Healthcare Professionals Use of Mobile Phones in the Operating Theatre

Abstract

Mobile phones are a normal companion in our everyday life.They are taken for granted to an extent that it is common that healthcare professionals use mobile phones for both professional and personal issues in the workplace [2,5,20,28,29] and younger employees tend to use private cell phones more often than older [7,17,19,20]. It has been reported that more than 78 percent of healthcare professionals use their private mobile phones at work [3,5,7,17,20,25,32]. However, the healthcare professionals find it difficult to draw the line between using private mobile phones for professional and private use, as they find it difficult to ignore private calls and messages [20]. There is however very little research about the patient safety and ethical implications of mobile phone use in the operating theater.Background: Today mobil phones has been incorporated in our daily lives to such an extent that they are used in the operating theater for both professional and private matters. The advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of mobile phones in the healthcare sector are described in studies.Aim: To describe healthcare professionals use and managing of professional phones and private mobile phones in the operating theater. Method:The design is a descriptive cross-sectional study with 40 structured observations in the operating theater and a questionnaire survey. The study was conducted in three surgical departments at a Swedish children's hospital. The participants were anesthetic nurses, physicians, operating theater nurses and assistant nurses. Data was analyzed descriptively in SPSS. Result:The observations showed that of 477 phone uses, 287 (60.2%) were private mobile phones and 190 (39.8%)professional phones. The adherence to basal hygiene guidelines before and after telephone use, n = 477, was 93 (19.4%) and 103 (21.5%), respectively. The questionnaire showed that 9 (27.2%) of the participants experienced daily that the use of private mobile phones disturbed team members in the operating theater. Eight (24, 2%) of participants experienced daily, 7 (21.7%) weekly, employees became less concentrated due to the use of private mobile phones. Conclusion:Increased compliance with basic hand hygiene guidelines, designing policies regarding the use of private mobile phones in the operating theater and a discussion concerning what is ethically correct in relation to the patients can be considered essential.Further studies are needed for continued exploration of the use and managing of mobile phones in the operating theater. BackgroundThe use of mobile phones in healthcare has advantages, for example, the ability to call for other healthcare team members, seek information in medical applications and assisting in learning situations [7,20,28]. What is more, mobile phones are also used for various private purposes during working hours, such as communication, social media, surfing the internet and playing games [17,19,26,28,29]. However, healthcare professionals consider that mobile phones used during work can cause di...

Cell Phones in the OR: A Cross‐Sectional Study of Norwegian Perioperative Nurses’ Knowledge, Practice, and Attitudes

“…41 Results of a study involving 33 participants showed that 9 (27.3%) found cell phone use in the OR to be distracting every day. 15 Because respondents in our study mainly used the mobile phone for private purposes, our results may indicate that the respondents may have found other team members' use of cell phones distracting, or that they found responding to surgeons' calls distracting.…”

“…In a variety of pediatric settings, 80% of cell phone use was work related 24 . Additional study results showed that 18 (54.5%) of 33 perioperative respondents indicated that they used cell phones in the OR for personal reasons, 15 and 644 (78.1%) of 825 medical‐surgical nurses used their phones during work for personal reasons 35 …”

“…Results of the qualitative portion of a mixed‐methods study involving personal electronic devices without cell phone capability indicated that personnel could lose focus during collaborative work when using the devices 41 . Results of a study involving 33 participants showed that 9 (27.3%) found cell phone use in the OR to be distracting every day 15 . Because respondents in our study mainly used the mobile phone for private purposes, our results may indicate that the respondents may have found other team members’ use of cell phones distracting, or that they found responding to surgeons’ calls distracting.…”

“…Approximately 60% of the respondents in our study indicated that cell phones may be distracting in the OR-a result that differed somewhat from results of other available studies. 15,41 Results of the qualitative portion of a mixed-methods study involving personal electronic devices without cell phone capability indicated that personnel could lose focus during collaborative work when using the devices. 41 Results of a study involving 33 participants showed that 9 (27.3%) found cell phone use in the OR to be distracting every day.…”

“…In 2021, researchers studied perioperative cell phone use in three departments in a Swedish children's hospital. 15 During 40 observations, personnel used a phone (ie, private and professional cell phones, fixed phone) a total of 477 times and used private phones for 287 (60.2%) of the occurrences. Results of a literature review showed that nurses used cell phones for a variety of reasons during their daily work, including…”