No long distance for patients?

[MunoRN]

My hospital gets about a quarter of our patients from areas that are considered long distance calls from the hospital. My hospital does not allow patients to use their bedside phones to call long distance. I've worked at one other hospital where long distance was free to patients (except overseas calls), so this seems a bit ridiculous to me, but maybe it's more common than I think. Is this the norm?

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

We can have the operator connect them to a long distance number if there's a pressing need.

[Mandychelle79, ASN, RN]

Since we get patients from all over the state ( limited psych beds, we get them as far away as a 6 hour ambulance ride) and unit rules state that they cannot have cell phones, our patients have long distance on the two patient phones in the hall.

[SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN]

We didn't even have the ability to call long-distance as nurses!

Patients calling long distance was so out of the question, it was laughable.

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

No to long distance. It sems reasonable to me.

Most of my pts have cell phones anyway.

[amoLucia]

Same protocols in the LTC places that I've been, long past and recent past.

One place DID allow long-distance calls until abuses got way out of hand. Bedbound, semi-responsive pts were having huge long distance calls to Haiti, Puerto Rico, Nigeria, etc. Mgt did investigations and found the culprits, but they changed the policy. Calls could only be made by nurses with assigned PIN numbers and you had to sign-out on a log. And you DID NOT give out your PIN.

On 11-7, there were few times that I had to call long-distance, but I logged it to the family of pts needing info on change-of-status. And the DON would come to you if the phone log missed your long distance call that showed up on the facility's phone bill (with PINs). So you better know who you called.

The younger, walkie-talkies that are skilled rehab in today's facilities all have their own cells so problem solved, pretty much.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

No long distance for our patients, either. In fact, I've never worked in a hospital where it WAS available.

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

With the huge push by hospital administrators for excellent 'customer service,' the policy of blocking long distance calls does not do much to promote patient satisfaction.

I was just going to say this.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

I didn't mind the long distance code requirement to make calls until our residents started having long distance phone numbers, and then the attendings too. So I get stuck having to find the code just to page a physician. For some reason, THAT extra step is just too annoying.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

I also work at a tertiary care hospital with patients from a 4-state region. By the time those who have arrived unconscious or critically ill/injured are in a condition to make phone calls, generally family/friends have been in to see them and bring them some belongings including their cell phone. In the rare instance where that is not the case, a social worker generally assists them in obtaining a phone card.

[PediLove2147, BSN, RN]

At my facility you can pay to get long distance. If people have a cell phone I always advise against it because it is so expensive!

[LynnLRN]

Are you sure they can't if they dial the operator first? i thought pt at my hospital couldn't make long distance calls for the longest time, then I found out they could if they dial 0 for operator first.

[MunoRN, RN]

Are you sure they can't if they dial the operator first? i thought pt at my hospital couldn't make long distance calls for the longest time, then I found out they could if they dial 0 for operator first.

I'm sure. When I try to call a patient's family I have to go through the operator, they always ask if I am "medical staff" and they then remind me that I can only make long distance calls to get consent for something from a POA/NOK. Most of us lie and say this is why we are calling, then hand the phone to the patient so they can talk to family. There are many times where it's not really that big of a deal whether or not they can talk to family, but there are also times were a patient gets denied and it turns out that would have been there last time talking to family. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was a patient recently who wanted to talk to her husband who was at home, the patient's daughter was bringing in her cell phone for the patient to use the next morning, the patient got intubated that night then died later and never did get to talk to her husband after being admitted.