Work Cell?

I<3H2O, BSN, RN · May 21, 2014

If the company does not provide you a cell phone then I would NOT use MY cell for work. I would not allow the agency to contact me once I leave the office (just like the old days before cell phones). Do NOT give your personal number to patients. You will forever regret it.

_NaturallyTee_ · May 21, 2014

Thanks, the company does however provide a monthly cell phone allowance so I am thinking of using that with a pay-as-you-go phone. I've just been observing other nurses and they literally get calls around the clock, and in the middle of the night, even if they aren't on call.

jennrn52 · May 21, 2014

I use my own cell phone since I have unlimited. I don't volunteer my number but the patients will get it by caller ID or if they straight out ask. I don't answer my phone if they call after hours unless it's a special case. Like one time I had a patient on a pca pump and it started acting up so her husband called me at 9:00pm. I was able to talk him through fixing it and went out the next day. If he called the office he would have gotten the on call nurse who lived 45 minutes away and didn't know the pump she was on so she would have had to go out. Saved everyone time. They will still call your work phone at all hours. Just don't answer. They are all told to call the office number to get the on call nurse after hours.

caliotter3 · May 21, 2014

I would devote their stipend to a pay as you go phone (get a freebie from one of the prepaid providers) and only use that number for work. However, the warning to refuse to give that number to clients stands. You will regret it many times over if you give out your number to them. And I would not be tethered to that phone after work hours either. Listen to messages if you want, but don't get into the habit of answering that phone when you are off duty. The phone is provided to you for work related business conducted during work time, not to bother you about incidentals when you are off.

CatHair · May 21, 2014

I use my personal cell phone, but have a free Google Voice number for work since they don't provide me with a cell phone.

Via web interface or app I can have it all go to voicemail (which gets transcribed...sort of, - handy if you want to get the gist of what the call is about at a glance without actually listening to a long rambling message...) or ring my phone, or any phone I want.

I can send/receive texts via the app for free. I will call a patient or doctor via the Google Voice number and if they are a problem later, I can ignore them or block individual numbers (unlimited). I can set up various VoiceMail replies and set all calls to a certain message "after hours" if I want.

I have had this for awhile so I don't know if the service has changed, if you want more info go to: Google Voice - Features ? Google Voice

_NaturallyTee_ · May 22, 2014

Thanks guys for the feedback, the google thing sounds a little complicated, I've decided to get a pre paid phone, I understand that pts still have the freedom to call at anytime but this way I can record my voicemail to remind them of the on call/office # without having my personal cell going off all the time, along with screening calls for special cases/emergencies

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · May 22, 2014

When not on call turn off the phone. Leave a message such as

"you have reached the voice mail of nurse t, if this is an emergency call 911. If this is an urgent matter that cannot wait until 8am (or whatever time you start or Monday at 8am if a weekend) please call the on call service at 555-1212. Messages will not be retrieved until 8am. "

I direct calls through my office. There is no reason for a patient to contact me directly unless returning a call for scheduling.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Jun 1, 2014

Thanks guys for the feedback, the google thing sounds a little complicated, I've decided to get a pre paid phone, I understand that pts still have the freedom to call at anytime but this way I can record my voicemail to remind them of the on call/office # without having my personal cell going off all the time, along with screening calls for special cases/emergencies

I have a work phone that my company pays for. Unless I am on-call, it goes OFF at 4:30P. I do give the number to my patients, in case they need to call me about setting up/canceling a visit, but I make it very clear that this is not their go-to number if something is wrong and that I do not use this phone after hours.

toomuchbaloney · Jun 3, 2014

I worked for a company that did not provide a cell phone.

I made my patient phone calls from the office.

I used my patient home phones when necessary.

I directed MD/NPs to call the office to provide orders to the staff there.

Most of the other staff used their personal cell phones and the employer did not like that I refused to do so.

taggart84 · Jun 16, 2014

My previous employer provided cell phones for work purposes. My new company does not, but reimburses us. I love just using my personal for everything but don't necessarily want patients to have my number. I use the google voice app. It's easy to set up, I call patients from that and it's basically a fake phone number that shows up on their caller id. It's the same number all the time. The difference is, when they are discharged or I change jobs for some reason, I can delete my account with google voice and they no longer have my number. My personal is still safe. I do give docs and pharmacy my number though. No harm there.

kiszi, RN · Jun 17, 2014

Boundaries, boundaries. I had a work-provided cell but even so did not give my number to patients. In fact, the agency discouraged giving one's cell number out. They need to be calling the office number. If I wasn't waiting for a call from an MD my phone got turned off at 5pm daily.

I wonder how those nurses who give their number to patients are not getting burnt out over all the after-hours calls. Yes, even for the patient who had a malfunctioning PCA, the on-call would have just had to make the visit. That's what on-call is for.