Reported to the BON for cellphone usage?

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I was fairly recently fired for having my phone out at the wrong time. Per hospital policy, we aren't supposed to have our personal phones out except in the break room, but at night, it's not uncommon for nurses to have their phones out at the nurses' station, and I have seen several others scrolling social media while holding a sleeping baby. I wasn't touching my phone at the time in question, just listening to a podcast while feeding a baby, but since I had prior offenses, they called it "failure to follow directions". Just got a notice that it was reported to the state BON.

What do I do now? Is this the end of my nursing career? Because of a cell phone?!

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girl, forget them people. Start applying for another job.

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6 minutes ago, gcupid said:

girl, forget them people. Start applying for another job.

I already have another job lined up, but getting that letter today has me a little rattled. I don't want them to screw up my new job before I can even start it

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).

If you have you can call the and see what they think, but I don't think this will come to much of anything. The BONs have way bigger fish to fry. 

Hppy 

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On 1/16/2022 at 1:30 AM, Lady_Leijing said:

I already have another job lined up, but getting that letter today has me a little rattled. I don't want them to screw up my new job before I can even start it

  If you let it, Nursing can take all of your joy away and crush your spirit. You have to have faith. Get some champagne or your favorite piece of cake and celebrate your new job. Take it one day at a time. 

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18 minutes ago, gcupid said:

 Get some champagne or your favorite piece of cake and celebrate your new job. Take it one day at a time. 

 

Funny you should say that. My husband and I went out yesterday for celebratory sushi and Soju before I found that awful letter in the mailbox

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Specializes in ER/School/Rural Nursing/Health Department.

I think hospitals have to report to BON if they fire you.  It doesn't mean you will lose your license.  At the most they might censure you for a day (our state sends a quarterly paper that has all the people who have something on their license and how long they are "in trouble" and what they did.  A ton of people are on for a one day censure for something like this).  Does your new employer know you were fired?

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No, they never asked. They have my resume, so they know I'm not currently employed, but the question never came up and that feels like something you don't bring up unless asked.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
6 hours ago, RuralMOSchoolRN said:

I think hospitals have to report to BON if they fire you.  It doesn't mean you will lose your license.  At the most they might censure you for a day (our state sends a quarterly paper that has all the people who have something on their license and how long they are "in trouble" and what they did.  A ton of people are on for a one day censure for something like this).  Does your new employer know you were fired?

At least in the United States, hospitals have no mandate to report to the BON the termination or discipline of any RN except where the RN in question is found to be substantially impaired by substance abuse or mental health issues to the extent that they are unsafe to practice.  Termination or discipline for infractions not covered in the individual's state Nurse Practice Act are not reported to the BON. In California Nurse Practice Act there is nothing stated with regard to use of personal electronic devices. 

allnurses.com/do-hospitals-report -rns-fired-t143620/

spigalaw.com/when-is-a-nurse-reported-to-California-brn

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

In hospice, I frequently take my phone out to have the patients listen to music while I chart at bedside. It’s all their preference, mostly play oldies or classical. 
I can’t imagine this was the first time the phone was mentioned? Some places are strict while others aren’t. If it was a situation where you were told multiple times to put it away and you didn’t, then I understand. But nobody likes “surprise your fired”. They may be using the phone as an excuse to send you packing due to another reason. Some employers simply don’t like the employee and they wait for an excuse to cut them loose.

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Specializes in EMT since 92, Paramedic since 97, RN and PHRN 2021.

The director of the ER I am currently out told me that I should use my cell phone to look up resources.  We were discussing medication interactions of different meds through the same port. I stated that I preferred to call pharmacy to verify something like that and she discouraged me, telling me I should use my cell and type the two meds in and read the results. 
  Personally I’m not sure if I agree , just because if something does happen the first thing I will be asked is how did I verify things. I think by calling our pharmacy is a lot better than “I did a Google search” or “I checked Wikipedia”.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Rehab, Skilled, Memory Care, Case Mgmt.

Violation of hospital policy does not equate to a violation of the nurse practice act.

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