No more internet access

[racing-mom4]

Memo: As of Friday May 16th we will no longer have internet access on the medical floors.

That is what I was greeted with yesterday. Now I am not a huge internet user but when the night is slow and the unit is clean and the patients are sleeping and the ordering is complete and my charting is done, I have been known to log onto allnures or my bank, or my email.

Now I have used the internet to look up diagnosis and print them off for patients, I have also printed off what a heart cath is and what to expect for patients families. I have logged onto Yahoo Maps and printed off point to point directions from our hospital to the hospital your husband is being transfered to.

My thought at 1st was to take these job related internet uses to my Admin, but by a simple search of my user name they would see that I visit emedicine about 5 times last compared to the 25 chocolate martini recipes I looked up the other night!!!

So my thought is ok, go with it, when the Doc wants me to print off something from emedicine and I tell him I cant, OK, when I need point to point directions from our hosptial to another I will just call our DON and ask her to fax them up to me. I think that may be my plan, just keep calling admin for faxes of information they can pull up on the internet.

Just venting here----so do any of you not have internet use at your hospital?? I just cant get the thought out of my head of they are throwing baby out with the bathwater!!

[blueheaven]

We have internet access and we also have filters and firewalls from H---. Certain shopping sites, ebay, games etc are blocked. We can surf but don't think that big brother isn't watching us and how long we spend on a particular site etc etic etc. That being said it seems to me that if more time was spent in dealing with those who abuse the privilege instead of those who don't...everyone would be happier. Your computer folks know who these ppl are! All the more reason for you to log out of your computer or lock it if you are not at the keyboard!

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

May I please offer another perspective on this. From an employer perspective. Not to discount the posters thoughts or feelings or perspective. Not for one minute. I just would like to offer this for consideration, if I may:

I think the using of the internet by employees for personal reasons is a bit like using the phones for personal reasons.

Those communication tools are there for work related purposes.

Paid for by the employer.

The employee is there for work, not for any other reason.

Employees are paid to do the job they're hired to do.

I don't know of any job description which includes time out for personal use of the communication tools in the workplace, apart from in an emergency of course. Paid for by the employer.

As I say, just offering another perspective here.

I agree with this. No personal use of the internet should be allowed at work. No banking. No email except your business account. Our internet usage is tracked too. Had a few folks access Media. Stupid . .

And if you are not getting a break or lunch . . why are you putting up with that?

steph

[MaryAnn_RN]

We have internet access, can't get onto Facebook or other social networking sites, but can still get onto Allnurses :wink2:

It bugs me when people are on Ebay, or building websites at work. There is one girl, I can literally tell when she was at work from the last time her site was updated. I wish they would block Ebay and she might get some work done.

I do go on the net, but usually to pull off articles for our students, or show them where they can find relevant information.

Once booked a hotel for a family using the net, they wanted it cheap and cheerful, so that was what I booked. Unfortunately it was a bit seedy when I got there, the family claimed it was a brothel

So am very careful now about booking hotels for families.

[Overland1, RN]

Inappropriate use of the Internet has been a problem for most businesses, hospitals, and government agencies for many years. There have been a few places that have experienced computer virus problems, but most systems have an adequate anti-virus in place. The problem is probably that a few staffers are caught using the Internet for stuff that is not work related (i.e., eBay, vacation planning, shopping, etc.). I cannot personally bring myself to use somebody else's computer system with my credit card and bank account numbers.

For the hospitals that have open WiFi, a PDA could be used to access the Internet. While less than optimum, it is better than nothing.

The other side of the issue is that there have been cases in which work was not getting done (properly or at all) because of Internet use. We had an agency nurse a while back who spent a ton of work time on eBay. We all warned him that, while we would not "rat him out", his activity was probably being watched from somewhere. One morning, while his ICU patient's alarms and call bells were going off, he was busy on eBay. The Director happened by and stood there behind him, looking over his shoulder at his screen while the aides and other nurses addressed the bells and alarms. After ~10 minutes, she tapped him on the shoulder and they went elsewhere for a conversation; that day became his last day there. I know of an ER that had terminals with Internet access scatter throughout the various hallways and available work stations (outside the Nurse Station). EMS people would come in just to surf the Internet, so they restricted those terminals.

The down side is that regulating or eliminating the Internet can hinder efficiency and effective practice. It is frustrating for the SANE to be unable to access vital information/research on the hospital's computer system because of arbitrary restrictions.

The best way for a hospital (or other business/agency) to handle the problem is to leave it in the hands of the department's manager/director. That person should have access to monitoring specific users access to specific sites and when such access occurred. Excessive and flagrant abuse should be addressed with the specific employee, and the entire hospital should not be left without an effective research and productivity tool.

[MrsMommaRN]

we have very limited internet access. we can only e-mail those within our hospital system.

[suzy253, RN]

We don't have internet access at work and rightfully so. We do have programs installed on the computer that give us up to date info on medical conditions, drugs, etc.

[bassandtea]

When I was working for a health/medical organisation we had limited internet access, based on your role in the organisation. Things that could be accessed included official sites on medications and health matters... Perhaps you could suggest that rather than totally remove internet access they allow limited access to the sites you and others have found to be relevant to the job.

In one job I had there was a computer with full internet access in the break room so that we could do things like check email and do banking if we needed to. This was only encouraged to be done during breaks or before/after work.

[santhony44, MSN, RN, NP]

I think there are too many filter and firewall programs now to make taking internet away altogether a reasonable way to solve the problem.

In my current position, EBay and certain other sites are blocked. I still have plenty of access to medical information, education, and so forth.

Interestingly, my previous employer rationed EBay access. You could go for 10 minutes every hour or so, just to check a listing or whatever. The IT guy told me it was because our administration didn't want to block their own access!

Most filtering programs can be customized, I think, so that medical information isn't filtered out. Unlike "nanny" programs at home, you can still use words or phrases like "breast exam" or "sexually transmitted disease" and get the information you're looking for.

Looking at Media on a work computer is plain stupid, in my opinion. I've always operated on the assumption that anything I do on a work computer can be seen by someone in IT if they wish to look. I did, once, actually get accused of trying to look at Media at work. I was outraged! Months later I finally figured out what happened. Believe it or not, I had tried to link to a website someone had embedded in a post here on Allnurses. I ran across it again on my home computer and clicked on it and pulled it up. It was a website for business women. The name of the website was "Cold-Hearted [slang word for females, rhymes with witches]". When I clicked on the link at work, it was blocked without my being able to see the name of the site. Our IT guy had just left, so the list of "prohibited" sites employees had attempted to access was given to the CEO. He saw the name, made the assumption that it was Media, and had the manager "speak" to me about it. She was embarrassed, I was mystified. When I clicked on the link at home and got the "Cold-Hearted Witches" website, the light bulb went off in my head! I finally decided the evil was in the mind of the beholder and shrugged it off.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

sounds like a few might have ruined it for the others.

Also, people do not realize how much danger there is in downloaded data that can corrupt your system. More important, patient information is at risk. We have ONE computer on each unit that is not connected to the network with patient information on it. That way it can be used for continuing education and some of the things already mentioned.

[aeauooo]

I'm about to call down fire on myself.

What gets me is nurses who carry their cell phones with them while they are working and take at least a couple of calls a shift from their kids.

I can understand if it's an emergency, but I usually overhear the typical responses to 'so-and-so's-picking-on-me' calls.

My mom was a nurse, and we wouldn't have dreamed of calling her at work for anything other than an emergency.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

I had to laugh as I read the title of this thread, because I am on the computer during my break searching for the latest juicy chats with my buddies here at Allnurses (I guess I am in trouble, now).

I do use the internet to look up drugs, diagnoses and other such things, but I also have to admit that I paid my home and cell phone bills about an hour ago as well. I don't do this when it is busy in my clinic, but I have to say that I do it during down time. I would be sorely disappointed if they took the internet away, but at the same time, I can honestly say that I could not argue if they did. I have seen people doing worse things than me when patients are crashing.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

I'm about to call down fire on myself.

What gets me is nurses who carry their cell phones with them while they are working and take at least a couple of calls a shift from their kids.

I can understand if it's an emergency, but I usually overhear the typical responses to 'so-and-so's-picking-on-me' calls.

My mom was a nurse, and we wouldn't have dreamed of calling her at work for anything other than an emergency.

I carry my cell phone with me at all times, mainly because we don't receive calls. It is not because we aren't allowed to, but, some of the front desk people either don't answer because of the sheer high volume of calls or because they keep the caller on hold for so long that the caller has to start their call all over again. In fact many times, the receptionists turn the volume of the ringer down or off, so, many important calls are missed.

I gave explicit instructions to my son not to call me with frivilous things, but said to leave a message so that I can return the call. I have the phone on vibrate so that it doesn't disturb anyone else, but I will look and see who it is, and then, return the call when I get a chance.

I don't think it is professional to take calls when dealing with patients, or at meetings. But, I also feel that the unit clerks, receptionists or front desk people should not have to run around looking for people for personal calls that can fall under the "my sister is bothering me" situations.