Headphones

[docB]

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Does anyone have to wear a headset in the ED. I've never seen it. I now have to carry a hospital cell phone while I'm working (not when I'm off) but it doesn't have a headphone. So given that people in the ER don't wear headphones even though split second, life saving decisions are based on communication why does the high school girl who seats people at Chili's wear one. Is the act of seating people at a diner or letting people into the changing room at the Gap so critical that these key people have to be in non-stop, instant communication with.... who are they talking to? Anyways, joust an observation.

 

[Apollyon]

There are 2 sets of headphones people use in our ED. The first has a story - there was an IM resident that wore one ALL THE TIME - I kid you not - from walking in, to while eating a meal, to going home. I thought the guy had a hearing impairment, especially because he has the personality of dog**** - I thought he was just missing it. Well, it turns out that he dictates any- and every-****ing-thing he can on his laptop - in the MICU, there was a rolling computer for orders, and he had another bedside rolling table for his techie **** - and he had been doing the same thing when he rotated through the ED.

Well, one of our residents and one of our attendings took to the same thing - but they don't wear their headsets all the time. Their notes are much more smooth and voluminous now, but still they get gently vilified (can that happen?) by being compared to this IM resident. What's more funny is that the resident is completely bald, and the attending is an USArmy reservist (now recalled again to AD), who is VERY "grungy", who ALSO has a bluetooth headset for his cell phone.

That's the other - some of the clerks and secretaries are using headsets to answer phones, but that is much less common - yet still promotes mockery.

As for our departmental cell phones, no headsets.

 

[Febrifuge]

Gosh, I miss my home institution. We had a guy who was a total gearhead, and he was 'Robo-Doc,' but that was a mix of more admiration than mocking. He was pretty Star-Trekky... but had the good taste not to wear a headset. He just sort of quietly and unobstrusively dictated into the mic on his tablet PC, and tricked out the ultrasounds so they'd make a JPEG of any scan they wanted... there could have been some tweaking to boost their signal, or maybe that's just legend.

But anyway -- any ED phone that can't be dropped repeatedly from a height of about 4 feet onto tile is useless, anyhow, right?

 

[Jeff698]

Headphones or not, my current wishlist is topped out with a dictation system that will allow me to dictate partial notes on the fly and in real time . Come to think of it, I'm enough of a geek to think the headphone thing might be cool.

Sort of like what the rad guys have (man, they always have the cool toys). I'd love to be able to come back from first seeing a patient and dictate the HPI, PMH, ROS and PE then see some more folks, come back later and dictate the workup and dispo.

Instead, I just get behind on my dictation.

Take care,
Jeff

 

[drewpydog]

Sort of like what the rad guys have (man, they always have the cool toys). I'd love to be able to come back from first seeing a patient and dictate the HPI, PMH, ROS and PE then see some more folks, come back later and dictate the workup and dispo.

Instead, I just get behind on my dictation.

Take care,
Jeff

We do this at Wake, exactly like you said. It still takes awhile to get transcribed, and then at the end of your shift you have 20 "secondaries" to dictate, but it does help.