Phones Are Down...

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Specializes in Med-surg, school nursing..

The phones are down in the whole school. Everyone else seems to be pretty excited about this... Not me.

My job sort of depends on a phone, calling parents of an ill or injured child. I've had two that need to be sent home already this morning. They told me to call from my cell phone.

A.)I have to pretty much stand on my head to get service from my office, walking to the front of the building is a bit difficult to do at this time. My neck does a bob-and-weave maneuver to keep service.

B.)I'm not really comfortable with parents having my personal number. Just a guess but as the secretary or even counselor I can't imagine why a parent would want to call you after hours. BUT as the nurse, I already get messages (text and facebook) from parents that I was friends with prior to getting this job. "What does this rash look like to you?" "Do you think this looks like pink eye?" "I'll send Johnny in the morning, can you look at that cut and tell me if you think it needs stitches." Not to mention the personal questions about themselves.

I did end up calling the parent of the kiddo with a fever from my phone, simply because she looks pitiful and I don't want her waiting any longer than she has to.

Am I being ridiculous? I keep in contact with my diabetic kiddos parents through text sometimes, or parents that I know personally. But strangers?

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

i totally get that. I discussed with the IT guy about ways of being able to call parents from a numbers that wasn't the school's but also not my cell- he tried to explain Google voice to me. Doesn't sounds like it would necessarily help your particular situation right now, but i did think about it for the future. I still don't think i totally get it though.

I have a few parents that really only text - some due to Deafness, some due to lord only knows why - contacting them is a pain right in the rear end. When i was in walmart the other day, I sincerely thought about investing in a burner phone for work purposes...

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

Fortunately I have a school cell phone which I use frequently since our phones are tied to our computer/internet which goes out regularly.

Go tell your principal you need to use her/his cell phone.

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Specializes in Med-surg, school nursing..

Go tell your principal you need to use her/his cell phone.

I'm sure she would love that!

Any cell phone would likely not work in my office, it has the worst reception of the whole school. Boo. They brought us one phone to use today-somehow it is working??

So I wheel myself in and out every time I need to make a call. Watch yer shins cuz I ain't playin' taday.

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I work in hospice too and I never call from my own cell phone. Although I've been told by the "techie" folks that there is a way to block my # from coming up on their phone.

For emergency use, your school district needs to figure this one out.

Turf it upstairs! :up:

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I found how to call from my cell without my number showing up, but when our parents see a call with no number they usually won't answer. I just leave a message and hope for the best. Luckily, with the older kids, most have their own phones and will call from those.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

*67 blocks your number from caller ID. Also, on most phones there is a way to disable the caller ID feature.

Best wishes.

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*67 blocks your number from caller ID. Also, on most phones there is a way to disable the caller ID feature.

Best wishes.

I don't think *67 works anymore with cellphones. I have tried and the caller id always shows. There is a way to go into settings and block your id from being seen though.

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Specializes in Hospice.
I don't think *67 works anymore with cellphones. I have tried and the caller id always shows. There is a way to go into settings and block your id from being seen though.

I've run into a lot of phones that won't accept a *67 attempt. I always figure whoever I'm calling is avoiding someone so they want to see ALL the numbers lol.

I generally make 99% of my calls from a facility phone. There's a small percentage of people who don't respond to that Caller ID, usually because of some financial kerfluffle with the facility.

Another thing that's annoying? Full mailboxes. For the love of fuzzy puppies, people, delete things occasionally!! Or at the very least, learn how to access your damn mailbox!!

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I don't think *67 works anymore with cellphones. I have tried and the caller id always shows. There is a way to go into settings and block your id from being seen though.

Yes it does! I use my iPhone for HH all the time.

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I don't answer if I don't see or don't know a number. 99% of the time it's a telemarketer or political call. No time or patience for that.

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Specializes in Med-surg, school nursing..

I could've blocked my number, but I would've had to give them that number to call back because the phones were down :)

Luckily I only had to call a few before they brought in one phone for everyone to use.

Now, they've got the phones fixed, but no one's extensions are right, so we are calling one person and getting another. Fun times here y'all.

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