No phones at clinical

[cmonkey]

Bummer, I loaded epocrates, skyscape, etc., on my phone, and because it has a camera (hard to find a phone w/o one), I can't use it in clinicals. I wonder if I taped over it or something... I sure don't want to get a PP or anything after coughing up all the money for books and tuition. Anyone hear the same thing? There must be some kind of workaround. Maybe I'll need the ipod touch after all.

[guiltysins]

Our program requires us to have some kind of PDA for clinicals, so I guess they must be giving us a crutch. We have to buy the skyskape program because we don't have books specifically for clinicals. I'm getting an iTouch so I won't have the phone problem.

I'm sure things were done differently 15-20 years ago, but its not 15 years ago, things have changed. For example, this site wouldn't even exist =) and we'd all be paper charting.

[9livesRN, BSN, RN]

I think this is so old school... 2010 HELLO!!!

Use whatever you like, book, notes, ipod, PDA, whatever you feel comfortable with. Just as long as it GETS THE JOB DONE, and you provide SAFE care to your patients... that is why we are there! CARE GIVERS...

anyways, when they said no cell phone, mine was with me at all times, on vibrate on my scrub pocket.

I can understand the camera thing, just tape it, or put it in a case that covers it... these people should be more understanding...

[llg, PhD, RN]

wow I don't know where you guys go to school but we have to know the meds we are giving and if we don't we have to look it up in a book not our phones if I was a pt and saw a student on the phone I would think it was for personal reasons and would think they were rude

We've had patients complain about nurses using cell phones etc. in the clinical area. So, we no longer allow it. We have plenty of resources around for people to use to look drugs, etc. up. Also, we want them to use OUR policy and procedure manuals and approved resources whenever possible so that we know the information is consistent with our approved practice. Lack of available information is not a problem in our facility -- so no one should have a real need to bring in their own devices for patient care.

For personal communication etc., people can use their own devices in the lounge.

People with children give the phone number of the unit to older children, child care providers, etc. Some people also use personal pagers and give that number to their families, etc. They can be be paged by their family and know to "phone home" or wherever.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Yeah the difference is a good nurse knows where to look to find information. You simply cannot know everything no matter how much you prep yourself the night before and at some point you know you might just have to look something up. I would be MORE worried if someone claims they know everything and never looks anything up.

Agreed. With so many rotations in nursing school and with some rotations not allowing students to research the night before, it is impossible to know the meds during the first few weeks of clinical. In addition, some nationally-known hospitals that treat "rare" diseases have multiple patients from all over the country with this rare disease/condition, and those hospitals use certain meds in ways that are not originally intended. It is our job to know why that med is used on that particular patient. (All this I found out from my most recent rotation.)

What did we do? We used the floor computers to look stuff up because even our clinical instructor knew that we probably wouldn't know them all from pharm class. After a couple weeks, of course we were expected to know those meds that we gave in the previous weeks. Technology isn't just for charting, even for students.

ETA: I saw later that the poster you were replying to clarified that she was talking only about personal technology, not the technology on the floor. I, too, did not get that from caroladybelle's first few posts, but saw it later.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Most basic math classes and most pharmacology/pharm math courses do not permit students to use calculators on the tests, because they need to learn how to do the math. Then once that is established, they are permitted to use assistive devices, not before. In spelling classes, one does not get to use spellcheck on the test.

My school allows those $3 calculators because the instructors are enlightened enough to know that adding/subtracting/multiplying/dividing is not the point with med calculations. The point is setting up the problem and knowing when to add/subtract/multiply/divide.

Every year, we have students come complaining in here about the difficulty of pharmacology math. Pharmacology math is very basic math that should have been mastered in grade school. The reason that they cannot do it, because someone has let them depend on a calculator.

I beg to differ. The reason students complain is because they are having a hard time figuring out how to set up the problem. Check out the threads and take a look at the content of their questions. It is not "100/2 = what? I can't figure it out!"

[Tyler77]

How would you like it if you were a patient, extremely ill, only to look up and have a nurse texting 100 mph or answering his/her cell phone? RUDE! Barring these devices on the floors are done for a reason--and people still can't wrap their head around these rules. What's the horror in bringing in your drug guide and actuallt LOOKING YOUR DRUGS UP? OMG THE HORROR! And if there were call phones permitted, can you imagine how the younger students would behave? You'd never see their face because they're always looking down texting their friends "I'm soooo bored in clinical" for the umpteenth time. People need to start being overly dependent on their cell phones.

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

I beg to differ. The reason students complain is because they are having a hard time figuring out how to set up the problem. Check out the threads and take a look at the content of their questions. It is not "100/2 = what? I can't figure it out!"

I've seen the many, many threads, and no, setting up the equations is very basic math. Or it was considered so back when we were actually required to DO the math, before being permitted use of calculators.

I'm tired of beating my head against a wall. I'm outta here.