I work in a hospital where the room are broken down into separate "zones" and each zone has it's own assigned phone that never changes. In other words the phone for each zone is always the same. Now sometimes other departments or Drs call and are transferred to the appropriate nurse's phone.
Most of the nurses take their phones with them at lunch time (and probably would on breaks if they took them). I know they get interrupted at lunch because I often transfer calls to their phones. My questions is this; would you take your phone with you at these times and would you expect to be paid for that lunch time. My thinking is that if you take the phone with you and are interrupted you should be paid for that time. I will be working as a nurse here shortly and I have no intention of taking my phone with me on breaks and lunches. To me that is my time and I get to chose whether or not to take the phone with me.
I do take my phone, but then its on their time, i do not clock out if i cannot get rid of my phone for that lunch break that is supposed to be mine. we have "partners" that we switch off with our phone, they watch our pt's and we do the same for their lunch break.
We have no choice but to keep our phones and tracers on us. During our "breaks" we're still obligated to work and to answer the phone. When my patient calls for something well...I have to suck it up and work. I'm working during my lunch break, I'm working while I'm sitting on the toilet, I'm working as soon as I put one foot off the elevator...that's just how it goes. There truly is no real break time. Breaks for me are the times when the phone isn't ringing, the call light isn't going off, and I've managed to finish charting/giving meds/drawing blood, etc, etc.
Do you work in the US? Are you paid for your so called break time when your are still carrying the phone? If you aren't then you are letting yourself be abused and your facility could be fined big time.
We are having a huge issue with this at work. We started the phone thing recently, and it has become a major PITA at lunchtime. We have to take the phones with us to lunch, can't hand them off to anyone else or turn them off. What we are supposed to do instead is "reject" the call/call light/telemetry alarm and it goes to our backup. If they reject it, it goes to the charge nurse. However, I almost always find that both my backup and CN reject it, so it comes back to me again. Our unpaid lunches are CONSANTLY being interrupted... I have had to leave my lunch to get cold for 30 minutes while I go clean up a patient, because both my back up and CN rejected it as well..
These posts are making me think about doing something about it...
we have beepers here that we carry with us. When I take my lunch break I throw it at the charge nurse and hope she doesn't catch it. I hate that stupid pager.
If it were the phone I would do the same.
I am not giving them my time for free. No way, Jose.
I carry my phone at lunch, but I go out and sit in my car which is out of range, so I don't know if it ever rings. If I have to call out to a doctor, I leave them the unit's extension, and not my phone extension, so if they call me when I am out to lunch, someone else will answer the phone.
When I leave on break, I place my phone at the nursing station. Break is just that, my time. That way they keep trying to call me they can be driven crazy by the ringing. I do let my so called buddy nurse know I am going on break and where my phone is located.
Can I mention my pet peeve with those darn phones. You are in isolation with a patient. The phone rings, obviously you can not answer it. It continues to ring. Once out of the room after having turned the nurse call light on to let them know you can not answer the phone which they did not answer. The immediate complaint" ;you didn't answer your phone" no, I guess I did not, nor did you answer the call light.
Our system just settled with a lot of nurses at one of the hospitals for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ b/c of this...we were required to have our phones with us, now we're not allowed, since upper mgmt figured out that we're smart enough now to start asking for pay during those interrupted breaks.
I carry mine with me anyway, just in case something goes on...if one of my patients crashes, I think it's justified that I stop my break and finish it later. Little stuff I just ignore and deny the call.
I work in a nursing home, and am the only nurse on premises during my shift.. after 8 pm there is only 2 cna's and me. I automatically get 30 min taken out of my pay (not sure how they can do this and still say there is a nurse on duty 24/7.. but whatev..), anyway, I take my break, and the phone will ring, and I just let it ring.. we are supposed to answer it after 3 rings, but if the CNA's are in pt rooms, or whatever, when I'm on break, I'm not answering it. If I don't get all my work done in 7 1/2 hours (they used to not take our lunch break out, cuz we really didn't have time to take it anyway), then it doesn't get done. Our boss is always ragging us to get our work done, and I offer her the suggestion of coming and working my shift, and I will shadow her and see how much of the work she gets done. My other offer has been "do you want all the paperwork done and half the treatments, or all the treatments and half the paperwork." they opted for all the paperwork, so they could cover their asses, so of course the residents get totally neglected, but I blame it on management and the owners of the nursing home, for not allowing me to work my full 8 hours.. I am fortunately the type that does not need a break, I can do just fine drinking my bottle of water and charting, and then eating when I go home.. but they have pulled this crap now of not paying me for 1/2 hour, and I refuse to give them my time.. Of, of course, as the only nurse, I am still expected to respond to emergency situations, but that is all I will do.. I tell my CNA's to tell res who want pain pills or prn br tx, etc, that the nurse is on her 1/2 hour lunch and will get back with them when I'm done.. not very nice, I know.. but I will not be made a slave to my profession. I get paid for my work.
I hated those phones. When I worked on stepdown we had them. I wanted to throw it against the wall because of the constant interruption. Clerks complaining that we are not answering the phone, well excuse me, but I was wiping someone's orifice and you want me to answer the phone. Glad I don't have to use those where I work now.
The employee must be completely relieved of his/her duties for the purpose of eating a regular meal.
The employee must be allowed to leave his or her workstation--but not necessarily the employer's premises or worksite--and must be substantially relieved from his or her duties during the meal period.
Where the employee is NOT completely relieved of duty, however, the employee must still be PAID!
For example, an employee who is repeatedly interrupted by work assignments or TELEPHONE CALLS is not completely relieved of duty and must be paid for the interrupted meal period.
Found the above on the web. So basically, you can bring the phone on break/meals, but if it rings and you answer it, you are paid for your entire break because you have been interrupted.
RheatherN, ASN, RN, EMT-P
580 Posts
I do take my phone, but then its on their time, i do not clock out if i cannot get rid of my phone for that lunch break that is supposed to be mine. we have "partners" that we switch off with our phone, they watch our pt's and we do the same for their lunch break.
-H-RN