No Internet access at work

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · May 18, 2005

I used to go to CNN.com on my break when i worked night shift as an aide. It was the only way and the only time i knew what was going on in the world.

(And it was allowed, also. The Weather Channel website was a popular one too)

mydesygn · May 18, 2005

At my hospital, we are not allowed internet access. The computers are on line, but everything except the American Heart Association is blocked. There never has been access, so it's not that it was taken away for misuse. A lot of us feel that access to the internet would be well used for researching diagnoses, treatments, pt education, etc... We ask and ask and get no answer. We can't even e-mail our manager from work. I'm wondering how many of you have access, how is it used, how often is it used, how is it monitored? Do you feel that having access enhances your ability to care for patients? The only other reference material we have are some old books donated (not provided by the hospital) by doctors and some of us.
Responses would be well appreciated!!

I have worked for 14 years as a nurse, long before the internet was the popular tool it is. Most facilities function well with an intranet not an internet. An intranet is wonderful for posting policies and procedures, department info and patient information. You can access the hospital intranet anytime while you are at work. You may want to research patient diagnosis but an internet is not necessarry to do this. The facility I work at posts patient teaching info on the intranet. They do not allow us to give patients medical inforamtion from an internet sight (couple of lawsuits regarding incorrect info obtained from an internet sight). There are to many opportunities for abuse, the internet is just not that necessary. Focus on stocking unit with appropiate journals and texts (Everybody has nursing texts collecting dust at home). Focus on intranet use -- it is common at most of your larger facilites. Also, recognize that internet and intranet has to be maintained - Is your facility large enough to support hiring a web developer?

allnurses Guide · May 18, 2005

We only have a total of 3 computers in our unit - obviously we don't do computer charting!! And they are all in very visible locations. It irritates me that if you look at almost any other "office" job, computer access is a given. We are, after all, adults. Then there always have to be the people who get an inch and take a mile, and behave like teenage boys with free internet access. At my old job, we had access. We logged in under our user name and password which we used for order entry. That way, they tracked our usage. Residents would come by in the middle of the night, see a patient, then sit and play online poker for 2 hours on 1 of our 2 computers. But the rest of us used it all the time for work related stuff. I liked being able to give patients print-outs of info on their condition, medication, treatments. I even found medication info for patients in different languages.
If there's nothing else that needs to be done, what's wrong with websurfing?

We are a small rural hospital. We have internet access. We have our own password to log on - so yes they can track our usage to see if anything needs to be addressed - there was a night where one of the docs when to an online dating service as a joke with the EMT's.

We have a really awesome and smart computer guy who keeps us free of viruses, etc.

Our management encourages the use of computers and is even giving free classes to the employees, from CNA's to the docs.

I too see nothing wrong, in downtime, when others are reading People magazine with surfing the net.

I also use it for patient teaching - got some great info on co-sleeping that I give out to all new parents. Also some questions to ask the doc about circumcision - (do you use pain control for babies?).

We are all adults - computers are here to stay - don't let a few bad apples ruin it for the rest of us.

And yes, I access my personal email account as well as my hospital account and I check in on Allnurses. I also read the local newspaper.

steph

pricklypear · May 18, 2005

I have worked for 14 years as a nurse, long before the internet was the popular tool it is. Most facilities function well with an intranet not an internet. An intranet is wonderful for posting policies and procedures, department info and patient information. You can access the hospital intranet anytime while you are at work. You may want to research patient diagnosis but an internet is not necessarry to do this. The facility I work at posts patient teaching info on the intranet. They do not allow us to give patients medical inforamtion from an internet sight (couple of lawsuits regarding incorrect info obtained from an internet sight). There are to many opportunities for abuse, the internet is just not that necessary. Focus on stocking unit with appropiate journals and texts (Everybody has nursing texts collecting dust at home). Focus on intranet use -- it is common at most of your larger facilites. Also, recognize that internet and intranet has to be maintained - Is your facility large enough to support hiring a web developer?

We have an intranet. They are just now starting to post policies/procedures there. Way overdue, in my opinion. We also have some order sets on there, too. We have a medication program, supposedly for patients, but the information is like this:

Coumadin

coo-ma-din

anti-thrombolytic agent

take as directed by your doctor

Isn't that wonderful? I'm being cynical, but the information isn't really any better that that. I suppose, in time, it will get better. There have just been so many times we have gotten a patient at 2am with some weird diagnosis, or history that we have absolutely no info on. No way are any of us willing to loan any of our own nursing/medical texts to the unit. Done that, haven't seen it since.

We have Information Services (IS), who takes care of all the computer stuff. I suppose instead of arguing for the whole internet, maybe just access to a few selected sites. Like Medline, nursing journals etc... Do you guys have any other suggestions for useful sites that you have run across?

pricklypear · May 18, 2005

We are all adults - computers are here to stay - don't let a few bad apples ruin it for the rest of us.
And yes, I access my personal email account as well as my hospital account and I check in on Allnurses. I also read the local newspaper.
steph

That's my beef: We are adults, professional adults. I don't think it's asking too much. Everything has the potential for abuse: the phone, the tv, supplies...`

Mystery5 · May 18, 2005

Well, let's face it, technically we're all adults, but some people are more responsible than others. Yes, there are people at my job that will let the internet distract them. But our facility does peer reviews as part of evaluations, and I mentioned that in one for one of the unit secretaries, because her work wasn't always up to snuff and she was spending too much time online.

So, what do know, her work has really improved since her eval. I really like working with her so much more now!:)

NancyJo · May 18, 2005

We have access to intranet, and departmental email. Also have micromedex that I use alot for pt. eduacation and to look up drug info. Definately comes in handy.

explorer · May 18, 2005

One thing that I do is look up medications that I myself or a patient

isn't familiar with. One of the things that our IS does is give us links

to reputable sites that can help us. I think that someday it will be

a standard that everone will have to have to complete their work.

Computers are here to stay.

:balloons:

ERNurse752, RN · May 18, 2005

We have it. One of our nurses was looking up the weather, saw a picture of a suspect from a bank robbery that day. Realized it was the same guy as a psych patient we had just triaged in! Called the PD, and they came and arrested the guy...taken to jail after getting cleared.

One of the evil nurses still wrote him up for using the internet for a non work-related purpose though.

pricklypear · May 18, 2005

We have it. One of our nurses was looking up the weather, saw a picture of a suspect from a bank robbery that day. Realized it was the same guy as a psych patient we had just triaged in! Called the PD, and they came and arrested the guy...taken to jail after getting cleared.
One of the evil nurses still wrote him up for using the internet for a non work-related purpose though.

O....M....G

TCASII, ADN · May 18, 2005

While I think you should have access to it, I do think it's overused or abused too much. It really depends on the job and location, but some departments are too busy to have people online screwing around. Don't get me wrong, when I worked in surgery as a CNA, there were plenty of times we had nothing going on and I surfed the net to pass the time, however, I felt guilty if I was on for more than 30 minutes. I'd always get up and look for something to clean or whatever.

One facility I worked at was very busy, and our anesthesia tech would bring in his laptop from home, sit in the stockroom and work on his Internet site for hours! I ended up, as the CNA, doing his stocking and ordering! :angryfire

I've seen numerous individuals simply playing games and messing around when they could be doing something productive. It really depends on the situation.

pricklypear · May 18, 2005

Thanks, everybody, for your stories, opinions and ideas!! I'm thinking of asking my co-workers to come up with some ideas of helpful sites, and asking for some of them to be added to what we have now. They have it set up to block everything except AHA right now, I don't see why some other "approved" sites could not be added. This might be a more reasonable request.