's room with meds/treatment/assessment and they are on the phone. Ok, well, being on the phone is okay. how about when they continue to talk on the phone, and make no motion of trying to get off the phone.

Seriously. I am standing there, waiting. THey keep talking for a few minutes. Can't they say "Hey, I"ll call you back?"

aarrgh

Specializes in ICU,ER.
That sux! It even worse when they have been hitting the light, driving you nuts, and when you finally get down to the room they tell you to come back because they are on a call!

Then you just politely and professionally tell them that if they want their urgent need tended to, then now is a good time....otherwise, it may be a while.

Assertiveness.......... more nurses need it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I have seen this way too many times myself. I will be trying to titrate a nitro gtt up and assessing chest pain and walla - the patient wants to talk on the phone. I once had a patient who wanted morphine all the time - and when I came in I heard her tell the other person on the phone to let her speak to homever to say hi - I just walked out and went back later. Rates right up there with nurses being treated like the "hired help."

Peace

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in pure and simple psych.

I used to answer a Hotline, and hated it when people would call, say they were feeling suicidal, begin telling their story then say, "Oh, my other line is ringing. Hold on a minute." Sheesh. If I was on hold more than one minute, I would disconnect.:trout: Perfect smiley for the way I wanted to do them.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

The same thing happens in the clinic. Most people will get off the phone when someone comes into the room but occasionally one will keep on talking. They get left in peace to finish their conversation, too.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Hey nurses.... your temprance and patience plzzzzz..... i guess...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Home Health.

I was assigned a 19 yo pt in peds who talked on the phone all day long. On three separate occasions I went into the room and she was on her cell phone and the hospital phone at the same time! In the morning I just kept postponing care (being a student I didn't want to be rude, wasn't sure how to handle it), but then I realized that if I postponed care every time she was on the phone I'd never get anything done. My instructor told me to politely tell her to get off the phone and return the call after we were done. It worked quite well and from that point on everytime I went in the room she hung up the phone without me having to say anything!

Lisa

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency Room.

It seems no matter how many signs we have in the ER saying "NO cell phones in the department" you still have the idiots who think any time they are sitting still they need to be on the phone. I usually don't enforce the rule unless the phone is getting in the way of care. "I'm sorry, we don't allow cell phone usage in the department. It can mess up the cardiac monitor system." You just have to be really careful when you have patients in the hallway who hear and see everything.

I had a hallway patient (back pain....the dreaded back pain ER visit) about a month ago who was very sweet at first, but as the day went on and I couldn't give her as much MS as she wanted, she got more and more passive aggressive. After I gave her the oral Valium and MS 4mg IV, she picks that time to tell me "Last time I was in the hospital down the road they did they same thing and then I fell asleep." I questioned her further and found out the two drugs had potentiated each other and she'd lost her drive to breathe! "I woke up with a weird mask over me face." HELLO!?! And you just let me give you the same drugs? I popped her on the pulse ox, and just watched her (the one time hallway patients are great.) About 20 minutes later, she wanted more meds. I explained that because of her history, we couldn't give her more narcotics except every 1-2 hours. Then she got very passive aggressive. I pulled the curtain, and it was like taking care of a kid. If she couldn't see me running around, she was fine, but the second I was in view "ohhhhh looooooorrrrrrrdddddd. my baaaaaaack huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurts" moaning and groaning. I was very nice; it takes me a long time to get from nice NurseErica to "you get the bare minimum meets standards care without any love" nurse. Well, she finally got on her cell phone (see, you knew this story would get to the cell phone point eventually!) and still from behind the curtain, tells whoever is on the phone about the "horrible care I'm getting. They haven't done anything for my pain and the nurse is being mean. And I can't believe I've been here all day and they haven't offered me anything to eat." etc etc etc. By that point I had given her probably 10 of MS, was monitoring her every 20 minutes at least given her hx, and had brought her a sandwich, fruit, juice, and a cookie. Sorry, we don't offer food to everyone in the ER, you have to ask! She even had a clear view into a trauma room where I was the nurse, and as I was running back in there with abx, she started to whine about how she was in pain. Do ya think the guy with the open leg fx is in a little pain too?

I know people are never at their best while they're sick, but it never ceases to amaze me how nobody will consider that there might be people in the ER who are sicker than they are. I just want to say "if you are still breathing on your own, you are fine!!" But I don't.

Even though it has been a month, I guess I'm still a little bitter. I'm just glad I work in a concrete box where most cell phones don't get reception!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Stepdown progressive care.

Ugh!! This is one of my biggest pet peeves. People are constantly on the phone when I try and go assess them at the beginning of my shift. I wish the phone would automatically be shut off for an hour at the beginning of the shift so they couldn't use them. A few people when I come in and are on the phone tell the person they're talking to to call back but most just keep on talking. It annoys me so much that I usually walk out and come back at a later time. I figure if they're well enough to be chatting on the phone then they can wait a bit.

I've also had a patient who said he was in bad pain all the time and when I told him it wasn't time for pain meds yet he argued with me about when they were due. When I explained I would bring the meds when they were due he rudely said "Well you'd better not be late then" Me being true to my word brought down the meds right on time and where was my patient with the really bad pain? Off the floor smoking and having a good old time downstairs according to my unit clerk who saw him off the floor. Sheesh!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
It seems no matter how many signs we have in the ER saying "NO cell phones in the department" you still have the idiots who think any time they are sitting still they need to be on the phone. I usually don't enforce the rule unless the phone is getting in the way of care. "I'm sorry, we don't allow cell phone usage in the department. It can mess up the cardiac monitor system."

....

Then she got very passive aggressive. I pulled the curtain, and it was like taking care of a kid. If she couldn't see me running around, she was fine, but the second I was in view "ohhhhh looooooorrrrrrrdddddd. my baaaaaaack huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurts" moaning and groaning. I was very nice; it takes me a long time to get from nice NurseErica to "you get the bare minimum meets standards care without any love" nurse. Well, she finally got on her cell phone (see, you knew this story would get to the cell phone point eventually!) and still from behind the curtain, tells whoever is on the phone about the "horrible care I'm getting. They haven't done anything for my pain and the nurse is being mean. And I can't believe I've been here all day and they haven't offered me anything to eat." etc etc etc. By that point I had given her probably 10 of MS, was monitoring her every 20 minutes at least given her hx, and had brought her a sandwich, fruit, juice, and a cookie. Sorry, we don't offer food to everyone in the ER, you have to ask! She even had a clear view into a trauma room where I was the nurse, and as I was running back in there with abx, she started to whine about how she was in pain. Do ya think the guy with the open leg fx is in a little pain too?

I know people are never at their best while they're sick, but it never ceases to amaze me how nobody will consider that there might be people in the ER who are sicker than they are. I just want to say "if you are still breathing on your own, you are fine!!" But I don't.

Even though it has been a month, I guess I'm still a little bitter. I'm just glad I work in a concrete box where most cell phones don't get reception!

Oh boy, do I hear ya on that one! :uhoh3:

I will not wait for someone to get off the phone (in the ER, it would be their cell phone, which they're not supposed to be using anyway!). I say, "I need your full attention now please." I also said the same thing to the teenage couple who were sitting in a chair making out while Grandma stayed next to their sick infant on the stretcher. I was definitely not Nice Nurse to those two. :stone

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I was in the hospital twice this year...post-op...one of them (not sure which) I was on the phone when my nurse came in

Me: "I gotta go my nurse is here."

them: "wait...yap...yap...yap"

me: "look i really gotta go"

them: "yap...yap" so i just hung up in the middle of their sentence

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care.

When I worked on the floor, I used to LOVE the phone talkers. First rounds were normally very busy for me and talking on the phone meant I had already made a key assessment (neuro and respiratory status are involved w/ being able to talk on the phone, as well as cardio, indirectly).

I knew because they were ok to chat on the tele that they were ok for me to come back to them later. And, I also knew that they were 'with it' enough to use the call button if they needed me sooner.

I LOVED phone talkers. In many cases, they helped me time manage those busy first rounds.

~faith,

Timothy.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatric ER.

ohh, this happens all the time in my department (children's er). we even have signs posted in every room (including triage) that request parents not to be on the phone when either the nurses or docs are in the room. people are getting better about it, but the problem is still there. i personally don't have a problem with say a mom or dad calling the other parent and letting them know what's going on, such as when we're going to do bloodwork or ct's, but when i go in to do something, and they're on the phone and hold their finger up to me like i'm supposed to wait on them-that's when i have a problem. there's always something else i could be doing and i don't have time to wait around while they gossip about what joe's girlfriend's sister's cousin did the other night. it's rude, and if their kid was really sick that'd be the last thing on their mind.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion