Does your hospital allow non-psychotic involuntary patients to contact work?

[futureapppsy2]

Something I've read about recently that hadn't occurred to me prior is people who are suicidal not seeking care because they don't want to be involuntarily admitted and lose their job for no calling no showing and people who report losing their job for no calling no showing after being involuntarily hospitalized for suicidality. I can see why you wouldn't want an actively psychotic patient (or perhaps a manic one) one to contact their employer, but do your hospitals allow non-psychotic/non-manic involuntary admits to contact their employer before the go to the psych unit?

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[littlefred]

Something I've read about recently that hadn't occurred to me prior is people who are suicidal not seeking care because they don't want to be involuntarily admitted and lose their job for no calling no showing and people who report losing their job for no calling no showing after being involuntarily hospitalized for suicidality. I can see why you wouldn't want an actively psychotic patient (or perhaps a manic one) one to contact their employer, but do your hospitals allow non-psychotic/non-manic involuntary admits to contact their employer before the go to the psych unit?

I haven't worked inpatient for a bit, but a unit I worked at had a phone that patients could use freely (local calls).
They had a schedule where they were allowed to make phone calls. For some patients it was problematic as they would call to threaten people or psychotic patients would be on the phone forever (unclear if there was anyone on the other side of the line)... but they were still allowed to make calls within reason.

 

[futureapppsy2]

I haven't worked inpatient for a bit, but a unit I worked at had a phone that patients could use freely (local calls).
They had a schedule where they were allowed to make phone calls. For some patients it was problematic as they would call to threaten people or psychotic patients would be on the phone forever (unclear if there was anyone on the other side of the line)... but they were still allowed to make calls within reason.

I'm curious how this would work today where people have most numbers in their cell phone, so nobody memorizes them.

 

[Sushirolls]

People have to "earn" the restriction of phone privilege's. For example, repeatedly calling 911, will get phone privilege's revoked for a bit.

Nursing staff at some units, will assist in allowing patients to access their phone form personal belonging to get the numbers they need, write them down, and then promptly put the phone back in personal possessions.

 

[wolfvgang22]

I'm curious how this would work today where people have most numbers in their cell phone, so nobody memorizes them.

This is not a new issue, as cell phones have been widespread for over 20 years now. If the patients cell phone is in their belongings the nurse gets it and assists the patient at the nurses station or exam room with another person (tech or nurse) present. If the patient has family or a close friend they can often bring the number or patient cell phone up to the hospital. The patient writes down the number and is then allowed to use the wall phone across from the nurse station. This helps limit cell phones being thrown or eaten.

 

[Bartelby]

Agree with the above, restricting calls comes only if the phones are clearly being abused.

 

[MedMan80]

As a tangent but when i was a resident at the VA i had a veteran call from an outside psych hospital probably 20 times in a row requesting to be transferred to the VA hospital pronto. The operator kept him through to me, every, single, time!

 

[whopper]

You're not legally allowed to restrict phone conversation unless there's a specific and good reason for it. E.g. terroristic threats, crank calling, disruptive calls to others.

So if the patient wants to contact work, you really can't stop them from doing so in most cases.

 

[clausewitz2]

I haven't worked inpatient for a bit, but a unit I worked at had a phone that patients could use freely (local calls).
They had a schedule where they were allowed to make phone calls. For some patients it was problematic as they would call to threaten people or psychotic patients would be on the phone forever (unclear if there was anyone on the other side of the line)... but they were still allowed to make calls within reason.

The inpatient hospital I worked at in residency was apparently barred from entirely cutting off phone access to any patient. They could limit their window for using the phone sharply in extremis but it could never be zero.

Turns out when someone who is a touch psychotic gets a hold of the direct number for a judge at Orphan's Court somehow and calls 20 times in an hour exceptions get made.

 

[splik]

It is a civil rights violation to deprive pts of the use of the telephone simply because they are involuntarily hospitalized (whether or not they are psychotic). In the states I have worked in, patients are not denied the right to call whomever they want unless there is a clear reason to do so (e.g. actual, not hypothetical, safety concerns, abuse of telephone etc.) and even in those circumstances we have to discuss it with risk management first.

 

[comp1]

This is a very weird question to me. Civil rights likely vary formally state by state, but in general...there doesn't seem to be a lot of reason to restrict phone calls to employers. And yeah, nurses get phone numbers off cell phones for patients. I've never had to restrict phone calls to employers, mostly to 911 and less often to federal or state agencies. I also don't get a lot of psychotic patients holding down jobs...

 

[mistafab]

They are definitely allowed to call anyone here - I also freely offer letters or calls on their behalf that are generic and state simply that the patient is in the hospital.

 

[smalltownpsych]

It is a civil rights violation to deprive pts of the use of the telephone simply because they are involuntarily hospitalized (whether or not they are psychotic). In the states I have worked in, patients are not denied the right to call whomever they want unless there is a clear reason to do so (e.g. actual, not hypothetical, safety concerns, abuse of telephone etc.) and even in those circumstances we have to discuss it with risk management first.

Last I checked there were no federal protections of patients rights and civil rights is a pretty broad term. If a state doesn’t have specific protections for patients, then decisions like this are left up to whoever runs the hospital and this tends to lead to pretty restrictive practices.

 

[Merovinge]

They are definitely allowed to call anyone here - I also freely offer letters or calls on their behalf that are generic and state simply that the patient is in the hospital.

Feels like this is exactly the type of work social workers should excel at and should be available to any patient on an inpatient psychiatric unit.

 

[splik]

Last I checked there were no federal protections of patients rights and civil rights is a pretty broad term. If a state doesn’t have specific protections for patients, then decisions like this are left up to whoever runs the hospital and this tends to lead to pretty restrictive practices.

There Is indeed a federal statute which includes civil rights of involuntary psych pts - CRIPA which was passed in 1980

 

[comp1]

I hadn't heard of CRIPA. I looked at the text and geeze is it vague. It doesn't seem to enumerate any rights beyond those in the Constitution and it seems to specifically direct the DOJ to work with the state leadership regarding any specific rights. Also, it in no way applies to any private psychiatric hospitals. So...phone calls remain a state's rights issue.

 

[smalltownpsych]

There Is indeed a federal statute which includes civil rights of involuntary psych pts - CRIPA which was passed in 1980

I stand corrected about the civil rights. I was thinking of more specific rights of patients and a recommendation from congress to the states to have patients rights legislation and some states, such as Wyoming where I worked at the State Hospital, that had not adopted those recommendations..