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!!

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

I also know a woman who used the net too much at work, got called into the manager's office, was shown ALL her internet usage that had been tracked, and was either warned and/or sacked (can't remember which). She was mortified cos some of them had been dating sites & everyone found out - and she was one of these people who was ALWAYS complaining in a loud voice about how flat out she was, and how she never had time to get all her work done!

I also heard (3rd or 4th hand) that a guy we worked with suddenly left, cos he had been found out surfing for Media. What a stupid thing to do at work.

Our computer guy told me all the net usage is tracked and if too much is used, their computers flag it, so don't think they can't track you.

And to the person who said we are free to c/o about all this: basically you are using someone elses internet that has been paid for and their computer. What on earth do you think u have to complain about? If u had to pay for it yourself, you wouldn't be using it so much I think. I personally think it's stealing as well - you are using the net at work for the purposes it was not intended for.

[AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN]

At my job, my computer has a NetNanny-type thing on it. ALL websites are blocked...even news. The OM told me that her mother (doc's wife) wanted this done because of a previous employee robbing them blind and buying stuff on the Net while at work. I can understand this.

What I can't understand is why everyone else's computer is unlocked. I know they are because I see them on Facebook regularly, and I can't even check my email. I only do so on my lunch, and a routinely spend my lunch preparing for the next day's patients. You can imagine how slighted I feel.

No biggie. I solved that little problem rather neatly. There were two solutions, since OM refused to remove the NetNanny from my comp. Either swap servers (easy enough to do) to one that doesn't have the Nanny, or bring a spare laptop and use the WiFi. Both worked.

No more red-headed stepchild. If they are allowed to Facebook, dangit, I'm going to as well. I HATE a double standard!

Good luck with your facility.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

I have never had a nursing job where I would ever have time to use the internet for any kind of personal stuff. When I worked ICU at the hospital, you were lucky to get 10 minutes to cram some lunch down, or a moment to run and use the restroom. In my current job, we do get a lunch break, but beyond that, it is a challenge to even find a moment to drink some water or use the restroom. The concept of being able to sit and surf, check email, or do my personal banking online is just too foreign to me to comprehend.

I don't think it's the employers obligation to provide free internet use to employees beyond sites which would be essential to doing the job.