Commentary on: 2010 Survey of cell phone use during cardiopulmonary bypass

MR. JUSTIN RESLEY (Columbia, South Carolina): I have used my cell phone on pump and I also responded to your survey. Thank you for doing it. There was a recent posting on PerfList^® that said that all these telephone records are obtainable by attorneys should you have some kind of accident while conducting cardiopulmonary bypass. The take-home message for me was it would not matter that the accident occurred while you were using your phone or not. The plaintiff attorney is going to take you down, basically, if he or she can prove to a jury that you use your cell phone frequently on bypass. I think that opens you up for a lot of detrimental things to your career. We have recently banned the use of cell phones for the primary perfusionist. We also have a perfusion mobile phone. It is a hospital phone. I have not decided what to do about that. I would be interested in any comments that anyone else has on that kind of phone usage.

MR. JEFFREY RILEY (Rochester, Minnesota): Thank you very much for doing this survey. It stimulated conversation within our group. Justin hit on it at the end of his comment. If you need to have a phone in the operating room, it needs to be a hospital phone that is specifically for hospital business. I think the people who reported that only 36 of their hospitals had a policy were just unaware that their hospitals really have a policy, and it most likely is no cell phones in the operating room. I have watched my own teammates through the window talking to their spouses or looking something up, their heads are down and they are distracted. Your recommendation is very weak and they may be warranted. I think if you write this up and you publish it, you need to come out with a very specific recommendation based on the good research that is out there about driving and tell us not to use cell phones during cardiopulmonary bypass.

MS. CARMEN GIACOMUZZI (Portland, Oregon): I am not an advocate of cell phone usage on bypass, but I have to say that I think that we need to consider that there are some countries where they do not have a paging system and their only form of communication is via cell phone. I had that experience myself just a few weeks ago in another country where that was their only form of communication. I did find it extremely distracting and there was absolutely no way to regulate personal versus hospital business on those phones. Every time that phone rings, they are looking at it and, oftentimes, it was not hospital related. Again, I do think we need to consider that there are places where that is their only form of communication.

MR. THOMAS EBERSOLE (Louisville, Ohio): First of all, I think that driving and bypass are mutually exclusive. I do not think they have anything to do with each other. But, I have to ask the question. If I used my cell phone as a calculator or if our primary means, even among administrators, is texting, I may look at that thing and I may not respond to it at that time. In terms of being distracted or your peripheral vision being compromised, how about an i-STAT or a glucometer or the fact that my blood gas Hepcon™ and ACT machines are located behind me. I think there are all kinds of things that we can throw in here. I think that the cell phone as a tool, compared to social networking and things like that, obviously, is a common-sense decision. There are times when you are on bypass when you do not even have time to do a blood gas. There are other times, when you are staring at that reservoir in between cardioplegia doses and nothing moves and you are not sure if blood is even circulating, you get so bored and you are just looking for distractions. I think what this issue raises is a lot of common sense. I think that was my comment on the survey. It is something that really involves your own discretion, but, clearly, you cannot get carried away with use of cell phones for non-clinical uses while conducting cardiopulmonary bypass.

CO-MODERATOR DAVID CLEMENTS (Spokane, Washington): Tom, you bring up a great point, that we are talking about the social stigma of using a cell phone because everybody automatically assumes you are on Facebook or you are checking the Internet. But, I can tell you, in my recent past work at the Mayo Clinic where I had a landline right behind me and, if I had a problem and was calling for help, I have been just as distracted trying to get help as I would be if I were using a cell phone. So I am wondering if the conversation really should be, “Are we distracting ourselves?” Obviously, the context of the conversation you are having on the cell phone is just as important as using the cell phone.

MR. WILLIAM HARRIS (Luling, Louisiana): In my setting, we are a diverse department. We cover all different parts of the hospital and, sometimes, we need to know where each other is in the hospital. We have internal phones, but we have one or two surgeons who absolutely do not want the noise and do not want things ringing, so they are not allowed in the operating room. For me to get to that wall phone is a real distraction to the surgeons. But, when I have the cell phone and I have it on vibrate mode and I have only texts that are coming in when necessary from other colleagues who have to say something to me and I see that light blinking, I can choose a time to look at that light when things are pretty calm. If I have to respond to it, fine, but, at least, we have some form of communication and we are not distracting the surgeon. My time is very limited, so I think it is professional will-power that, if that phone is right there, you are not using it for situations outside of what is absolutely mandatory. It seems to work for us pretty well in this context. I would not say outlawing it completely would necessarily work in our institution in that regard.

MR. PHILIP FERNANDES (Ontario, Canada): I think your point is: using devices for non-hospital-related activities. As you know, we now have a high-tech world and I think you need to expand your recommendation to possibly iPads and eReaders that I have seen somebody look at while conducting cardiopulmonary bypass. I was not sure whether they were or not. There are other devices that are non-hospital-related that, yes, can distract one from their job.

MR. JOSHUA WALKER (San Antonio, Texas): Our group works at five hospitals. I can either call five people for help or I can send one text to five people. So, for me it is Mayday. Otherwise, I am dialing or having the nurse dialing when it is hectic and nobody is going to call.