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

[fakebee]

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!

[uRNmyway, ASN, RN]

Well to answer BlueDevils comment, I wish I was able to completely rely on my fiance to care for my child like I would if I was home. I really do. I love him, but sometimes his judgment and his decision making just make me shake my head. I also wish I had the salary to be able to hire a nanny or au-pair. However, as the only bread-winner in my family in a rough economy, I cant. Props to you for having all those good things, but we cant all be so lucky.

And to nursel56. An emergency is anything health related, or anything that cant wait until I get home. Other than health issues, nothing specific comes to mind, but it could happen. Yes, I realize my presence wont magically make someone better. I that were the case, I would be making a much better salary as a nurse. But I will sure as heck feel guilty if I wasnt there if my daughter needed to be rushed to the hospital. I will be vengeful if there is a serious issue and my co-workers miss a call, or forget to relay a message.

And either way, if my work quality or quantity dont suffer, and my patients dont even know the difference, who the heck cares? I dont bother anyone, I get things done, and I dont spend all day fretting about people not being able to reach me if they need to. So sue me if I am a paranoid new mom, or if I am a child of this new generation who expects to be able to be reached at all times. God, I didnt think I would say this, ever, but get with the program people! Its the 21st century, and that is just how things go.

That age old argument of `well my parents didnt have that or need it and they made it alright, its just ridiculous. Heck, my grandmother and mother didnt use an epidural in any of their deliveries, but I sure wouldnt have gone without. Its called technology, and development. Its really not a bad thing..

[tokebi]

Again, it's about obnoxiousness. Is it really hard to stay away from over-dramatization and condescension?

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Well to answer BlueDevils comment, I wish I was able to completely rely on my fiance to care for my child like I would if I was home. I really do. I love him, but sometimes his judgment and his decision making just make me shake my head. I also wish I had the salary to be able to hire a nanny or au-pair. However, as the only bread-winner in my family in a rough economy, I cant. Props to you for having all those good things, but we cant all be so lucky.

And to nursel56. An emergency is anything health related, or anything that cant wait until I get home. Other than health issues, nothing specific comes to mind, but it could happen. Yes, I realize my presence wont magically make someone better. I that were the case, I would be making a much better salary as a nurse. But I will sure as heck feel guilty if I wasnt there if my daughter needed to be rushed to the hospital. I will be vengeful if there is a serious issue and my co-workers miss a call, or forget to relay a message.

And either way, if my work quality or quantity dont suffer, and my patients dont even know the difference, who the heck cares? I dont bother anyone, I get things done, and I dont spend all day fretting about people not being able to reach me if they need to. So sue me if I am a paranoid new mom, or if I am a child of this new generation who expects to be able to be reached at all times. God, I didnt think I would say this, ever, but get with the program people! Its the 21st century, and that is just how things go.

That age old argument of `well my parents didnt have that or need it and they made it alright, its just ridiculous. Heck, my grandmother and mother didnt use an epidural in any of their deliveries, but I sure wouldnt have gone without. Its called technology, and development. Its really not a bad thing..

It says something about your judgement that you chose to procreate with a person you feel you cannot trust with your child. It IS his child, too, isn't it?

No, our parents didn't have cell phones. Mine didn't even have plumbing or electricity. And I grew up OK. I've adjusted fine to having plumbing and electricity -- and laptops, the internet and cellphones. But I don't believe you have to be -- or anyone really needs to be -- in contact 24/7/365. If your daughter is rushed to the hospital, you're not going to be able to just drop everything and rush to her side. You're child's other parent presumably can sign consent for surgery, hold her hand while the nurses draw blood etc. You're at work and you have a patient load, you cannot just drop them and run off to be with your daughter. Someone will have to be found to cover your patients.

[uRNmyway, ASN, RN]

Again, it's about obnoxiousness. Is it really hard to stay away from over-dramatization and condescension?

Sure, for you it is, and I appreciate it. However, I was answering a specific comment from BlueDevil and a specific question from nursel65.

Maybe I find it obnoxious to be told that Im not a good nurse because I cant bear to be away from my daughter, or anyone implying that we are not good parents because we cant do without a cellphone .

[uRNmyway, ASN, RN]

Actually, BlueDevil, I work in home health. In an office. I dont technically HAVE a patient load. So yes, I could take off if an emergency arises.

And I dont think my judgment has anything to do with his skills as a father. He is a good father, and my daughter loves him to death. But in health related emergencies, he does not always know what to do. Plus, I know that I want my mothers company when Im not feeling well. If I can provide even one iota of comfort for my child in an emergency, I want to be able to do it.

But whatever, to each their own. I might not agree with all things you do with your kids (having an au pair for one), and you might not agree with all I do. However, its none of our business, as long as it doesnt affect others. You do what you want with yours, Ill do the same for mine. And she is turning out pretty darn well so far, as Im sure yours are.

[PennyWise]

Not to seem dense, but how does staying in constant contact change this situation, other than you going straight to the hospital instead of home and then the hospital? And, if you wait until class is over and check your phone, you don't even have the detour.

My child is everything to me, but if he had a fall and needed to go to the hospital, I could wait to find out until it didn't interrupt everyone else. I think we have all just grown so accustomed to being available every second that we are unable to stand the thought of it not being so.

When my father-in-law died, my husband and I were camping and had no cell service. We didn't find out about it until the next day. There is NOTHING we could have done to keep him from dying by finding out the day before. It was horrible that we lost him, and we still feel his loss terribly, but he would have passed regardless of us having cell service or not.

To answer your question, nothing changes. To a certain degree, those who feel the need to "stay in touch in case of an emergency" know this too. But, see...........its not about helping the situation so whether they actually can help or if they are powerless to do anything is a mute point.

There is a very specific personality type that insists on "keeping in touch in case of an emergency". As you read the posts by the people from this group, you will find they all sound very much alike. Read their posts only, skipping over the comments by other people, and you'll start to think they are one person posting under different accounts.

That personality type would be OCD (using the term in a slang, non-clinical way). The issues relating to the need for control OVER EVERYTHING AT ALL TIMES bleeds from their words and actions. Heck, even if you use the clinical definition of OCD, one of the symptoms is "REPEATED CHECKING" lol. You'll also notice a theme amongst this group concerning their inability to let anyone else handle a problem that arises. I counted two who said their spouse lacked the "common sense" to handle emergencies hence they needed to be available to coach them through things. Practically made it sound as though their spouses were one burnt brain cell away from collecting disability or something. But, again its about control, not about helping the situation. Letting the spouse handle the situation would be relinquishing control. Can't do that, they wouldn't get their fix. Much better to belittle our spouse and treat them like children also.

Truth is, its not about being concerned for a loved one or wanting to help with w/e situation that arises. Its about wanting to "be in control", and being at work on the job or at the doctor's office/clinic is not going to stop them from getting their fix. There is no focus on anyone else's needs in their actions. Any parent who is focused on what is best for their child and family would not use the "I'm going to be on my phone when I need to be, get over it, I have a family" approach in life. People get fired for less. From what I understand, unemployement is not something that helps family functioning. Maybe they have found some way to handle homelessness and still care for their loved ones.

The really sad part is, what these people consider "emergencies" and what comes to mind for us when they use the term are................completely different. I have many co-workers who are constantly handling family business and "emergencies" at work. From what I can tell, none of it is truly anything to get excited about. Most of it is an emergency of the "You need to take out the trash" or "We are low on milk" variety. But, remaining completely in touch in case there is an (lol, cough, ahem) emergency satisfies their need to be in control so.............good luck explaining to them how far over the line they've gone. They need the feeling of control more than they need your approval.

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

Well to answer BlueDevils comment, I wish I was able to completely rely on my fiance to care for my child like I would if I was home. I really do. I love him, but sometimes his judgment and his decision making just make me shake my head. I also wish I had the salary to be able to hire a nanny or au-pair. However, as the only bread-winner in my family in a rough economy, I cant. Props to you for having all those good things, but we cant all be so lucky.

And to nursel56. An emergency is anything health related, or anything that cant wait until I get home. Other than health issues, nothing specific comes to mind, but it could happen. Yes, I realize my presence wont magically make someone better. I that were the case, I would be making a much better salary as a nurse. But I will sure as heck feel guilty if I wasnt there if my daughter needed to be rushed to the hospital. I will be vengeful if there is a serious issue and my co-workers miss a call, or forget to relay a message.

And either way, if my work quality or quantity dont suffer, and my patients dont even know the difference, who the heck cares? I dont bother anyone, I get things done, and I dont spend all day fretting about people not being able to reach me if they need to. So sue me if I am a paranoid new mom, or if I am a child of this new generation who expects to be able to be reached at all times. God, I didnt think I would say this, ever, but get with the program people! Its the 21st century, and that is just how things go.

That age old argument of `well my parents didnt have that or need it and they made it alright, its just ridiculous. Heck, my grandmother and mother didnt use an epidural in any of their deliveries, but I sure wouldnt have gone without. Its called technology, and development. Its really not a bad thing..

There are many of us that are single breadwinners, all of us are in a rough economy, and few have an aupair. Yet we still manage.

And why on earth are you choosing to marry someone who has poor judgement and bad decision making skills! Love is not enough to make a marriage work - both partners have to have a degree of maturity, and to bring a partner into your relationship with your child, that you cannot even trust to care for that child properly........there are no words.

You would most likely not miss getting a call, if people treated their job as a job and not as a place to receive 4-10 calls per day, mostly on trivial issues. If people started treated calls at work as a serious issue.

Do you really think that people don't notice? Trust me, they do. And pts find it disturbing, even if being used for work related purpose. My hospital recently had to notify people to be careful with using technology in the pt's room as the pts often feel like staff are paying less attention to them than the technology, even as it is being used for care purposes,

Technology becomes a bad thing when people lose complete ability to function without it. My area was without power recently for 7-10 days for many of us. The number of people that literally cannot function without their cells, calculators, computers.....that cannot compose a sentence without spell check or do basic grade school math is quite sad. The computer system goes down and large number of our younger staffers become useless, because they can't deal with it.

[LCinTraining]

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.

please explain to me where you read that I whip out my phone wherever I am. Did I not say I wait until I am finished with patient care? I understand needing to find coverage before I leave work. But now you are suggesting my spouse should be responsible for any and all child issues and just leave his job willy nilly instead? How does nursing trump all other occupations meaning the other parent becomes solely responsible for these situations? It's called team parenting. If he can't get there, I have to and vice versa. I don't magically cease being a parent simply because I am at work, and I'm sorry but life threatening emergencies are definitely cause for concern. But this assumption that just because it is on my person means I'm ignoring my duties is ridiculous. Never did I say I drop any duties. I said, I ignore it. I said I wait until I can get to a non patient care area. I also said I need to coordinate in case of emergencies. It has only happened once, but until my place of employment actually starts relaying messages to employees then I reserve the right to have my children's school be able to reach me. Minor allergy issues have arisen where they needed a parent. My husband works in client homes, many of which are rural areas with no cell coverage. So he is unreachable. Sometimes simply returning a phone call to the nurse on my break with instructions is all that is needed. I can not do that if the receptionist at my job goes "uhhhh, I dont know who that person is, maybe they don't work here".

[nursel56]

. . .And to nursel56. An emergency is anything health related, or anything that cant wait until I get home. Other than health issues, nothing specific comes to mind, but it could happen.

If you don't become anxious at the thought of your phone being off for several hours because you might miss an emergency you wouldn't fall into the category I wondered about Thankfully having your otherwise healthy child be rushed to the hospital is a pretty rare event. I wouldn't rely on a unit secretary or whoever picks up calls at your workplace to relay an urgent message either.

Being a paranoid new mom isn't grounds for a lawsuit unless you regularly inconvenience your co-workers with your mom issues. There are people who habitually take off from work like a bat outta hell to rush to the scene of some family drama involving relatives I begin to suspect don't really exist. That isn't grounds for a lawsuit either, but it should be. :)

As far as the "get with the program" remark - well I have two kids in their twenties who despise rude cell phone behavior as much as I do. I'm not familiar with the old "party line" telephone system, but I'll just take a guess that some people were rude and selfish using that technology as well. Maybe they informed the old fogies they needed to get with the program. The point is that no new technology entitles someone to treat others as incidental lackeys in their personal drama. If you don't do that, we're not talking about you.

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

Eh. I don't see what the big deal is with having your phone on silent/vibrate and then checking it once you're out of a patient care area -- as long as you're not rushing through patient care to answer said phone, etc. Maybe it's a generational thing. I don't know. It's not even an emergency thing --) but things that I'd like to know in a timely manner. I learned of my mom's death during a six-hour long class. My brother texted me to call him, that it was important, and I did during a class break. Obviously, knowing then and knowing six hours later didn't really matter much in the grand scheme, but it mattered to me at the time.

I mean. Just the other day, I was in the "back" finishing up my charting after having given report on my patients. It's been a long night and I'm going to be getting home later than usual. My cell rings, I answer it because it's my husband and he usually doesn't call for random things at 0700. Anyway, he's calling because the tire on his car is flat, he has an early morning meeting, and he needs to know when/if I'll be home to either use my car or take a taxi to work. Not a life or death emergency. NOT something that I would have addressed - the phone call - certainly if I were doing patient care but even if I were in the middle of report. etc.

Really, it's about being an adult and using your cellphone maturely and wisely. Seems like so many people want to make it into a black or white issue but it's not. Just use it appropriately.

[mshessle]

Exactly!

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

As long as they're used appropriately, I don't see the problem either. We're all adults, we should know where the line is.

With that said, the whole "cell phone culture" does amuse and baffle me. Who are you texting? Why do people care about knowing every mundane detail of their friends' lives? And I'm not so sure the world is really that much more dangerous now than it was 40 years ago. It just *seems* like it because of the 24 hour news cycle.

Let's face it, modern media has made us a nation of melodramatic, paranoid people with very short attention spans.