Texting in nursing

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There must be something wrong with me or Im just too old and not "with the times" as has been pointed out to me. Nurses today, staff and management , dont see a problem with texting doctors. Did not get a job today because I frowned upon doing such, on my personal phone no less. I stated that I call doctors and mentioned HIPPA and she (RN!) stated to me that doctors dont have time to answer their phone. I have worked with others who see no need to write their title after their name in the narc book, and even others who dont know how to write a hard copy! doctors order. No name who wrote it,no date dosage, etc. Everything is sooooo impersonal and computerized and no one cares. My husband says...why cant you just text like everyone else does?!Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
Nurses today, staff and management , dont see a problem with texting doctors. Did not get a job today because I frowned upon doing such, on my personal phone no less. I stated that I call doctors and mentioned HIPPA and she (RN!) stated to me that doctors dont have time to answer their phone.

I agree with the frustration on having to text for everything. However, there is a benefit, at times, to texting. Sometimes texting is the most reliable way to get ahold of a doctor in a timely manner. In addition, I have seen many cases where an ED doc has texted an EKG to a cardiologist who is not on site.

Being tethered only to texting is not a good thing, but, IMHO, it might be helpful to at least be open to texting doctors in some circumstances.

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Specializes in Private Duty Pediatrics.

How do you deal with HIPAA when texting a doctor using your own phone? It isn't encrypted.

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Wow..There really is something wrong with me..174 people who I would guess are nurses have looked at my post and two have commented. No offense to anyone but it leads me to believe that 172 are texting..what has become of nursing? Doctors should know better as well. If you have the time to text you can call. Its just lazy and huge HIPPA violation...Oh well

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I've been a nurse for 24 years, so I've seen many changes. This is just one of the changes that people seem to be misinformed about.

Bottom line, regardless of my personal opinion (I hate texting, btw): texting is a non-secure way of communicating personal health information, and therefore ILLEGAL. Our company requires that we use an encrypted and secure system (for example, FORCURA). Cell phones are NOT secure. Don't do it.

I had a doctor ask me one time to text him a photo of a patient's wound. Um...NO! I politely refused and cited the legality of doing that. He understood.

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We HAVE an encrypted text app that we use. It is a complete time saver. Texting helps me do my job in a much more efficient manner. We need to take advantage of the technology we have. Don't get me wrong, gratuitous texting or texting that keeps you from doing your job has no place in healthcare but come on... do we really want to go back to playing the waiting game with pagers and telephones? I know I don't want to. And just to be clear, I'm no spring chicken. This is my 31st year of nursing so I very well remember what it was like before computers and cell phones. No thanks. Give me EMRs and cell phones and any other technology that makes it easier to do my job! I can't wait for someone to come up with an actual TriCorder!

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Wow..There really is something wrong with me..174 people who I would guess are nurses have looked at my post and two have commented.

AN is public. You have no way of knowing if those views are registered members, bots, general public, or Bigfoot.

No offense to anyone but it leads me to believe that 172 are texting..what has become of nursing?

You know what happens when you assume, right? Additionally, no one is required to respond. This is a social media platform with voluntary participation. There may be some who have no input to provide or have no desire to provide input.

Doctors should know better as well. If you have the time to text you can call. Its just lazy and huge HIPPA violation...Oh well

Texting, if done appropriately (encrypted app), can actually reduce errors- written vs verbal, and the encryption would take care of the HIPAA concern. My facility has an entire mobile setup to allow texting, recording of images, and several other technological advances. Also, It's HIPAA, not HIPPA. If you're going to lambaste people, at least use the correct acronym.

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AN is public. You have no way of knowing if those views are registered members, bots, general public, or Bigfoot.

You know what happens when you assume, right? Additionally, no one is required to respond. This is a social media platform with voluntary participation. There may be some who have no input to provide or have no desire to provide input.

Texting, if done appropriately (encrypted app), can actually reduce errors- written vs verbal, and the encryption would take care of the HIPAA concern. My facility has an entire mobile setup to allow texting, recording of images, and several other technological advances. Also, It's HIPAA, not HIPPA. If you're going to lambaste people, at least use the correct acronym.

A thousand likes!

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Wow..There really is something wrong with me..174 people who I would guess are nurses have looked at my post and two have commented. No offense to anyone but it leads me to believe that 172 are texting..what has become of nursing? Doctors should know better as well. If you have the time to text you can call. Its just lazy and huge HIPPA violation...Oh well

Generally speaking when you have to start a sentence with "no offense" usually what you are about to say IS offensive. Your verbal preemptive strike does not make it less so. And just to be clear calling people lazy pretty much meets the definition of offensive. Also, if it takes you the same amount of time to call as it does text perhaps you should upgrade from T9.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
Wow..There really is something wrong with me..174 people who I would guess are nurses have looked at my post and two have commented. No offense to anyone but it leads me to believe that 172 are texting..what has become of nursing? Doctors should know better as well. If you have the time to text you can call. Its just lazy and huge HIPPA violation...Oh well

I don't mean to be snarky but when you are speaking of confidentiality issues and citing the law it's best to remember that it's HIPAA no HIPPA. It gives more credence to your argument.

Hppy

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We HAVE an encrypted text app that we use. It is a complete time saver. Texting helps me do my job in a much more efficient manner. We need to take advantage of the technology we have. ...

This. Plus, it also provides an electronic record of the fact that you did, indeed, attempt to contact the physician' something the paging system at my facility doesn't do.

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It was sure not my desire to offend anyone. I only posted to get some sort of feedback regarding texting. Nursing sure has changed but the backbiting and nasty behavior has not. I am truly sorry if my words were offensive. I just wanted to know what other nurses thought.

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