Call Bells and IV Pumps

SaoirseRN · Sep 21, 2013

But only at 2 or 3 in the morning when the patient is usually sleeping and then wakes up to find a machine beeping and thinks s/he's dying because that's always what's wrong when machines beep on TV . (For reality's sake I should add that this also happens frequently during the day time. Luckily for me, most of the patients I encounter have had prior hospital stays and understand that they aren't dying when the IV runs out of fluids and beeps haha.)[/quote']
I had one patient insist that the epidural pump was not working because it wasn't making any noise. No amount of reassurance or insistence this it was working would convince her. Not even her lack of pain would convince her that the pump wasn't "on the fritz".

Despareux · Sep 21, 2013

I don't hear them as much anymore. The first several months I would leave work with the sound of alarms in my head and go to bed with the same. There were even times I'd burst out in song in the tune of all the lovely alarms I hear at work. My kids got a kick out of that.

xoemmylouox, ASN, RN · Sep 21, 2013

I had one patient insist that the epidural pump was not working because it wasn't making any noise. No amount of reassurance or insistence this it was working would convince her. Not even her lack of pain would convince her that the pump wasn't "on the fritz".

Shoot I had no doubt my epidural was working.. That person must not have been in much pain prior to getting theirs started

avaloncar, BSN, RN · Sep 21, 2013

Alarm fatigue is such a real problem not even for those patients in the ICU but for all patients in the hospital. I wish there was something we could do to stop the incessant beeping. And clearly it affects the staff too. It is a shame. Thanks for the great point.

On another note, funny responses-Sometimes in work I believe the pumps are making music together and we are not in their secret plan to make me go crazy. lol

Amnesty · Sep 21, 2013

On another note, funny responses-Sometimes in work I believe the pumps are making music together and we are not in their secret plan to make me go crazy. lol

I'm going to have to recommend that a doc order a psych eval for nurse avaloncar .

Guttercat, ASN, RN · Sep 21, 2013

Wait 'till you guys all get the Ascom phones. The beeping follows you on your hip. Plus phone calls, plus Tele alarms, and call lights...even call lights from other nurses' patients. On your hip. All day long...beep ring buzz ring beepbeepbeep ring buzz....

It's a joy!

Do-over, ASN, RN · Sep 21, 2013

Wait 'till you guys all get the Ascom phones. The beeping follows you on your hip. Plus phone calls, plus Tele alarms, and call lights...even call lights from other nurses' patients. On your hip. All day long...beep ring buzz ring beepbeepbeep ring buzz....
It's a joy!

Already happened. What a freakin' nightmare.

JDZ344 · Sep 21, 2013

Call lights don't make me run into rooms anymore because I have never had someone hit the call light for an emergency... and I work in an ER.. I carry a pocket book to write down times that my pumps are gonna go off so that I can stop them before they beep. But i know some of you guys that work on the floor can have 4-6 patients on pumps sometimes and that must be hard to remember when the pumps going to go off!

Once it was an emergency...So you never know. But 99.9% of ours are for little things.

nrsang97, BSN, RN · Sep 21, 2013

I have already threatened many nights just to toss my spectralink phone into the river or a busy street due to incessant ringing.

elprup, BSN, RN · Sep 22, 2013

Probably why I sleep with a fan. :)

OneDuckyRN · Sep 22, 2013

I'm only 5 weeks into my RN job and hear call lights, IV pumps, and telemetry alarms in my sleep. Oh yeah, and feeding pumps when people forget to restart them.

Wave Watcher · Sep 22, 2013

I visited a good friend of mine in Jersey. It is common for everyone to blow their horn......over every little thing. At first, I would jump and look around trying to figure out who was about ready to run into us....but after about day 5 it was like background noise too me and I didn't pay any attention. Call lights/alarms/buzzing/beeping become the same after a while. It is kind of scarey......kind of like the little boy who cried wolf......you can start to ignore them or not even register they are going off....which is not good.