Reasons patients turn on their call light

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I had a very enjoyable night two nights ago, because for the first time in my nursing history I had a patient who literally turned their call light on every 2-5 minutes.

Reasons the patient turned her call light on:

1. I farted.

2. I coughed.

3. Can I sit at the nurses station naked?

4. My neck twitched when I took a breath.

5. Can you scratch my left pinky finger?

6. My tongue keeps touching my teeth, what should I do?

7. I think I have to poop but I'll wait until tomorrow to do it.

8. I'm about to call 911 because I keep hearing the nurses walk by my room.

9. Am I breathing ok?

10. My legs are really pretty, what do you think?

That's to name a few!

Specializes in Hospice.
Exactly. Troubleshoot the cause.. treat as needed. Describing a" list of reasons" is belittling any patient's needs. I am embarrassed for the OP and the responders that do not understand this.

Ok, I get it. Judgmental Nurse is being Judgmental.

First of all, I really don't think that any competent nurse here would go to a room, listen to what the patient has requested, and then just walk away and add it to a list.

Of course weird patient requests are evaluated for possible cause. Is the patient having a reaction to pain medication? Are they sun-downing? Have they been awake for 36 hours and hallucinating? Have they mistaken the big "H" on the front of the building for "Hilton"? Have they watched too much Naughty Nurse Media? Are they entitled brats? Etc, etc.

Sometimes, if you don't laugh, you'll cry. I really worry about nurses who never smile, who can't find humor in an absurd situation, and who look down on those who can.

Do I advocate yukking it up at the nurse's station or going over it in the elevator packed with civilians? Of course not. THAT is rude and disrespectful. But here? We deal with death, suffering and all manner of crises during work time. You have to be able to decompress, or you will never last.

This should be a safe zone for stuff like this. If it offends you, as long as no TOS are being violated, just keep on scrolling-you'll soon find something more to your liking. But please don't think you're somehow better than the rest of us. Many of you are desperately looking for ways to desert bedside nursing. Humor like this is one of the things that has kept those of us who have dedicated their careers (and I'm talking decades here) to staying at the bedside.

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1) I can't find my call light. (Seriously, she pressed the red nurse call button for this)

2) Please tell my nurse I'm very sick. (Um, yeah. I'm discharging you back to your SNF as we speak, so...)

3) I need new ice water. (Aide just brought you water 5 mins ago.) Yeah but that water is too warm. I don't like melted ice water.

4) Can you itch under my tits? (No, because I need to go page your Dr. because this new - onset paralysis of your arms has me worried. ) Oh my arms work, I just want you to look at it.

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To STcroix, phD, RN: The doctor might need to increase the dosage or change to a different type of pain medication if the current medication does not control her pain. I took care of patients with PCA pump + other IV pain med + Oral pain meds and still hurting. They just have a high tolerance to pain medications.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
My family member pressed the call button when, one night, a couple of days after surgery and newly transferred from ICU to med-surg, they somehow got stuck in a position in bed in which they could not breathe, and could not re-position themself. Fortunately, the nurses answered the call light quickly, and rushed into the room to help (my family member was able to say to the person who answered the call light, "Help me, I can't breathe"). My family member was very shaken up by the experience. I had only just (probably within the previous 15 minutes), left my family member's bedside.

I think it is good for us all to keep in mind that mixed in with the less serious reasons for pressing the call button (for which I know there are many) there are some serious, life threatening reasons patients press the call button too, and that it behoves all of us to answer the call buttons as rapidly as possible.

We know about legitimate reasons for using the call light and why we should answer promptly. Does that mean this thread shouldn't exist and we shouldn't try to find the lighter side of a frequent source of job aggravation?

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

Its worse when they just yell help or nurse instead despite teaching to use the call light and they are fully capable of using it. When I hear someone yell help it is one of the few things that piques my interest instantly and sparks a reaction. Maybe thats why they do it. Im just so used to hearing a nurse or tech yell for help its in my head.

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"The IV pump is getting ready to alarm"

"The IV needs maintenance" (Alaris pumps scroll 'maintenance fluids' across the screen while infusing.)

Happened on my shift a couple of times too!

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We know about legitimate reasons for using the call light and why we should answer promptly. Does that mean this thread shouldn't exist and we shouldn't try to find the lighter side of a frequent source of job aggravation?

I generally agree with your posts, and respect your contributions. I personally don't find threads that belittle patients/family members valuable, for the reasons I stated in my previous posts on this thread, but when I read these threads sometimes I find a reason to contribute (usually from the point of view of advocating for patients/family as I did on this thread), and sometimes I find that there are other posters on such threads who hold similar views to myself. I do not, however, expect everyone to share my views.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
"I'm in terrible pain" says the A&O 40 year old with the PCA pump control in her hand. And yes, she knew how to use it.

This indicates a need to assess why pain continues to be a problem and to intervene based on the assessment.

It was clear by the thread title what this thread was for. No need to come in to tell us all that we are awful for saying what we feel. As for my contribution, the patient in question was my favorite that day, and he gave me a good laugh. His wife came in on the last few rings and started saying, "honey, it's the call light! The call light!!"

It's not always belittling to participate in these threads, unless you want to see it that way.

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I'm ashamed. Feel better? No? Then why post stuff like that? If the answer is yes, you got problems that I can't solve.

Are you ashamed for shaming? No? You should be.

There isn't much on this thread that's shame-worthy. Now, if the OP and subsequent posters had said something like they took away the call light and told the patient to get over it, that would be worth a good tongue-lashing. Or if they told the CNA to ignore the patient. Or let the call light ring because they knew it was frivolous. Or did anything that was about controlling the patient and not responding to the patient's need. Did any of that happen? Nope.

Obviously, as another poster said, the call lights were answered or they wouldn't have been able to post the reason for the button push.

Just because people come on here to vent it does not make them shameful. Being able to vent is one of the most wonderful reasons for the website's existence.

ETA - This does not apply to the cautionary tale, although I think that it is aimed at the wrong audience. We all know to check the light.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
Its worse when they just yell help or nurse instead despite teaching to use the call light and they are fully capable of using it. When I hear someone yell help it is one of the few things that piques my interest instantly and sparks a reaction. Maybe thats why they do it. Im just so used to hearing a nurse or tech yell for help its in my head.

I'm with you on "help!' yellers. Pretty common in a SNF unfortunately. It seems we usually have at least one or two in house that yell help frequently for absolutely no reason. One is so bad with this that we had to resort to putting this person on 15 minute wellness checks just to be sure that everything was actually ok.

I do wonder what a new visitor thinks about this though. Looking at it from their perspective I imagine somebody coming in to see their loved one and not knowing the situation watches all these staff members walking by and ignoring this poor person yelling for help. They probably think we are absolutely awful nurses and are probably second guessing allowing their loved one to be admitted to a facility that treats somebody so poorly.

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Specializes in MICU, SICU, CICU.

People who are offended by this thread probably have never had to leave an unstable patient needing multiple interventions only to hear :

"my ice water is too cold"

"rub my feet"

"scratch my back (or balls)"

"put on the Red Sox/playoffs/Patriots for me"

"we all want coffee"

No one is mocking or discounting the concerns of the many frail and vulnerable patients who are entrusted to our care who deserve careful assessment and intervention.

Their comfort and well being is, and has always been, our first priority.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

It drives me INSANE when the patient walks up to the desk at triage with Cheetos in one hand and a gulp cup in the other and their complaint is n/v/d and they just haven't been able to keep anything down for DAYS! Then as soon as we place them in a room I get a call overhead that the patient needs to see their nurse only to walk in and they want a pillow, blanket, and socks. If the first thing you want is a pillow, socks and a blanket and you are steadily munching on your snacks you seriously need to let another patient who seriously needs that ER bed have it. Ugh! Makes me so ill.

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