Do YOU answer call lights in a hospital?

[JHansen]

I'm curious, at my hospital only one in every five nurses I would say answers call lights, and one in particular will stand, literally stand, infront of their patients room waiting for a CNA to walk around the corner wondering why the call light is still going off. She will then point at the light then at the CNA and ask them what took them so long.

I asked her one day why she feels the need to do this rather than answer her own patients call lights. "Not my job to do the CNA's.":eek:

So I ask this community: Do YOU answer call lights when they go off or wait as long as possible before the noise makes you go see whats up?

I used to be a CNA so you can be damn sure I answer them unless I am busy with another pt at the moment. CNA's are underpaid and over worked and thats the truth.

[BGgirl]

Yes I do answer call lights and if the pts nurse it busy, I'll go see what they need also.

We don't have aides or half the time a secretary on nights so if we don't answer the call lights, no one does.

And I find it rediculous when people answer the call lights and then spend 10 min looking for that nurse to let them know that their pt called out. In the meantime, they could've just seen what the pt wanted and addressed it.

[Mudwoman]

I am one of those nurses that tries to answer call lights when I can and help my PCT (CNA) with baths on the total care patients. However, I'm also one of those nurses that ends up staying late to finish up charting, or putting in a NG or foley or something. AS my unit manager reminds me often........I rarely get a morning or afternoon break because I'm so busy, and I take 15 minutes for lunch----30 minutes if I'm eating and charting. At the end of the day, my PCT can't help me with charting or giving meds or calling a doctor. I'm finding that I HAVE to be more selfish with my time. I have a lot to do and a lot of responsibility and only so many hours in a day to accomplish that. More and more, I'm answering the call light and getting the PCT to do the job. I'm not too good to do it, I'm just too busy with my own work. BTW, just because the nurse is at the room/nurse server doesn't mean that she is just goofing off with nothing to do. I know there are some nurses out there that are lazy or have a superiority complex, but I don't see it often.

[Xbox Live Addict]

I am one of those nurses that tries to answer call lights when I can and help my PCT (CNA) with baths on the total care patients. However, I'm also one of those nurses that ends up staying late to finish up charting, or putting in a NG or foley or something. AS my unit manager reminds me often........I rarely get a morning or afternoon break because I'm so busy, and I take 15 minutes for lunch----30 minutes if I'm eating and charting. At the end of the day, my PCT can't help me with charting or giving meds or calling a doctor. I'm finding that I HAVE to be more selfish with my time. I have a lot to do and a lot of responsibility and only so many hours in a day to accomplish that. More and more, I'm answering the call light and getting the PCT to do the job. I'm not too good to do it, I'm just too busy with my own work. BTW, just because the nurse is at the room/nurse server doesn't mean that she is just goofing off with nothing to do. I know there are some nurses out there that are lazy or have a superiority complex, but I don't see it often.

Yes, exactly. It's not that most nurses don't WANT to help. But we're so rushed that we're skipping breaks and staying late because we're helping out so much with routine care. It's all good and well to help CNAs, but keep in mind that CNAs CANNOT help you with those nursing tasks that are exclusively the realm of a licensed nurse, as dictated by your state's NPA. In those cases, the CNAs often have to step up to the plate and do the best they can, and most of them do that.

In a short-staffed environment, everyone suffers - nurses, aides, patients, and even administrators.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

In a word - yes.

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

I am one of those nurses that tries to answer call lights when I can and help my PCT (CNA) with baths on the total care patients. However, I'm also one of those nurses that ends up staying late to finish up charting, or putting in a NG or foley or something. AS my unit manager reminds me often........I rarely get a morning or afternoon break because I'm so busy, and I take 15 minutes for lunch----30 minutes if I'm eating and charting. At the end of the day, my PCT can't help me with charting or giving meds or calling a doctor. I'm finding that I HAVE to be more selfish with my time. I have a lot to do and a lot of responsibility and only so many hours in a day to accomplish that. More and more, I'm answering the call light and getting the PCT to do the job. I'm not too good to do it, I'm just too busy with my own work. BTW, just because the nurse is at the room/nurse server doesn't mean that she is just goofing off with nothing to do. I know there are some nurses out there that are lazy or have a superiority complex, but I don't see it often.

Exactly. It's not about being above doing the "dirty work" and pushing it onto the aides, it's about prioritizing time. Especially as a new grad, I have to prioritize if I am going to keep my head above water. It's sink or swim! I wish more aides could understand that.:redbeathe

[Critical_Care_RN]

Oh my! That's just ridiculous! It's all about teamwork so yes, we answer call lights. I have worked both tele and CCU and have always answered call lights. I, as the RN, am responsible for seeing to it that the patient gets what they need and that it is done in a timely manner. The CNA can't do everything for everyone just the same as I can't do everything for everyone. That's why we work as a team. Things go much better for all of us if we view ourselves as a team and work together to get it all done.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

I highly doubt anyone is going to come into this thread now and say, "No, I never answer patient's call lights!" LOL!!

It's really nice to be around so many people who care. :)

[imanedrn]

Am I being totally nieve(sp?) to think that nurses become nurses because they really do like to help people?

I sure hope not or we're all doomed! This was the reason I decided to go into nursing over medicine, for crying out loud! Sadly, I was quickly OVER-exposed to how much some nurses just don't care anymore...

[Jamie2887]

I didn't read every single post, but so far I havn't seen anyone with a system like ours...so this "call light" thing seems odd to me. We have a central station at our hospital where whenever the patient presses their nurse button, it gets sent there to people who's entire job is to answer with "what can I help you with" if it's something such as "I need help to the bathroom" or any other tech duty, it's sent to me (I'm a nursing student working as a tech) on my pager, and the pager screens reads what the patient wants...which is convienent because if it says "need help to bathroom" I can run in there, but if it says "wants ice cream" I know I don't need to rush and leave what I'm doing. If it's "my iv pump is beeping" it only gets sent to their nurse's pager.

So therefore I suppose it's only that particular patients tech/nurse's job to answer, I like our system so far, I don't get bothered with anything that is out of my scope of practice, and the nurse's can get their work done, and if I need their help I just grab one and their always very willing to help.

[loriangel14, RN]

Okay, I admit I haven't read all the posts on this thread but the title made me laugh. I am a nurse, why on earth would I not answer the call bells? Who would if the nurses didn't? Housekeeping? Dietary? The manager? That's pretty much all of our staff so I guess it is up to us nurses.

:)

[icunurse42066]

OK, I have to say it, "No I do not answer call lights, it is beneath me and I didn't go to school to become a RN and answer call lights!!!" Just kidding of course. Yes I do answer call lights. Working in the ICU we do all of our pt care, no matter what it is. I did have the unfortunate experience of witnessing an episode one evening. I was working the neuro floor at my local hospital one night and a pt's BR light went off. I was in the middle of admitting my third pt of the night (I had only been on shift for about 3 hours) and I looked up and the CHARGE nurse and another nurse were running down each hall looking for a CNA. I asked them who they were looking for and both said they were looking for the CNA to get Mr. So and So out of the BR. They walked by the room 3 times looking for a CNA!!!!! Needless to say I let them both have it and went and got the pt out of the BR myself. Only after I got up did they offer to get them out. I told them "No, you go back and sit at the desk and prop your feet up 'cause that's all your good for!" I got called into the NM office the next day, but they are the ones that got reamed out for it!!

[Thankful RN,BSN]

as i am considered "assistive staff" at my workplace, i most definitely will answer call lights and do so on a regular basis. if, however, i found a nurse, any nurse, waiting outside the room to see how long it took for me to get there...suffice it to say there'd be a verbal asskicking in their future, either from me or my rn team leader..and probably from both. there's no excuse for that kind of bs. you want to play games? go teach kindergarten.

you don't want to work as a team, find some other floor to work on...or, better yet, find another profession..because you're definitely in the wrong one.

i'm lucky enough not to have those issues on my tight knit unit. we're all in it for the good of our patients.

i wish that an aide or an assistant would try to give me a verbal asskicking!

assistants..know your place!