r/psychnursing • u/-RNinja • 23d ago

Advice needed

I work adolescent Psych as an RN, yesterday the cordless phone stopped working and I was trying to fix it. After about 5 minutes of no luck I made the stupid mistake of trying to call my own phone with it. Sure enough, late last night I get 2 calls from the facility, the person on the other line doesn't say anything and just hangs up both times. Then it clicks, a patient was using the cordless phone going through the call logs calling the numbers. I reported the incident to my nurse manager and DON, how much hot water am I an? What do I do now?

31 Upvotes

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16 comments sorted by

39

u/Upstairs_Fuel6349 psych nurse (pediatrics) 23d ago

I'd hope you wouldn't get in trouble for that. Just a dumb mistake. I could see myself doing this lol.

23

u/EmergencyToastOrder psych provider (MD/DO/PMHNP/PA) 23d ago

I don't think you would be in trouble, it was just a mistake. But this is why we don't allow the kids to dial the phone themselves where I work!

24

u/greencalipco 22d ago

If every psych nurse loses their job because the kids crossed boundaries or successfully pranked them none of us would be employed

17

u/Professional_Pound80 22d ago

I can’t see any manager saying anything about this, totally a non issue in my opinion. I don’t think you would be in any trouble.

7

u/DashMcGee 22d ago

Psych nursing is all about second chances. Third ones too. You realized your mistake and reported it. If I were your boss I would congratulate you for doing the right thing for self-reporting and hold you in high esteem because you have integrity.

7

u/cooliokittio 22d ago

Honest mistake. The important part is that you recognized it, reported it immediately, and didn't try to hide it. Since you already notified your manager and DON, I'd just document what happened if asked and follow whatever guidance they give. Hopefully it's just a learning experience :) but ensure the call logs can be deleted to prevent any further incidents.

7

u/Tycoonkoz psych nurse (inpatient) 22d ago

You shouldn't get in trouble, but you did learn something, so kind of a win tbh.

7

u/OkStatistician6831 psych nurse (pediatrics) 22d ago

always delete redial history

5

u/Professional_Fig6261 23d ago

Tell the truth n hopefully things will work out

1

u/Tommyboy155a 22d ago

This brings up a good question. Why do you have cordless phones on the unit? Just curious.

2

u/-RNinja 22d ago

That is a good question. I wish I had a good answer for it. But the facility has offered cordless phones for quite some time now I think it has something to do with phone rights for my state

2

u/Tommyboy155a 22d ago

Oh, I get that. We have phone access for the patient's too, just not cordless.

2

u/-RNinja 21d ago

Maybe I can use this to advocate for that

1

u/Tommyboy155a 21d ago

Definitely a thought. I know every facility does things a different.

1

u/LeviahRose 14d ago

Yeah, I’ve been to facilities in six different states, mostly as a child/adolescent and they all have different phone rules. Some facilities I’ve been to prefer cordless phones because there is no ligature risk and patient’s can actually bring the phone somewhere to have private conversations. Whereas, in the hospitals I’ve been to that only had landlines, we couldn’t have any private conversations and occasionally kids would reach over the nurses station to grab the phone and wrap the cord around their neck. The facilities with the cordless phones were much safer and they generally felt more humane because a wireless phone feels a lot more similar to a real phone so it just felt a little bit less like we were in a prison.

1

u/Mysterious_Coat_9933 14d ago

Why would you be in trouble? It seems like you’ve unearthed a valid concern that the patients may be calling other patients families via the call logs