To tell my boss she can't look through my pockets?

[ScaryBoss]

I'm a nurse in the nhs.

New boss is randomly stopping people and demanding to see their nails to make sure they're clean and not too long. Checking earrings, socks, etc conform to uniform policy. I can kind of cope with this though do slightly resent it.

But also asking you to empty your pockets to make sure you don't have a mobile phone in your pocket? Can she do this? A police officer couldn't without a warrent?

There's nothing in the uniform policy saying you can't have your phone in your pocket. Obv taking it out and answering calls or texting would be very unprofessional. However a lot of staff have their phone in their pocket on silent incase a school or childminder need to contact us. So we'd feel it vibrate and go and check it when possible after doing what we're doing.

We can't give a ward/land line number to schools, etc as we are often moved to different wards without notice so don't know where we are from one day to another.

Mmmm, maybe some people might get lots of phone calls, etc and alerts but only dh, dd, dd's school and my mum have my mobile number. I really do only use it for emergencies. So I can count on the fingers on one hand how many times its vibrated at work in six years.

Can't have one rule for one and that won't apply to others.

Wonder how many medical professionals aren't that professional when they receive a call mid-treatment.

I'd be hugely pissed-off, even if all they said was, Sorry, I'll call you back.

The patient in front of you should come before the phone.

We have the same rule it pisses me off, we are a day hospital and my department runs late a lot! Who going to transfer an emergency call to me if the building is empty. And if its such a crucial cross infection issue why are the doctors allowed them.

OP, the least of your problems is the darn mobile phone. It sounds loke they can't organise a piss up in a brewery, deploy staff to up to 3 different wards in the same day???!!! What kind of care do those patients receive???? Apart from policing, the new sister has any idea of how to run a ward? Because not knowing where your staff is on the ward means you have no idea who is looking after your patients, no idea what needs to be done, no overview...what IS she doing?
Nevermind the phone, see if you can walk away from that nightmare with your registration intact.

I don't think she can search you. I wouldn't allow a boss to search me. I think you should keep your phone on you. You can set phones so they only accept calls from certain numbers so just do that.

YANBU op. Its quite demeaning for your boss to do that. She / he is not treating you like the professional people you are. You're not children. If you are employed in a position of trust, which you are, then I would expect you to be able to manage that appropriately, including your cell phone usage. I would not be impressed at all if my boss tried that one. Although in my field they would never get away with it.

NannyOgg I have never seen a nurse answer their phone when with a patient. Mine is on silent. Doctors on the other hand answer their phones all the time, although generally because another colleague phones them.

And no, she can't search you. Personally I would refuse and see where she goes with that.

It isn't unhygienic if staff wash their hands after using the phone. I'm sure most nurses are responsible enough to do that if requested.

What about one of those iPod armbands that people use to go jogging. Or a lanyard inside your uniform. You'd still feel the vibration but it'd be out of sight and private.

It's a load of cobblers. Much like how a tie is a germ haven, as is a watch, but an ID lanyard with a watch hanging off it is fine.

Bear in mind most junior doctors and pretty much all consultants are contacted by mobile not bleep these days (I have needed my mobile on me on the wards since approx 2007/8 for this reason), even if they carry a bleep for the ward to contact, which most of us don't these days.

Wash your hands at your five points and mobile phone is less of an infection risk than anything else in your pocket (this week has included selection of tissues, biro and paper, change for snacks/lunch, fitbit, lip balm and cold sore ointment).

Also as working in paediatrics, frequently need the calculator function (or should we each carry one of those too - not buying a new one from my own cash, and my scientific one from a levels is pretty chunky!) to calculate drug doses, and the eBNFc for the formulary (only one ward PC and in constant use, paper versions keep going walkies, and less up to date- just think if it was your DP's meds I need to calculate...)

It's still shoved in the bra on days with limited pockets (thanks to the demise of the white coat, which if regularly boiled with scrubs by the hospital, actually REDUCES infection risk).

Aren't mobile phones a bit of a hygiene hazard?

Buy a good old fashioned bleep/pager. Tell your boss only your husband and the school have the number.

Not sure if your boss can search you but in my day - many many moons ago- security could.

When I was a student cardiac tech I spent most of my day going from ward to ward and could be literally anywhere in the hospital, the bleep worked fine, although this was a hospital issue bleep.

Ties are a hygiene hazard.

Polponium - Op has already answered that

I don't dispute that, polo. The point is that the rules aren't consistent as an ID lanyard is just as bad if not work, but issued and insisted on by lots of hospitals. Then people hang more stuff off it, most usually a wrist watch, biro and tourniquet (they never order enough disposable ones)

A cell phone carries more bacteria than a toilet seat.

The main things I use my phone for at work are drug calculations

Mildly discomforting you rely on your phone to treat a patient...

Calculator function, tiki. At the end of a twelve hour shift when you've been so rushed you've not even made it to the loo all day, with a whole ward of patients to look after, plus admissions, you'd rather rely on mental maths at that point would you? Good luck!

That's my entire point. The nurses are so run down only thing standing between you and the wrong dose is a cell phone. It's false bravado. At the end of a 12 hour shift they're just as likely to push the wrong button as they are to get the mental math wrong.

I would not be happy if a doctor took a personal call whilst treating me, even to say ring back in 5, please.

Surely a Hospital has a policy for being able to contact staff if they get an emergency call to the main number? They should be able to track people down some way or another?

How do you think people managed before they had mobile phones?
I think the rules are unreasonable if people cannot contact you in an emergency through the main reception number - but if they can - there is no real reason for you to have your phone with you at all times.

Tbh you sound like a teenager. Of course you are contactable at work. If its urgent then someone will find you

I have to contact nurses and doctors as part of my job. It's an absolute nightmare trying to track people down using a hospital switchboard. You spend ages getting passed round from department to department, to then discover that actually the person you need left 2 months ago. Some people on here don't seem to realise that hospitals are massive places full of people adn not everyone stays in one place all day.

I used to leave mine in my locker and check it on my breaks. There's no need to have it on you when you're on the ward, what if someone pukes on you?

The main things I use my phone for at work are drug calculations.Mildly discomforting you rely on your phone to treat a patient...
Why would it be discomforting that the OP is using her mobile phone's calculator to work out drug calculations ? Would you be clutching your pearls if she was using a hand held calculator ?

And google translate is VERY useful if you are working with clients whose first language is not English, which I imagine the OP does a lot. I use it all the time.

I would not be at all happy with your boss's behaviour. Asking staff to empty out their pockets! That's crazy behaviour in this day and age.