In December, Debra J. Grigg, BA, ASBMET, biomed department manager at Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare in Illinois turned to all of you for help in how to secure training (See "The Training Game" posting). She said she received some good ideas and now she would like your best practices on a topic that tends to periodically raise its head: The Cell Phone Use Policy.
Debra says it has come up again and here’s what she says: “We are building a new hospital, which will be completed in late 2011. At the current hospital we have concerns about the use of cell phones throughout all areas of the hospital. We have some newer equipment but our patient monitoring equipment, as a whole, is older. At this time we allow cell phone use in general public areas or patient areas where there is minimal medical equipment in use. The docs and hospital administration are requesting that I look into this issue again.”
Debra would specifically like to find out the best practices of other hospitals regarding the use of cell phones and BlackBerrys, etc in all areas of the hospital. “Do they use the ‘three foot away rule’ when a cell phone is answered in a critical care area? How is this being handled in their hospital’s Cell Phone Use Policy?
As always, we look forward to your comments. Don’t forget, it you have a topic you’d like advice on, e-mail me (jkirst@ascendmedia.com) and I’ll post it on your behalf.
