Call bells! I am beginning to think call bells are the worst invention in the world.
Ring, ring ,ring.
Today, the call bells were crazy. Our secretary kept track. We had 97 call bells in 2 1/2 hours from 26 pts. Several retreat offenders. You know the ones. They ring, you tell them you will be there shorty, 30 secs later, they ring again, and again and again. Look lady, my kegs are short, I simply cannot get from the nursing station to you in 30 secs.
One pt keeps ringing because he's lonely. One just puts her finger and the button and holds it until her nurse gets there.
One pt rang to have her table cleaned off.
Good thing I wasn't playing the drinking game, one drink for every call bell. I wouldn't sober up until Xmas!
It would cost more money to provide that kind of service to people. Never going to happen, except in hospitals for the wealthy. Even better, my vision is that every patient has their own individual highly educated health care professional sitting at their bedside round the clock. No need for a call bell. They would have someone there all the time.
Most sizeable units already have 3 aides. You could even have just two aides dedicated to this per 3 units, then have them round on all of those units, pulling one aide from each unit for a set of rounds on a rotational basis. Done right- it's not more costly. It's reallocating resources, making sure you have dedicated staff (and appreciating them so they stay that way), and ensuring everyone pulls their weight. With patient satisfaction effecting billing now, it's necessary to make sure patients are satisfied. If nurses weren't involved in answering call lights or toileting patients or fetching blankets and snacks, the rate of med errors would go down- money savings. Preventing falls, pressure ulcers, and unnecessary foley placements is also money savings.
We have asked for more staff. We were told they had to cut back.
Same- and more demands .
It feels like a no win situation.
The nurse gets crapped on because they dont "make money " for the hospital. We are an expense.
Drs and other "professions( see profession thread ) work for themselves.
The customer service thing came into play because of medicare PAY FOR SERVICES. If the scores aren't high enough, hospital doesnt get their pay. Also they dont get their pay for fx hips, uti,s falls, decubs. etc.
we are nothing but a non value added expense, and it it takes away fro the PTB bonuses.....
You did not understand what I said. Did the patients who called the nurses stupid and uncaring for not responding to the call bells fast enough go to the powers that be and ask for more staff. It won't happen unless it comes from the public. The nurses asking for more staff won't do it. My point was rather than running down the nurses, did these people actually do anything proactive like going to management and asking for more staff to look after them so their call bells would be answered more quickly. My guess is not. It sounds like these dysfunctional people are the stupid ones, just wanting an excuse to be abusive but with no real intent to do anything in a positive way. I feel so sorry for the nurse who has these people as relatives. But he/she can always disown them. I would.
Most sizeable units already have 3 aides. You could even have just two aides dedicated to this per 3 units, then have them round on all of those units, pulling one aide from each unit for a set of rounds on a rotational basis. Done right- it's not more costly. It's reallocating resources, making sure you have dedicated staff (and appreciating them so they stay that way), and ensuring everyone pulls their weight. With patient satisfaction effecting billing now, it's necessary to make sure patients are satisfied. If nurses weren't involved in answering call lights or toileting patients or fetching blankets and snacks, the rate of med errors would go down- money savings. Preventing falls, pressure ulcers, and unnecessary foley placements is also money savings.
Where I work we hve 2 ides for 80 patients, that is, 1 aide per 40 patients. Definitely not ideal. I do agree with other comments you made, such as the poor nurse trying to be all things to the patients and increasing the risk for med errors, etc.
Several months ago, a couple new positions were created at my hospital: Executive director for patient experience & Patient experience facilitator. Each dept now has meetings with the facilitator to come up with goals to "enhance the pt experience" (ie, we want higher pt satisfaction scores).
I work prn on the floors & saw their current goal posted in the breakroom:
"80% of call lights will be answered as soon as the pt wanted"
Huh? Pfft! Call lights never get answered as soon as the PATIENT wanted unless staff happens to be outside the door when it goes off. And then it's usually 'cause they hit the wrong button trying to turn on their TV.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Devils advocate.......since I was recently critically ill and hospitalized for almost 8 months and I have been a nurse for 38 years....the call bell is so important to a patient. There are many reasons for using the call bell including being frightened.....trust me I know. Yes there are patients that misuse the bell but then you, the nurse, needs to find out why. Are they lonely? Do they miss their family? Are they frightened?
It IS the nurses job and the aids job to find out WHY and WHAT the patient needs.
I had times when the light was answered by the front desk and no one came.....when you have to go you gotta go and you betcha I climbed right over those rails to go!!! I refuse to soil my bed because the staff is "busy".
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Yes they leave, but then a crazier family replaces the last one. It's shameful the way some of these family members act. One guy yesterday came into another pt's rm while I'm giving IV lasix, to tell me his dad needs his pillow adjusted! He did stuff like that ALL DAY ������ I finally got rude with him and told him that he needed to push the red button on the call light and as soon as someone was free then they'd be in there to straighten the pillow, but we need to prioritize between the pt's needs as to what we can get to first. Meanwhile I'm giving him a look that says he should be ashamed of himself that he couldn't touch the pillow himself. He's one that I wished would use the call bell tho. He would just follow random ppl in scrubs around asking for things even though I thoroughly explained to him that the quickest way to get assistance is the call bell bc random ppl don't know who his dad is.
What's a "ppl"? Or a "bc"? You can spell out "prioritize" but not these two things?
You did not understand what I said. Did the patients who called the nurses stupid and uncaring for not responding to the call bells fast enough go to the powers that be and ask for more staff. It won't happen unless it comes from the public. The nurses asking for more staff won't do it. My point was rather than running down the nurses, did these people actually do anything proactive like going to management and asking for more staff to look after them so their call bells would be answered more quickly. My guess is not. It sounds like these dysfunctional people are the stupid ones, just wanting an excuse to be abusive but with no real intent to do anything in a positive way. I feel so sorry for the nurse who has these people as relatives. But he/she can always disown them. I would.
Well, I went about it in a roundabout way (oops)
Actually, I have had pts and their family say " oh, you seem to be running around alot, don't they have anymore help?", and we've been told to never tell them we are short staffed, or someone called out, etc. And we still have to tell them "we have the time"
So I'd say even when families complain to TPTB, it doesn't help.
Where I work we hve 2 ides for 80 patients, that is, 1 aide per 40 patients. Definitely not ideal. I do agree with other comments you made, such as the poor nurse trying to be all things to the patients and increasing the risk for med errors, etc.
Several months ago, a couple new positions were created at my hospital: Executive director for patient experience & Patient experience facilitator. Each dept now has meetings with the facilitator to come up with goals to "enhance the pt experience" (ie, we want higher pt satisfaction scores).
I work prn on the floors & saw their current goal posted in the breakroom:
"80% of call lights will be answered as soon as the pt wanted"
Huh? Pfft! Call lights never get answered as soon as the PATIENT wanted unless staff happens to be outside the door when it goes off. And then it's usually 'cause they hit the wrong button trying to turn on their TV.
I worked in a place where they spent mega bucks to install an electronic monitoring system to see how fast the staff answered the call bells. Then they got a non call bell system. The staff all had hand held computers that lit up when a patient rang the bell but no sound was made.
Devils advocate.......since I was recently critically ill and hospitalized for almost 8 months and I have been a nurse for 38 years....the call bell is so important to a patient. There are many reasons for using the call bell including being frightened.....trust me I know. Yes there are patients that misuse the bell but then you, the nurse, needs to find out why. Are they lonely? Do they miss their family? Are they frightened?
It IS the nurses job and the aids job to find out WHY and WHAT the patient needs.
I had times when the light was answered by the front desk and no one came.....when you have to go you gotta go and you betcha I climbed right over those rails to go!!! I refuse to soil my bed because the staff is "busy".
I don't think anyone has suggested that patients not have a call bell at all. That would be totally unsafe. It is the people who use it inappropriately, like the ones who ring it after you have answered it, while you are standing at the bedside. I have asked patients why they do that and they are speechless.
blondy2061h, MSN, RN
1 Article; 4,094 Posts
Most sizeable units already have 3 aides. You could even have just two aides dedicated to this per 3 units, then have them round on all of those units, pulling one aide from each unit for a set of rounds on a rotational basis. Done right- it's not more costly. It's reallocating resources, making sure you have dedicated staff (and appreciating them so they stay that way), and ensuring everyone pulls their weight. With patient satisfaction effecting billing now, it's necessary to make sure patients are satisfied. If nurses weren't involved in answering call lights or toileting patients or fetching blankets and snacks, the rate of med errors would go down- money savings. Preventing falls, pressure ulcers, and unnecessary foley placements is also money savings.