Reported to the BON for cellphone usage?

Nurses Professionalism

Updated:   Published

career-over-using-cell-phone-at-work-reported-to-bon.jpg.a5f159289e1fc88936df0bc88fc9c601.jpg

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?!

I rather think the hospital might want to be careful about filing frivolous and malicious reports. ??‍♀️

1 Votes
Specializes in Nurse Educator, Emergency Nursing.

Sounds like you just violated your employer’s policy. Why would the BON care about you using your cell phone? I use mine all the time to look up things. As long as you were not violating HIPAA, shouldn’t be an issue. Sounds like your employer is being a little dramatic…

1 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
2 hours ago, jlpaulrn said:

Sounds like you just violated your employer’s policy. Why would the BON care about you using your cell phone? I use mine all the time to look up things. As long as you were not violating HIPAA, shouldn’t be an issue. Sounds like your employer is being a little dramatic…

Some employers have very strict policies about cel phone use. It is a terminatable offense where I work.

 

0 Votes
Specializes in oncology.
On 1/15/2022 at 9:42 PM, Lady_Leijing said:

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"

Nor looking up medications, procedures...just listening to a podcast. Leave that to the mother when the baby gets home. Instead croon or talk to the baby. You have been caught before.

4 Votes

So, to me, it just seems like this must be an ongoing issue....like over and over again seeing you on your phone no matter how it is you're using it. I'm pretty sure it's every hospitals policy that their employees not be on their phone. My hospital doesn't allow it either. However,  they HAVE to say that and put that out there. Why wouldn't they? To get fired...it sounds like it was a repeated issue.  Either management repeatedly saw you, or coworkers repeatedly saw you. SOMEBODY repeatedly saw you and felt the same as I do about it or there's no way you would be fired for something like that.  I don't work with babies so I'm dealing with completely different scenarios. My floor is so busy that I don't even have time to hit play to listen to anything and certainly too busy to pay attention to whatever is playing in my ear. I too work at night, always will, and love my job. Just being honest, I think earpods at work are unprofessional. Period. No matter what age the patient. Do I think you should worry too much about this? Well, definitely you should at least some. Simply because you GOT FIRED.  Luckily because of the business we're in, you will have no problem finding another job. I just think you should look from the outside in. I don't want a nurse with earbuds taking care of my baby OR grown family.  I don't.  You're at work to work.  Not to work and be entertained at the same time. Honestly I get your employer's decision simply because it's a  business.  THEIR business. You'll be fine though.  You live and you learn.  Hopefully you learned. 

3 Votes
Specializes in oncology.
On 1/15/2022 at 9:42 PM, Lady_Leijing said:

wasn't touching my phone at the time in question, just listening to a podcast while feeding a baby,

 

6 hours ago, mnj7351 said:

I don't want a nurse with earbuds taking care of my baby OR grown family. 

You had a job so many people want! Listen on you own time! . Can I turn to TV to Wheel of fortune for confused patients?  Let them should out letters! Heck they don't know what is on the TV, How about Jeopardy?  You know,  to help them with current events while I spend 30 minutes on their wound. ....

0 Votes

Ah, thank several of you for completely missing my question and assuming that I haven't learned my lesson or suffered at all being without a job for 2 and a half months. I'm literally asking what I should do next since the hospital that fired me has decided to complain to the Board of Nursing, but y'all have decided that it's more important to brow beat me about my failure than help me figure out how to move forward. ?

1 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
1 minute ago, Lady_Leijing said:

Ah, thank several of you for completely missing my question and assuming that I haven't learned my lesson or suffered at all being without a job for 2 and a half months. I'm literally asking what I should do next since the hospital that fired me has decided to complain to the Board of Nursing, but y'all have decided that it's more important to brow beat me about my failure than help me figure out how to move forward. ?

As I said this is not a matter the BON will get involved in. The hospital can report you but it may have been an empty threat. If you are truly worried contact and attorney familiar with professional practice issues your malpractice carrier should be able to give you a referral.

4 Votes
Specializes in Hospice.
15 minutes ago, Lady_Leijing said:

Ah, thank several of you for completely missing my question and assuming that I haven't learned my lesson or suffered at all being without a job for 2 and a half months. I'm literally asking what I should do next since the hospital that fired me has decided to complain to the Board of Nursing, but y'all have decided that it's more important to brow beat me about my failure than help me figure out how to move forward. ?

The final comment in your original post came across as judging cell phone use while working as a trivial issue (“Over a cell phone?” ) It isn’t.

2 Votes
Specializes in Nurse Educator, Emergency Nursing.

I was in no way trying to downplay your situation. I apologize if it seemed that way. I was merely pointing out the fact that you violated your employer‘s policy. The board of nursing has no fight in that game…

 

1 Votes
Specializes in Dialysis.
7 hours ago, hppygr8ful said:

As I said this is not a matter the BON will get involved in. The hospital can report you but it may have been an empty threat. If you are truly worried contact and attorney familiar with professional practice issues your malpractice carrier should be able to give you a referral.

Unless they turned it into a neglect type of thing. You know, paying more attention to phone than patients. If she'd been warned more than once, I can see it. In the advent of electronics, and some folks (not necessarily OP) fixation on them, I could even see it becoming a thing.  While state BONs have bigger fish to fry, they also like to deal out punitive decisions at times

2 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
58 minutes ago, Hoosier_RN said:

Unless they turned it into a neglect type of thing. You know, paying more attention to phone than patients. If she'd been warned more than once, I can see it. In the advent of electronics, and some folks (not necessarily OP) fixation on them, I could even see it becoming a thing.  While state BONs have bigger fish to fry, they also like to deal out punitive decisions at times

Still I think the BON's have bigger fish to fry. Now if some kind of accident or sentinel event happened while nurse was using cel phone that's a different story

1 Votes
+ Add a Comment