Hospital patients are happy with nurses' new smart phones

we have the ASCOM phones where i work and the call bells do not ring to our phones, they ring to the CNA's first. if the CNA does not answer the phone, the call gets routed to us. we are no longer allowed to sit at the desk and chart or to give report in the med rooms-we are required to chart on COWs in the hallways, chart checks on wagons in the hallways, and report at the bedside--so if the call light rings, we see it right away anyways.

however, we are required to provide each patient with our phone number at the beginning of the shift and for most patients who are able to, they do not hit the call bell, they just dial us directly--which makes life easier for all involved. i explain to them that if it's for something like ice water or potty to call the CNA's number first and if it is something they cannot reach the CNA for or questions, med requests, don't feel good, etc, to please call me first.

i think it helps with relaying messages--i know our CNA's have so many patients sometimes when someone asks for a pain pill or says they feel sick to their stomach it can take them some time to come and find me or call me. i know there have been a few times where i go in a room and someone says "what took you so long with my pill?" and i didn't know they had asked for it.

as far as the doctors calling the phones directly, i actually hate that. they get really mad if you don't pick up after one ring and ask what you were doing and why it took so long---and they don't wanna hear you were in airborne isolation cleaning up poopies. we also require two nurses to verify telephone orders, so then you have to go running down the hall to find someone else, when if they reach you at the desk theres usually someone else there.

the other reason i like the ASCOM phones is the lab, radiology and the monitor techs get our extensions at the beginning of the shift and they can call us for anything at all directly--esp helpful when your patient has a change in rhythm or drop in 02 sat, it's those few seconds that make a difference.

Sounds like this technology is very successful in several important areas...patient satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and improved efficiency. I personally have not "used" this system. I did work closely with nurses who did, however. From my perspective this system makes collaboration much, much easier. The nurses are able to determine what is needed and can go directly to the action that answers the patients request. For example, when I visited the GIP patients at the hospital I was not able to obtain their opioids, I had to ask the RN to get them. With this system I just called them told them what the patient needed and met them at the med room (unless I needed to stay with the patient). This was so much easier for them and me. I observed the docs using it in pretty much the same way, although some of them would ask someone to "call the nurse", IMO they will catch on.

I worked as a patient care tech on a very busy labor and delivery unit. The PCTs and RNs carried spectralinks, which I am assuming is a smartphone. They are like cell phones that work on the hospital campus, but you can receive incoming and make outgoing calls too, which was excellent if a physician wanted to call you, or was willing to provide their cell to the nurse to be called directly, and of course those with a phone could call any extension or other spectralink in the hospital.

It comes in handy if you encounter an emergency in the middle of an empty hallway, like the time when I along with another tech, delivered a baby in a hallway, with an EMT who wanted to run away. We were in an area of the hospital far from labor and delivery transporting something, and just so happend to be very close to where the ambulance brings patients in, and nobody else was around. While the EMT was freaking out, the other tech ran and got blankets and an ED nurse, since that was the closest unit, I was putting on gloves and dialing Labor and Delivery with my spectralink. Very convenient! It's also great when your in the room with your patient and you want NICU but it is not necessary to hit the staff emergency button, but you can't leave your patient. You can call whoever you want!

You can really set up a system that is individualized to your unit's needs. Because in L&D, usually when the patient calls, if they are still laboring, it's the nurse that they need. They could call the RN directly by using their bedside phone and dialing the RN's number, or they can hit the nurse call bell on the bed, which will also go directly to the nurse's phone. If the nurse does not answer, it transfers to the nurse's station. If they want to change the bedside call button to go directly to the tech, they could do so very easily. Usually at the beginning of the shift the RN and tech will both write their numbers down for the patient in the room, and tell the patient who should be called for what.

Long message...Can you tell that I love this invention?

I haven't used this, but I would really dislike being interrupted while I'm with a patient. I also think it would be rude to stop what you're doing and take a call. How do you handle that?

i kind of thought that too when we first started using them.
but at the beginning of the shift when i provide my pts with the phone number, i make it clear that it is my priority to answer that phone if it rings... they know if they need me they can call and i will answer right away, but that my 7 other patients have access to me as well and if i need to take a quick call while i am with them then i will. i also explain that the phone is a life line for them because it connects me to the monitor techs who are watching their heart beat for 24 hours a day and can help save their life quickly in an emergency. they usually understand.

We still have old fashioned call lights. I would think I would prefer this system. If the call light rings, whoever's not busy gets it. I rarely have one of my patient's needs unmet because I'm busy with another patient. Guess I just have good coworkers like that. But if we had this system, how would another nurse even know one of my patients needed something?

I don't think I would like caring for that one patient: "I want a popsicle and I want it now. I don't want to wait 5 minutes for my pain pill." I mean, I get it, they're pager system seems overly complicated, but this "gimme gimme now" attitude drives me nuts. I have yet to master the art of being more than one place at a time.

We've had these phones for a long time. They drive me nuts. You can't complete a thought or have a meaningful conversation with a patient because it is ringing constantly. Most of it is unimportant and virtually all of it could wait a few minutes until you leave a room. How do YOU like being a customer and get ignored in the middle of a conversation because the clerk answers a phone call?

I have never used a system such as this. We have regular call lights and we also have some semi private rooms. I have concerns with our current system with regard to patient privacy. How do you maintain privacy when answering a phone when in another room? I can only suppose that the patient you are with when you answer the call would not know who you are speaking with unless you tell them. I think my patients would like the idea of being able to call the nurse or the CNA directly. How do you deal with this when you have a confused, disoriented patient?

We used several communication means. The last was a wireless phone. The calls went to the tech first who usually said they couldn't come. It then was routed to the nurse who was inevitably busy up to their a** in alligators.

The change came when the busy call was then routed to the charge nurse or the rare floating personnel.

The charge could look around to see what was needed and assign someone, even the secretary or herself to get the Popsicle or go relieve the Nurse if she indeed was the most knowledgeable about the calling patient in an emergency.

Finally we obtained a cell system for the unlicensed staff that was limited in range to only our floor, only our building dialing out.

The Nurses phones could dial out to the doctors or patient's family. It made a real difference.