mp3 player on breaks

Tweety, BSN, RN · Feb 25, 2007

Yes it's petty. As long as it's out of view of patients and visitors I don't have a problem with it.

It does look unprofessional and we are not allowed to listen to them while on the job. We can listen to them on our breaks in designated breakrooms. This is a written policy because many people in the hospital were working with the iPods. I've seen housekeepers, and dietary people, and a few nurses, with players on the job. Our social worker defies this policy and listens to Dreamgirls all day long. But to her credit when she sees a patient she'll take it off. But her work area is in the nurses station in a cubby hold to the side in full view of everyone and no one's complained according to her.

Levin · Feb 25, 2007

Wow, is there anything that DOESNT offend people?

At my current hospital half the ward dives off to the open air area at lunch to smoke like chimneys.

Is that "Unprofessional?" less unprofessional than listening to, music?

Unprofessional is just a weasel word in this case.

It appears someone has it in for you.

This is a kind of bullying. Lunch is your own time.

Professional is about being Clean, Diligent, Ethical and Competent.

What that has to do with listening to music during lunch is umm zero.

Levin

fultzymom · Feb 25, 2007

I do not see anything wrong with it as long as you are on break et not on the floor. It is your time. Do the other people have nothing better to do that worry about what you are doing on your break? Must be nice to have all that time on their hands. Wish I did.

PHLEBOTOMIST_TO_RN · Feb 25, 2007

people suck......the end:lol_hitti

NicoleRN07, RN · Feb 25, 2007

If you're on your break, then it shouldn't matter, and yes, it is very petty. As long as it's not interferring with the care of patients, then I see no reason why it should be a problem to anyone.

allnurses Guide · Feb 25, 2007

Where I used to work, I probably would have gotten complained about if I listened to my MP3 player on breaks, but that was only because we pretty much, seriously, were not allowed to take real breaks at night. Meaning, if we were back in the break room eating lunch, we were still expected to attend to our patients. The only way we could ever have a real, totally uninterrupted break, is if we got the nurse supervisor to come to the floor and cover our patients while we took break. They were rarely willing to do that, especially if we had a floor full of RN's.

Where I work now, heck, we have people listening to MP3 players out on the unit while working, if all of the patients are asleep and it just is not busy on the unit. But I work on a laid back psych unit.

meandragonbrett · Feb 25, 2007

we listen to ours.....only one ear piece though as that way we can still hear alarms and other necessary noise. I'm on nights, not sure what day shift does.

pu_nkk_princess · Feb 25, 2007

omg.. a similar thing is happening to me. i am a registered nurse in Western australia. i have been a nurse for 13 months now and am on my 3rd graduate rotation. my Clinical nurse in charge of me started going off at me today sayign i am very childish due to the fact that i send text messages to my friends from my cell phone during my breaks. i do not ever take my phone out while on the ward but during my breaks while i am well out of site of the patients i like to catch up with my friends and my husband to see wats happening. she says i am a VERY young 23 yearold due to this. i dont agree and am quite hurt by this..

i am a very good nurse and am always professional with my patients.

i do not see wat the problem is with listening to music or texting while on break?

p.s. cell phones are allowed in our hospital. pts use them all the time so thats not the issue either..

hogan4736, BSN, RN · Feb 25, 2007

people suck......the end:lol_hitti

sums it up well...

hanna-beacon · Feb 25, 2007

It does sound very petty to me!

I personaly wouldn't use my MP3 player if I were taking my break on the ward as I quite often would as we have a gorgeous staff room! This would purely be because I would want to hear the arrest alarm should it sound.

As for it looking unprofessional to use it when taking a break, thats just silly.

I could see that it might be perceived as being a bit ignorant by some poeple if you were using it in a common area, regardless of whether you are on a break or not. But sure you don't want to talk to everybody all of the time and music is a great distraction. I wonder if the person who complained would find it as unprofessional to read a book whilst on a break? Or flip through a celebrity gossip magazine?

Its your rest time, and if your hospital is like mine you don't get paid for most of it, so why should you be told how to spend it!

Rant over :)