How should we be spending our time during work hours? Are we there for patients or ....? Should personal Internet use be monitored/banned during nursing work hours?
Some responses
The internet is no different from books, magazines, and newspapers that nurses entertain themselves with when there is nothing to do.
If you're on the internet, are you the first to jump up & answer? Not likely unless you make everyone swear not to touch the machine until you can get back to it. It's not like turning down the corner of a page & come back to it later.
I look up info for family members, ie. Mapquest, or pull up info about books for them to read that pertains to their situation--death of family member.
This discussion reminds me of the times 40 years ago when personal phone calls were not allowed.
I work nights and sometimes not often have times when both of my patients are low maintance and I have 30 minutes to 1 hour before I need to do something. Dont mistake me all my work is caught up and usually everyone elses is also. We cant be the only ones who get a break, can we blondy2061?
3-11 shift upper nys, my ltc facility is currently looking over employee productivity. Positions are being cut and people are having their hours reduced. The computors belong to the company and are supposed to be used for work. A magazine belongs to the employee who brings it in. I know there are times when I would like to look up something work related on the internet. But I know that people would take advantage of this.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i can see this becoming like the cell phone thread. i want/need/deserve to use the internet at work, but i don't think anyone else should because they will abuse it/are abusing it/will ruin it for everyone.
At my current job we can only use the Internet for work related purposes.
At a previous job, I would get online to check out the score of a game if a patient asked if I knew who won. I am not a huge sports fan so I almost never knew the score of a game.
I have worked with people who are too wrapped up in their computer games to answer call lights. Unfortunately, at that job you could access the web without having to actually log on to a computer so there was no way to track exactly who was viewing what pages.
Our access sites are monitored, but thankfully not everything non-work related is off limits.
Just last week, I used google maps to print out a turn-by-turn set of driving instructions for the wife of the pt. who came in with an active, acute MI who we stabilized but were in the process of shipping out to the cath lab across the State border.
Not only were the directions clear and simple, but thanks to Google innovation, I was able to customize the map to help avoid known traffic choke points and roads under construction. The pt. was going by 'copter and the wife didn't know anyone else in the neighborhood.
Yes, there will always be those who abuse a resource and to punish everyone based on the examples of a few doesn't make sense. Bad cases make for bad laws. We are all professionals - let's act and treat each other like professionals.
And by golly yes! If work productivity suffers because of aforementioned bad examples, WRITE UP/FIRE said bad examples.
Yes and No...On our unit use is limited to work related issues/serchs ect...and personal stuff is limited to the computer in the lounge. Also no cell phones/texting in the station, if you have that much time then help out the other nurdes/aides.
Everything which is printed off by our computers from the internet are also received in Information Systems. Rather keeps us on our toes as to what we are printing on the internet.
We are discouraged from doing personal things on the internet. We can look up medical information regarding diagnosis for our patients or for our own knowledge. We can on down time. Complete CEU's on the internet. Shopping on Ebay is out lol,,, shooot
Specializes in ICU/CCU, Home Health/Hospice, Cath Lab,.
We are all professionals - let's act and treat each other like professionals.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
We need to all remember this - we are professionals. We should be responsible for our actions while at work. We are not kids that should need our hands held and shown what is proper for us to do.
If you have the time and no one else needs any help than I see no problem with surfing the net. Our jobs are very stressful and having some outlet for relaxation is imperative - even while at work.
Those who want to ban the internet at work because people "might" spend too much time on it and neglect their work are avoiding the true problem, which is the neglect of work. If you take away the internet do you think those who have neglected their patients in the past are magically going to start caring for them now? No they just move on to another distraction - whether it be books, phone games, crochet, whatever.
And since most companies can monitor computer time there really is no excuse for it - if RN Ruby (posting from work) is constantly on the computer and not helping out - then she gets called into the office and told she needs to improve her work by (here is the kicker) specifically listing what she needs to do to improve . . .be more reactive to call lights, help her coworkers out more often, complete her charting and tasks on time.
If she complains she doesn't have time to do that (she is terribly busy) then pull up her computer usage and point out that she spends an average of 1.5 hrs a night surfing the net (travel sites, email, sales at Macy) and say that although she might think she is really busy she could cut that 1.5hr down to .5 and have plenty of time to do improve.
There are lot of ways we can get to the true problem of neglect without treating all staff like they are children - and we as professionals should not stand for it. Imagine being written up for substandard care another nurse provided or called into the office because another nurse was not helping her team out - these are punishments, and when facilities remove priviledges from us (regardless if they have the right or not) they are punishing us for others behavior.
My passionate thoughts on the subject
Pat
PS. Recently my hospital started raising the security that blocked different sites - so now, while I can still access Allnurses, hotmail, espn I can't access our online library of medications to look up dosages, side effects, and labs
PPS. The names of the nurses in my post have been changed to protect the innocent.
I use a certain online med. info site to look up meds I dont know and get educational material for my patients. So I do use the internet for pt. needs.
Then there are people who look over their emails and such ALL NIGHT. They are doing homework and shopping and everything else. Thats just not acceptable.
In order to ban the internet, you'd have to take it away completely. I've worked at hospitals where internet use was banned, but the computers still had access for other things. People ignored the rules and checked email anyway.
So, to actually ban the internet, you have to completely take it out, and that keeps people who use it like I do from using it too. Its a no win situation.
The computers at the place I work at go into sleep mode when a patient or patients have pressed call buttons and other need help notifiers when the internet and other exttracurricular programs are pulled up.
The computers at the place I work at go into sleep mode when a patient or patients have pressed call buttons and other need help notifiers when the internet and other exttracurricular programs are pulled up.
(posting from work) is constantly on the computer and not helping out - then she gets called into the office and told she needs to improve her work by (here is the kicker) specifically listing what she needs to do to improve . . .be more reactive to call lights, help her coworkers out more often, complete her charting and tasks on time.
ChristineN, BSN, RN
3,465 Posts