Call Bells and IV Pumps

[avaloncar, BSN, RN]

.....who else hears them after a long shift? Because I sure do. lmao!

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

Too true. You are not alone.

Alarm Fatigue has been recognized as a huge issue. JC has added this to the new set of Patient Safety Goals. Joint Commission warns hospitals that alarm fatigue is putting patients at risk - Boston.comThere are some 'easy' ways to decrease the number of alarms going off - like setting parameters based on 'actionable' readings. Your hospital probably has a task force that is already addressing this. You may want to find out what they are working on and whether they need any additional volunteers. They need input from nurses who are most familiar with the problem.

[Do-over, ASN, RN]

Now, I shall sing you the song of my people...

[Irish RN]

Too true. You are not alone.

Alarm Fatigue has been recognized as a huge issue. JC has added this to the new set of Patient Safety Goals. Joint Commission warns hospitals that alarm fatigue is putting patients at risk - Boston.comThere are some 'easy' ways to decrease the number of alarms going off - like setting parameters based on 'actionable' readings. Your hospital probably has a task force that is already addressing this. You may want to find out what they are working on and whether they need any additional volunteers. They need input from nurses who are most familiar with the problem.

Our hospital's solution is that we attend to every little need prior to the patient having to hit the call bell which means we all must read our patients' minds.

[Amnesty]

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Now, I shall sing you the song of my people...

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.)

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

The never ending alarms drive me crazy. I want to throw something at them! One of the reasons I only work 3 days a week. On my off time I like peace and quiet.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

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.)

I alays tell patient sif they can put the call light on to tell me they are dying and they are flat lined.....odds are they are going to be alright.

[LakeEmerald]

I used to! During my first couple of months of nursing I would get off my shift and lay in bed at night and realize I was hearing the beep, beep, beep of the monitor in the background of my mind. It must still be there bc not much has changed in the ER where I work. My work zone is near the secretary's desk where the monitor screens feed in. With 20 monitors feeding into there, there's always at least one going off. I guess my brain just got used to the incessant beeps. Hmmm. Wonder how this affects us nurses?

[Fire Bird]

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!

[Hygiene Queen]

I haven't had to listen to a call light since 1999.

No call lights in psych nor in senior daycare...

HEAVEN!!!

[~PedsRN~, BSN, RN]

I work in pediatrics, and my pumps are going off all night because someone put yet another 24g in a 2 year old's AC. LOL! Oh Distal Occlusion, you are my nemesis......

[proud nurse, BSN, RN]

I use a kitchen timer when running ABT in a capped IV. I try to estimate when my continous IV's will run out. But I hate the distal occlusion when the patient keeps lying on the tubing.