The Ethical Use Of Cell Phones In The Medical Field

THE ETHICAL USES OF CELL PHONES
IN THE NURSING HOMES BY THE STAFF

Abstract The morals and values combine to form ethics, technology and the changes it brings in today’s society, the effect of cell phones, the different use of the cell phone, and who can use their cell phones in the nursing homes.

Ethics describes a system of morals that are studied, recommended, and accepted by society. These unwritten rules, made up of morals and values combine to form ethics. If something is ethical, it falls within the realm of behavior that society prefers. The unethical uses of the cell phones in the nursing homes workers are those behaviors that society deems right when on the cell phone it is a combination of laws, manners and common sense. Camera phones can be a difficult privacy issue.( http://www.ehow.com/about_5165198_ethical-uses-cell-phones.html) Technology and the changes it brings can have a very
big effect on our lives on a daily basis. The use of the cell phones has the biggest affect in this country. People either use it to communicate or even surf the web, to find various information that they are trying to inquire about. This is one use of technology is how people keep up with stocks, education, paying bills, knowing what is going on with their job, and maintaining their busy schedules. Using this type of technology can help you to stay on top of your entire task and agendas and still stay in communication. Cell phones are the way many people communicate in the world.
We use this device to keep in touch with our love ones when they are near or far away. With cell phones you can communicate with people just about anywhere in the world. You have options of paying your bills, checking the weather; surf the internet. Use the built-in calculator for simple math, send or receive e-mail, play games, watch TV, send text messages, and last but not least keep track of all appointments, and set reminders when they are needed. So the corporation state that the use of the camera violate the HIPPA program, so they should ban cell phones because of the camera, and sound recorder functions? Next we ban cameras, sound recorders, telephones, and even Laptops. How about electric lights and hot tap water? Maybe we should ban pencils, pens, and paper so we can 't write anything on our hands that we can take out of the building? Just like how the doctors’ know when and where to use their cell phone, so do the direct care
staff.
It 's not the technology, it 's the users. I think a few of us have commented on the very valid point that the perpetrators were in violation of several laws and the ethical standards of the profession. Let 's see them get the punishment they have earned. But misusing a tool won 't stop by removing the tool; there always will be substitutes. Perhaps not having a phone in your hand was a luxury a few years ago, but today, it 's expected. I will not answer personal calls and really I don 't believe that personal calls to staff of any kind (yes, I do mean the sick family members, the kids in school, and the spouses stuck in traffic) should be validated (http://allnurses.com/nursing-news/lawmakers-curb-cell-392956-page3.html)
These cell phones come in all shapes, colors, and sizes for our personal use. The cell phones are in such demand for this nation because they are very convenient. The majority of people are looking for anything that will keep them in touch with the latest technology. Camera phones are a difficult privacy issue for the medical institutions, because regulations banning them which already exist in many hospitals, is difficult to enforce. But high-profile cases may be spreading the word that taking pictures on the job that can lead to unemployment. Tri-City Medical executives fired employees; including emergency-medical technicians, nurses, and secretaries. Regardless to whether they took photos of the X-ray, or simply looked at them without reporting the incident. One other employee was suspended without pay, said hospital spokesman Jeff Segall was told. Ellerbe declined to give details about the X-ray except to say it did not disclose the patient 's identity. In another case at Tri-City Medical, a security guard stopped a secretary from taking a camera-phone picture of a suicidal psychiatric patient the secretary resigned. Hospital regulations ban photography without permission and forbid employees from using cell phones on the job, Ellerbe said. Signs also remind visitors not to use camera phones. In another camera-phone case, a former respiratory therapist at Rady Children 's Hospital in San Diego faces felony charges over allegations that he took eight photographs of two bedridden children using a cell phone, said Steve Walker, spokesman for the San Diego County District Attorney 's Office. Contrary to a newspaper report, he said none of the images were distributed on the internet. In response to the problems, hospital administrators have banned staff from using cell phones in clinical areas, and all cell phones are forbidden in the convalescent unit, said administrator Pamela Dixon. But doctors, who are not employees of the hospital, refused to allow a ban on their use of cell phones. Another case, in Iowa City, Iowa, involved a May 18, 2010 newspaper article that police were investigating reports that someone took nude photos of nursing residents with a camera phone. Cell phones reportedly are now banned at the facility. Its unclear how many hospitals have policies regulating camera phones, but their numbers seem to be growing. Last year, the Southern California hospital chain Scripps Health added camera phones and PDAs (personal digital assistant) to its policies restricting photography, although they are not officially banned. Scripps Health, which runs five hospitals and 13 outpatient clinics, told Wired News it has fired employees in the last month for violating photography rules, although fewer than a dozen of its 11,000 employees have been sacked for privacy violations over the past year. While some hospital attorneys told Wired News they 'd never dealt with the camera-phone issue, others said they 'd discussed methods of enforcing a ban."They could search everybody 's purse, but I don 't think that 's an environment that health-care facilities want," said Katherine Benesch, a health-law attorney in Princeton, New Jersey, who has helped nursing homes create policies to ban camera phones. Posting signs and writing policies, however, can 't prevent all photography in hospitals, especially when it 's done with such easily concealed devices. Ultimately, said Dr. David Cameron, a physician and health-law attorney in Toronto, "there isn 't a lot of power that the hospital has to keep these things from happening." http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2007/06/hospital_cameras

REFERENCES http://allnurses.com/nursing-news/lawmakers-curb-cell-392956-page3.htm http://www.ehow.com/about_5165198_ethical-uses-cell-phones.html
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/news/2007/06/hospital_cameras