Emergency Department Resident ASCOM Phone Policy:

  • Purpose: to facilitate communication between the physician team and essential services in the care of critically ill patients, particularly those involved in Code AMI, Stroke, and Trauma activations.
  • Who: teaching resident or charge resident
  • The phone is the responsibility of the teaching resident or front charge resident and should be transferred to the oncoming resident at shift change.
  • If there is no teaching resident, the phone is the responsibility of the front charge resident.
  • The Numbers: internally it’s2-4610.From an outside line it’s596-0610.
  • Responsibility: the phone will be signed in and signed out at the end of each shift.
  • The last name on the sign-inlist will be held accountable for any losses or damages that are reported no matter the amount of time elapsed since that sign in occurred.
  • For example: Theodore Roosevelt signs into the phone. He forgets to sign out and the resident he hands it off to, William Howard Taft, forgets to sign out. Subsequently, W.H. Taft forgets to sign out when he hands the phone to Woodrow Wilson who forgets to sign out when he hands the phone to Warren G. Harding. Several shifts later, John F. Kennedy reports to the chiefs that he received the phone covered in feces with a cracked screen. It does not matter that the phone may have changed hands 9 times and Franklin Roosevelt held onto it for 4 consecutive shifts. According to the sign-in sheet, Theodore Roosevelt was the last name to sign in; therefore, he will be held accountable.
  • So, let us all work together to sign in and out and take good care of the phone.
  • Care and Maintenance:
  • Clean the phone with Sani-wipes before handing it off.
  • Replace the battery when the battery charge is low.
  • Replacement batteries are located in the Spillway and the RTA battery charging stations for swap out.
  • Do not wear the phone on the back of your pants or in your back pocket:sitting on it will crack the screen,it may flip into a toilet or onto the ground, (happens often).
  • Phone defects should be reported to one of the chiefs and they will facilitate repair.

The phone is roughly the cost of a high end smart phone e.g. an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy (not the contract renewal price, but the full MSRP price). Please treat it as such. The phone is to help improve through-put and they are a privilege. Please help us to utilize the phones and let us know if you have any questions.