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?
Specializes in Women's Specialty, Post-Part, Scrub(cs).
I totally agree with not using your cell phone while on clinicals. TOTALLY. While I was in school...LPN school to be exact: we were told NO CELL PHONES PERIOD>>>If caught with one you failed that week's rotation. And you were subject to discipline & possible dismissal from the nursing program for "gross neglect of school policy" We were given the #'s of the instructor's office, the instructor's pagers, and the direct line to the DON at the school. We, also, had our assignments the day before. IN AN EMERGENCY...the DON was called, who would then call the instructor and give you the message. Knowing that Mom's were uneasy with this approach, the unspoken rule, call the hospital or the instructor's pager themselves. The people I saw sneaking around with cell phones during my clinicals were not doing their work anyway, and most did not graduate with my class. I, also, picked up 2 hard to get procedures when one girl was hiding in an empy room with her cell phone. I did not tell on her nor did I feel bad about taking them when she could not be found. The one time I had an emergency...I told my instructor Up Front that my father was in the hospital in critical condition and that I might get a call and have to leave...Could I keep my cell phone on me or would she prefer to keep it and find me should it ring. She let me keep it and told the staff of the floor why I had it. That I felt was proper procedure.
Back in the day we would take a personal call if it was an emergency - sick family member accident, death, something like that. If you need to have your cell phone on, put it on silent or vibrate. This way you can answer it or check it occasionally if you're expecting an emergency call. Recently my father was very sick. I kept my cell phone with me but on vibrate. The calls I was waiting for came at home, thank God, but if it'd been when I was with a client, they would not have had to listen to it ring. You could've been a little nicer when telling him to put the cell phone in his coat, but the message was right though.
I agree with the majority opinion that you acted appropriately!
I'm a student and what really irritates me is to see my peers walkign around with their cells in their pockets, and txtn when the desire takes them. Its completely unprofessional! I turn my cell off and leave it in my bag in the locker room. If an emergency arises people know where I am. With at least two phones in every nurses' station, email access and technology galore, there's really no excuse why people can't forgoe their cell for 8 hours.
Although, I found it highly amusing and had myself a rawkus chuckle when a student socialising via cell throughout their shift leant over a bed pan full of all wonder of faecal delights and the cell fell out and landed smack bang in it!
There is a book titled "Beyond Generation X" and it talks about the difference in ethics between the generations. Baby Boomers gave birth to these X-ers, now they are breeding generation Y, a group of techno-focus youngsters that can't spell their own name because of text messaging. We are going to have to deal with this until we retire I am afraid. They were raised this way, they feel invincible because they are without limits.
I find myself having to play mom all they time to the youngerters that have no clue of appropriate work ethics.
This post amazes me because nursing schools around here are so tough and demanding, with stringent admission requirements that only the top of the class make it in, and only the tough and smart graduate. Thus they are intelligent enough to spell their names and then some.
I'm in awe of my Gen. X & Y coworkers (Xers are now in their 30's) and their work ethics. One just bought her first home at the age of 25. Another is working overtime and another job to help finance her first home and is working towards her BSN because she has goals. Another is working towards her NP while working full-time night shift. Several others are starting families, in fact there's a baby boom with my young coworkers happening right now. They work hard to make ends meet and reach their goals of home and family. (I hang my head in shame when I think about what I was doing at the age of 25.)
They have work ethics, however, their approach and thoughts of work are different than ours, which were different than our parents. I don't 'play mom", but don't mind being a mentor of sorts about life, life experiences, etc., now that I'm old enough to be their parents. (ugh)
Yeah, we might catch them text messaging someone in an off moment, but is that any worse than a baby boomer flipping through a magazine clipping coupons?
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
I agree with the majority opinion that you acted appropriately! Although, I found it highly amusing and had myself a rawkus chuckle when a student socialising via cell throughout their shift leant over a bed pan full of all wonder of faecal delights and the cell fell out and landed smack bang in it!
:yeah:Me too. I believe that somebody or something was giving the student a message, and it wasn't on the ole cell phone either.
I'm in awe of my Gen. X & Y coworkers (Xers are now in their 30's) and their work ethics. One just bought her first home at the age of 25. Another is working overtime and another job to help finance her first home and is working towards her BSN because she has goals. Another is working towards her NP while working full-time night shift. Several others are starting families, in fact there's a baby boom with my young coworkers happening right now. They work hard to make ends meet and reach their goals of home and family. (I hang my head in shame when I think about what I was doing at the age of 25.)
I agree that there are many new nurses that are making a great name for themselves-so I apologize if my comment was too steriotypical. I also agree that out of the number of the thousands graduates each year, there will be a few outstanding ones. I would venture to say that these over the top nurses can also tell at least one story each of students kicked out of programs due to cheating by texting, and that too many have the mind set that C=RN or LPN; and not trying to to do more than just what they have to to get by. As we all know, the real world requires to do a bit more than the minimum to keep clients happy-and that is how it should be. I strive to be the nurse that people want to learn from and want to work with. I went back to school to leave a career in management and study nursing at the age 40. I love providing a service, and over the past 10 yrs a person can only try to teach and model the needed work ethic for so long. I have had employees walk around my business on phones and they see nothing wrong with it. Even my own son thinks I am nuts for suggesting he socialize and interact with peers as opposed to texting. And shame on me I suggest he use the home phone-it's not cool.
I thank the young techno-savy generation for developing software for computer charting-but most of them don't appreciate what a service is.
If the student is expecting a very important call he/she should inform the staff. Put the cellphone on silent-vibrate mode. There's a time to use it, i.e. during breaks or say "excuse me I need to answer the call" and then go to a staff room or inside the toilet for privacy. If the student is showing this inappropriate act what more if he/she already an RN.:icon_roll
So you say cell phone use in clinical is OK if the student is really important? What sort of "very important"call are you talking about. I do not comprehend how a student nurse or most people for that matter are so vitally important that an expected personal call must go through.
Students are not that important and their calls are not that important either. "What if it is an emergency?" You might say?
If it is an emergency the student nurse is not the one to call 911 is the number for emergencies. If it is a real emergency the student is in no position to do anything about it. If it is not something you would call 911 for then it is not an emergency.
If it is a family member who truly had a emergency then 911 needs to be called first and the student can be notified later. NO ONE is so important that the threat of a true disaster looms in their life on a daily basis to which they must be immediately available by cell phone.
I am a nursing student, and I can't stand it when people do that during clinical time. I always carry my phone on me, but it will be on silent, yes I may check it when someone calls, but have never answered unless it was an emergency and made sure the person in charge understood that. You were right to let them know that what they were doing was inappropriate.
How do you know it is an emergency? Does it flash "emergency" ?
Then again why would someone call you in an emergency? What you are calling an emergency is not.
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 do not hate cell phones. They are very handy useful items to have and have helped out trememdously when I have been in a jam. Nothing like being stuck out in the desert miles from anywhere with a car that is broke down. They have their place even in everyday non crisis situations. You can't seem to find a place, or a person. You are going to be late because you are stuck behind an accident or got lost.
You are away and need to connect with family etc.
But there is a time and place for everything and every cell phone comes with voice mail so if you can not answer you will get a message that you can respond to later.
Like you most months mine never gets turned on cause quite frankly I am not that important that I must be instantly reachable at every moment of the day.
Specializes in Triage, MedSurg, MomBaby, Peds, HH.
As a (hopeful) nursing student starting this fall, I do not think you were in the LEAST "nasty."
If the student had an impending emergency, he should have informed you at the beginning of the shift and asked you how he should deal with the situation.
Instead, he just took your time, knowledge and wisdom for granted when he should have been soaking up everything he could learn from you. The opportunity to get the perspective of someone other than his preceptor was really a valuable learning situation. Sorry he didn't appreciate it.
:yeah:Me too. I believe that somebody or something was giving the student a message, and it wasn't on the ole cell phone either.
nurserynurse55
85 Posts
This should totally be reported to his professor. If he has a situation or emergency where he needs his phone then his professor should know that too.