Speakerphone

[Jkrisko]

I am an RN director at an  Assisted Living. My mom newly resides in LTC.  There has been some medical issues that have not been addressed properly by the facility. A nurse brought up an issue I was caught off guard about the other day...something that I feel I was totally lied to about by the DON. I didn't say anything but I'm sure she knew I was shocked!  Well anyway I left a message for the social worker about Thanksgiving with my mom and asked her to call me back. When she called me back I could totally tell I was on speakerphone. Obviously there was someone else in the room that was not identified. I did not bring up any personal info on my mom. This is not the 1st time I know I've been on speakerphone when discussing my mom. Is this any kind of violation.. not knowing who is all in the room when discussing my moms medical information on speakerphone? I am furious ! If anything.. this is UNETHICAL! 

[MunoRN, RN]

Your post is a bit difficult to follow.  Was it your mom or the social worker who called you back?  I'm not clear how you knew the call was on speakerphone.  It's not particularly unusual for staff to put someone on speaker when they need to be typing at the same time. If there were other staff who were able to hear the conversation then that would be considered 'incidental', and not a violation, the other staff is also required to keep any information they were exposed to private.

There were "medical issues" that were not appropriately addressed, not appropriately addressed by your mom's physician or the facility?

[amoLucia]

19 hours ago, Jkrisko said:

... When she called me back I could totally tell I was on speakerphone. Obviously there was someone else in the room that was not identified. I did not bring up any personal info on my mom. This is not the 1st time I know I've been on speakerphone when discussing my mom. Is this any kind of violation.. not knowing who is all in the room when discussing my moms medical information on speakerphone? I am furious ! If anything.. this is UNETHICAL! 

(Bolding mine.) At that point, could you NOT just FLAT-OUT, BLUNTLY asked "are we on speakerphone?")?  I mean, as DON, you're resp for executive, important phone communication. I doubt you'd be wishy-washy. So just ask and establish your level of comm.

Just FYI - my sister is HOH and won't consider a hearing aid at present. She always uses speakerphone -'better acoustics' for her.

 

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

On 11/25/2021 at 7:47 PM, amoLucia said:

At that point, could you NOT just FLAT-OUT, BLUNTLY asked "are we on speakerphone?"?

Yeah, that's what I don't understand.  I do agree it is not appropriate (in any situation) to have a phone conversation on speaker phone without all involved parties knowing it is on speaker phone.  But it seems pretty straight forward to me: "are we on speaker phone?" "Is anyone else present."  If you don't want someone else present "I cannot continue this conversation on speak phone with someone else there."