What is it with nurses and cell phones? Just a vent.

Nurses Professionalism

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Recently my hospital has upgraded or introduced multiple new computer programs that have required almost every level of nurse from bedside to administration to attend class in order to use the new technology. I have assisted in teaching numerous classes and before each we ask that cell phones be silenced and put away, that if anyone must make or take a call or text to please exit the room and return when done, and not to text while in class or you will be asked to leave. Despite this every class we have multiple violators and the majority when asked to leave are not embarrassed but become angry when asked to follow rules and be respectful of educators and classmates. I can't say it's any one age group since I've had 22 year olds to 70 year olds as the culprits. Sometimes I just have to shake my head at what passes for professionalism these days. This is just a vent, not looking for validation. Have a great day!

Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.
Men's Rights groups call it the "Golden Uterus Syndrome". Though I do not agree with MRs much, I have to say this phrase is apt.

You know, we had parents that taught us not to call except for emergencies, did not have cell phones, did not have to "helicopter hover" over us, special meds/assistance for ADD/ADHD, 24hr access, video games, computers or the internet to do our homework for us.

How ever did we survive?

I was seriously considering starting a whole new thread about this yesterday. You can hardly have a post on here where you don't draw out a bunch of mothers trying to one-up each other and demonstrate how darned dedicated and available to their children they are 24/7. Kid gets splinter? Call your manager and get a replacement nurse in here! I HAVE KIDZ and THEY NEEDZ ME!!! Hospital has hurricane policy where you might have to stay over in emergency weather situations? EFF THAT, I HAVE KIDS! I GOTTA BE HOME! THEIR FATHER IS TOTALLY INCOMPETENT!

I mean I'm not talking about any one person here...it's CONSTANT! WE GET IT, YOU LOVE YOUR KIDS! YOU ARE THE BEST MOM EVUR!

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In my office, patients obey the rules or are dismissed from the practice. End of story.

I don't need your $20, lol.

BlueDevil,DNP, although I don't condone baby2009's comments in regard to doctor's and NP's, you presumably have less security concerns about your children (you mentioned your children are never unattended in public as you have an au pair) than baby2009 does. So, why is it too much to ask you, as a nurse practititioner, to extend some, dare I use the word, compassion, to someone who may need to make and receive phone calls to ensure the safety and well being of her children? Surely you can put yourself in the place of a single mother with two children and make some accommodations.

On the subject of rules, when I or my family members visit the doctor, we often wait in the waiting room 20, 30 or more minutes past the appointment time. We never complain because we trust that our doctor is using his time as well as he can, and that the delay is necessary, for example, to his providing the patient before us with necessary care that make take longer than the time allotted. Do you ever keep your patients waiting and do they accommodate you by being reasonable?

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You know, I'd much rather deal with people being on the phone or texting than someone being late. In school, there was one lady who was late everyday and she'd just walk in class like nothing was wrong. Now, as a nurse, when the next shift's nurse is late (which she is - every night), then I'm waiting around to give report. But, being late is a whole other gripe and thread...

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I do keep my phone on vibrate in my pocket. I ignore it if I'm involved in patient care and check once I get out of their room, and in a non patient care area. I know the kid response it frowned upon by some, but when half the time people do call our desk and are told the person they are looking for doesn't work ther, I don't trust my job to relay important messages to me. My son has severe food allergies. I need to know if they have called 911. If it's my husband calling, I ignore normall, but if it's school, I will always pick up because if they are trying to reach me it's very time sensitive. As it stands they are instructed not to call me until after EMS has been dispatched, but at that point it's very need to know and I am dropping what I am doing and going. Watch your kid fly away in a helicopter, you tend to have issues not being available. I accept that. I keep it away from my patients, but once I leave their room, I do check to see if it is an emergency. I live an hour away from work and school. If I need to tend to an emergency, I need to get moving as soon as possible.There is a respectful way to use cell phones, and to even keep them with you. This does not have to be all or nothing. And insisting that it is just indicates that you think there is only one way to be a proper human, which we all know is not true.

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Specializes in FNP, ONP.

Usually not. We generally stay on time. One way we stay on time is that we don't wait for patients to tend to other business during their appointment. ;) We won't see people if they arrive late. All of us have digital timers outside each room and it gets set to the length of the appointment. When the bell rings, visit is over, period. We all enforce this rule. Also, well visits are well visits, and sick visits are sick visits. We do not coadjute the two. If someone is in for a CPE, that's what they get. They don't get to schedule a CPE and sneak in treatment for their bursitis as well!

Further, if the patient has more problems than can be solved in the length of time they scheduled, they just have to come back. None of this squeezing in 4 or 5 complaints in one sick visit, lol.

I have three exam rooms and keep them turned over pretty briskly. I see 3 to 5 patients an hour. When I have run more than 10 minutes late, it has been because I had a float MA who didn't room people promptly, a patient was threatening suicide, or someone had a MI in the exam room, lol. Fortunately, none of these happens very often.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I kind of resent the `golden uterus` comments. Im sorry, but I completely disagree that any of what parents say is about `trumping`other parents. It is about us wanting to do what is best for our children. Yes, we were raised differently, and we survived. But that doesnt mean that trying to be available for emergencies is wrong, or crazy, or that we are acting like we are above others by being parents. Why, oh WHY do people hate on each other for all the dumbest reasons?! Race, gender, being a parent or not, religion, profession, having piercings, texting...good Lord people, get over yourselves and get those panties out of the crevices they are jammed in!

Like some others, I keep my phone on me at all times. On vibrate. Right now, I work in an office where phones ring all day anyways. I am not bothering anyone if my phone rings too. But my work gets done in a timely manner. When I am doing patient care, I do not answer. When I am done, I check the call, and return it when I have time and am not at the patients home any longer.

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
BlueDevil,DNP, although I don't condone baby2009's comments in regard to doctor's and NP's, you presumably have less security concerns about your children (you mentioned your children are never unattended in public as you have an au pair) than baby2009 does. So, why is it too much to ask you, as a nurse practititioner, to extend some, dare I use the word, compassion, to someone who may need to make and receive phone calls to ensure the safety and well being of her children? Surely you can put yourself in the place of a single mother with two children and make some accommodations.

I do not know baby2009's situation. Did her spouse die or she the victim of incest, assault or her former spouse unfaithful or horribly abusive? Barring those situations, there is another parent that should be involved and she has chosen to raise her children in a less than ideal circumstances.

Even so, I know plenty of "single" parents that have managed to teach their children how to manage in their absence, that survived without cell phones, and 24 hr, every minute access. My father was deployed for 1-2 yrs at a time, in the era of the Vietnam war, with no contact beyond letters. How on earth do you think we managed to survive and yet now, somehow parents and children have devolved to the point that they can't.

I resent that when someone requests/expects others to show a modicum of responsibility, common sense and good manners, they gets beaten back with the "it is too inconvenient", "my responsibilities are so much more important than YOURS". Or beaten over the head with the, "You need to be more compassionate" line.

The compassion belongs to those that have to wait longer, because Mom interrupts her appt to answer phone calls. Or for the children that did not chose to be put in the situation.

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Specializes in FNP, ONP.

I think golden uterus is funny, and pretty apt. Look, I have 7 kids. When I am at home, I am their parent and my spouse's partner first. I don't take work related calls in my off hours (unless I am on-call). My co-workers don't have my home number, and I wouldn't answer if they did call. My patients certainly don't have a way to reach me after hours, lol. Home is my sanctuary, open only to family and close friends. Work does not intrude there. I give 100% to my family when I am not at work.

But when I am at work, I am a NP first and my responsibility to my patients supersedes everything else. Spouse and kids will all have to get along with out me, and for 25 years they have. Go figure.

I am able to do this because I procreated with a partner who can be trusted to parent independently, because I expect my children to be self reliant, and because I hire dependable, competent help (both at work and at home).

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

I'm just wondering how people are defining "emergency" if having their phone off for several hours means they are seriously worried they might miss one.

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Specializes in Hem/Onc/BMT.

Jeweles, I am sure no one has anything against you wanting to do right by your children. What people do have gripes about, however, is obnoxiousness -- pregnant women prancing about, expecting to be treated like a princess, fussing over every minute detail of pregnancy or the kid...

This whole thread is about obnoxiousness, isn't it? Not a cell phone, not a pregnancy. There wouldn't be so much resentment on either side if everyone acted with some common sense and courtesy, and minus over-dramatization.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
BlueDevil,DNP, although I don't condone baby2009's comments in regard to doctor's and NP's, you presumably have less security concerns about your children (you mentioned your children are never unattended in public as you have an au pair) than baby2009 does. So, why is it too much to ask you, as a nurse practititioner, to extend some, dare I use the word, compassion, to someone who may need to make and receive phone calls to ensure the safety and well being of her children? Surely you can put yourself in the place of a single mother with two children and make some accommodations.

On the subject of rules, when I or my family members visit the doctor, we often wait in the waiting room 20, 30 or more minutes past the appointment time. We never complain because we trust that our doctor is using his time as well as he can, and that the delay is necessary, for example, to his providing the patient before us with necessary care that make take longer than the time allotted. Do you ever keep your patients waiting and do they accommodate you by being reasonable?

I don't see how compassion fits in here. Baby presumably made the appointment, and Baby is in the exam room. So now the NP is supposed to wait for her to finish her call before the exam starts? Unless there are flames or bleeding involved, the emergency is not such that it cannot wait for the 8 minutes or so allotted for the NP to spend with her. Why would she waste everyone's time by continuing to use her cell? Why not just put it away, proceed with the exam and afterwards check for those dire emergency messages?

Or if you must haul out that overused word, why should Baby not be expected to have compassion for the NP whose services she has gone out of her way to secure?

Put the phone away and pay attention, people. It's really just that simple.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I do keep my phone on vibrate in my pocket. I ignore it if I'm involved in patient care and check once I get out of their room, and in a non patient care area. I know the kid response it frowned upon by some, but when half the time people do call our desk and are told the person they are looking for doesn't work ther, I don't trust my job to relay important messages to me. My son has severe food allergies. I need to know if they have called 911. If it's my husband calling, I ignore normall, but if it's school, I will always pick up because if they are trying to reach me it's very time sensitive. As it stands they are instructed not to call me until after EMS has been dispatched, but at that point it's very need to know and I am dropping what I am doing and going. Watch your kid fly away in a helicopter, you tend to have issues not being available. I accept that. I keep it away from my patients, but once I leave their room, I do check to see if it is an emergency. I live an hour away from work and school. If I need to tend to an emergency, I need to get moving as soon as possible.There is a respectful way to use cell phones, and to even keep them with you. This does not have to be all or nothing. And insisting that it is just indicates that you think there is only one way to be a proper human, which we all know is not true.

If your child has such tenuous health, and if you cannot trust his other parent to deal with those health issues at least part of the time, perhaps you don't belong in nursing. Once you're through school and have a job, you are not going to be able to just whip out your phone whatever you're doing and check your messages immediately. And trust me, you're not going to be able to just run out of work if 911 has been called. Not until or unless your boss can find a replacement for you. You'd best be developing a support system other than your cell phone to deal with these issues.

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