I could not believe this student I had the other night. I picked up a shift on my old unit (telemetry) and the charge asked me if I minded having a student with me as his preceptor had called off sick. Ofcourse not! I love having students. So, I grab my MAR's, Kardexes and tell him we are going to check them over for mistakes. This usually takes about 30 minutes. In that time, NO LIE, he got 2 text messages and an actual phone call. All of which he took.
When I was done I said are you ready? (I will admit, this was said through clenched teeth) and he said, Yeah. CHECKED HIS PHONE ONE MORE TIME:angryfire Then I said, Good. Because the FIRST thing your going to do is take that phone out of your pocket, put it in your coat and leave it there for the rest of the shift.
OMG! I mean, I will call my husband during my break, but I can't think of anyone I need to talk to while I am at work. It was SOOOO inappropriate. Has anyone else encountered anything like this?
I am a nursing student. I carry my cell phone with me to clinicals on vibrate or silent of course. Today I was setting up to insert an IV when my cell phone started to vibrate in the pt's room, the preceptor ask if I was going to take the call, my response is they can leave a message I will check it on break. SO some ask well why have the phone on if they can leave a message. I leave it on because of my children if it was my daycare or the school, I still would not have took the call, but I would have called right back after I left the room, if my phone was off I would not have known if they called, which happen to me once and my child was at the ER after busting his head open and I found out about 2 hours later because my phone was off.
The guy in the original was rude and very disrespectful and you did the correct thing
you were right in telling him to put the cell phone away.
speaking of cell phones, we had to transfer a pt from our unit to the icu, get up there and see the nurses walking around with ipods on with their earphones in use!!:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:redlight::redlight: hello these pts are critical how could you here the alarms go off??!!
then saw a couple of nurses using their blue-tooth sets. yet no one says a word to them.
they other night i was in the ed for an allergic reation, get this the pt behind the curtain next to me her nurse steps behind the curtain away form the pt and uses her cell phone 5x!!
i have a cell phone, i turn it one when i leave for work, tunr it off when i get to the parking lot, lock it up in my car where it stays till i return to drive home.
my family has my work # and if they need me they know to call.
how ever did society survive before cell phones, pda's, blue-tooth!!
I can't stand it when people are on their personal cellphones at work and they stand right outside the patient's room and talk loudly. It is very unprofessional!!
I didn't want a cell phone until my daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy, and then I got one so the school could call me if there was a problem. Then I realized that no matter where I was, a seizure would be over before I could get to her, so I quit leaving the darn thing on whenever I left the house. Now I just check my messages at breaks if I remember, and the phone is only used to dial out. I hate the electronic leash.
And those dumb bluetooth headsets - we had a pt who I thought might be a little "off" because he was pushing his IV pole around the hallway muttering to himself, but it turns out that he had a bluetooth headset on and was talking on the phone, lol.
I admit they look a little funny, but when you work for the VNA and are traveling to patients and your car is your office they are a life saver. It is the only way to go IMO.
I agree TOTALLY about the inappropriateness of the student and using them in the view of our patients. But, with HH, having a cell phone is the only way to communicate with other nurses, therapists, doctors and even contact patients. It's the only link we have to our "home base". I even have some patients without phones who benefit from me arranging dr appts or contacting family for them, etc. That being said, I do realize that is the exception not the rule. We had a girl in our class that ultimately failed clinicals b/c of family "issues" and checking her cell phone frequently while at clinicals.
Whoa. Our CI told us in orientation - if I see or hear your cell phone even turned ON, you are OUT... you will get an unsatisfactory for the clinical and that means you didn't pass the class. Gone. We all know she's serious. She said she wants it off, not turned to silent or vibrate - OFF. I take my cell in, turn it off, and if I get a break, I take it down to the cafeteria real quick and check for messages, since I have three young children.
I always carry my phone - set to vibrate. I have three sons and a DH who travels constantly. My first priority is always them, then my job. (Which is not to say that I would in any way ever compromise patient safety.) I have chosen to be available if something happens at home (or school for the boys) - by the grace of God nothing ever has - but I will not leave my cell phone off or in my locker for that reason.
I figure the secretay or whoever is at the nursing station desk has enough to deal w/, w/out taking messages that DH plane has been delayed, again. He can just leave a message on my phone, to be retreived at a time when I am not in the middle of patient care. However, if I am free then, I have the freedom to talk to him then, rather than waiting until his three hour flight time is done.
I went through NS w/ the same philosphy, but none of my nursing instructors or co-nurses on the floor ever saw or heard my phone. I think OP was well w/in expectations to have been frustated by the student's actions, and to have made the request for the student to put the phone away. I also don't think it would be unreasonable to report this behavior to the assigned clinical instructor. The time spent reviewing Kardexes, MARs, etc. is an excellent learning opportunity, both about the patient about to be cared for, and also about the thought processes and priorities of an experienced nurse!
I'm a fourth, and thank GOD, final semester student at an ADN school. I carried a Palm TX for clinicals for the first three semesters with Davis and Gahart on it. I bought a smart phone to replace the Palm and the phone. I was told that I had to take the smartphone to the nurse's lounge to look up drugs because of the issues with cell phones. My gosh, I have a reference in my pocket that replaces ten pounds of books and gives me instant information for the safety of my pt, but some drooler with a cell phone ruined this for me. This is the issue.
WE DO NOT TEACH MANNERS ANYMORE.
Nice resturant and some guy picks up his phone and talks loud enough for the other person to hear without the phone. During a conversation with another student that needed help with homework, she answered her phone in the middle of my explanation. Offered to help neighbor load a treadmil on my way to the mailbox (wife was there to help him and weighed about 70 pounds). Answered his cell phone and had a conversation. I walked away before he finished because I had clinical homework to do. In my opinion the student's colon would have been on the floor because I would have chewed his a** off. Jusy my opinion.
You sound like me! Mine stays in the bottom of my purse - turned OFF - unless I really need it - and most months I never turn it on.
I lived a whole lifetime before cell phones came out - and we did OK, made it thru and all that. Now I see people who can't seem to function unless they have one plastered to their ear. Sad!
BTW, one of my DIL's just had a serious accident, when a woman on a cell phone pulled out in front of her on the highway. By the time the cops got there, she had it put away, and denied that she had been talking on it at the time.:angryfire
I'm a member of the "texting generation", and I still hate cell phones!!!!!!
I have no problem with people carrying a cell phone, as long as it's used appropriately, and doesn't interfere with any hospital equipment. I would imagine that newer equipment is made so that cells will not interfere with it, but I know it can mess with older stuff. Bottom line, common sense, courtesy, and respect for others need to be observed, and phones should only be used in the right place at the right time. If you need to carry a phone for some reason, do it, just don't be answering it or sending unimportant text mesages when there is something else you should be doing! And that goes for work and the rest of your life, too!!!
Mine stays in the bottom of my purse - turned OFF - unless I really need it - and most months I never turn it on.
MzKGoRN
129 Posts
I am a nursing student. I carry my cell phone with me to clinicals on vibrate or silent of course. Today I was setting up to insert an IV when my cell phone started to vibrate in the pt's room, the preceptor ask if I was going to take the call, my response is they can leave a message I will check it on break. SO some ask well why have the phone on if they can leave a message. I leave it on because of my children if it was my daycare or the school, I still would not have took the call, but I would have called right back after I left the room, if my phone was off I would not have known if they called, which happen to me once and my child was at the ER after busting his head open and I found out about 2 hours later because my phone was off.
The guy in the original was rude and very disrespectful and you did the correct thing