Ideas That Work: Keep Your Staff's Cell Phones Out of the ORs

RESTRICTED AREA Do you require your staff to leave phones in their lockers at the beginning of the day?

Keep Your Staff's Cell Phones Out of the ORs

You might have a policy that bans cell phones from the OR and other patient-care areas, but not everybody follows the rules, do they? "Some obey and others do not," says Karen Walker, RN, director of the Mid-South Endoscopy Center in Columbia, Tenn., who often catches staff carrying phones in their scrub pockets when they're supposed to keep them in their purses or lockers and only use them at break times and at lunch. She's hardly alone. Nearly three-fourths (72%) of the 410 respondents to last month's Outpatient Surgery poll say that their staff bring their cell phones into the OR "often" (22%) or "very often" (50%). How do you keep staff from texting, tweeting, gaming or facebooking in the OR?

• Drop-off basket. Place a basket by the time clock for staff to store their phones when they check in. "When they clock out for lunch, they can pick up their phones and return them to the basket after lunch," says Ms. Walker, who's considering the idea.

• Create a charging station. Place a few charging cables for Apple and Android devices in the locker room so staff can power up their devices while they're in the OR. "This could be the visual reminder staff need to keep phones out of patient-care areas," says Kathy Spencer, BSN, RN, clinical director of the Horizon Eye Care Laser & Eye Surgery Center in Margate, N.J.

• Enforce your policy. Give your cell-phone policy some teeth. Have every staff member read and initial your policy that bans cell phones from patient-care areas. "If they are found carrying a cell phone, they will be disciplined," says Robin Erwin, RN, administrator of the Faith Regional Surgery Center in Norfolk, Neb. If you'd like help drafting a cell phone policy, download the Princeton (N.J.) Endoscopy Center's at outpatientsurgery.net/forms. "We even had staff texting each other while they're in the same room," says Carroll Harrell, RN, CAPA, director of the endo center. "It's a huge problem."

— Dan O'Connor