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!
I don't want to argue or start trouble. It does seem, though, that you are not looking at this from the patients' or visitors' point of view at all.
If I were a patient or visitor, I'd think nothing of asking for what I need or want. I'd ask if you were busily walking in the hall, I might poke my head into another person's room, I'd badger you for whatever my loved one or I needed whenever we needed it.
Being in a hospital is foreign and very scary to "civilians". It's scary if you are a nurse who happens to be a patient, too. Imagine being a patient yourself and it will help you feel more kindly toward patients and their families and their needs.
No, just no. I can agree with advocating for your loved one but I 100% guarantee that if you have the nerve to follow me into another persons room I will be asking you to leave that room immediately.
"I'd badger you for whatever my loved one or I needed whenever we needed it." If you really think that is the way to get what you need you are sadly mistaken.
I don't want to argue or start trouble. It does seem, though, that you are not looking at this from the patients' or visitors' point of view at all.
If I were a patient or visitor, I'd think nothing of asking for what I need or want. I'd ask if you were busily walking in the hall, I might poke my head into another person's room, I'd badger you for whatever my loved one or I needed whenever we needed it.
Being in a hospital is foreign and very scary to "civilians". It's scary if you are a nurse who happens to be a patient, too. Imagine being a patient yourself and it will help you feel more kindly toward patients and their families and their needs.
First off, I realize call bells are vitally important and even a silly request can be a valid request. I don't even mind the patients/families who haunt the hallways for staff. They usually had a bad experience with a need not being attended to timely before, or they aren't used to the hospital and think it's the easiest/best way to get a hold of someone. No problem.
That being said, the few times I have been followed into another patients room, I get very stern very fast. That is incredibly rude, inconsiderate, and out of line. It's a violation of the patients privacy. I have closed the door in the family members face, told them to leave, and afterward explained why. They are usually very ashamed when I explain why that's wrong. Unless it's a critical situation this is NOT appropriate. Other staff have called security on repeat offenders who do this. Security set them straight and threatened to escort them out of the facility, as they should.
I am sure you know needs aren't attended to on a first come first serve basis, they are prioritized based on safety and other factors. I think you do know that, and your post was showing your frustration with some of the other posters here. I truly hope you don't act that entitled...
I don't want to argue or start trouble. It does seem, though, that you are not looking at this from the patients' or visitors' point of view at all.
If I were a patient or visitor, I'd think nothing of asking for what I need or want. I'd ask if you were busily walking in the hall, I might poke my head into another person's room, I'd badger you for whatever my loved one or I needed whenever we needed it.
Being in a hospital is foreign and very scary to "civilians". It's scary if you are a nurse who happens to be a patient, too. Imagine being a patient yourself and it will help you feel more kindly toward patients and their families and their needs.
Really? You'd be so rude as to interrupt me when I'm with another patient, for all you know is having a severe turn for the worse, for ice chips? You'd stalk me into someone else's room in which you have no business being when the use of the call light has been explained to you several times? *side eyes you* I'm not talking about putting on the call light and waiting patiently for either myself, another nurse, or the tech to come and assist you. Obviously in those cases, you would and should not be ignored, and we highly encourage the use of the call button, and YES, if you or your loved one is having a true emergency, by all means, come out and yell for immediate help.
You are incorrectly assuming I have no empathy for my patients or their families. You couldn't be more wrong. All I ask is that patients have families have some basic empathy for their nurse, and the OTHER patients and THEIR families and stop being so selfish and wake up and realize that a sprite is low on the list of priorities when the patient in the next room is having trouble breathing, or is in severe pain, or is about to fall out of bed due to confusion.
I've flat out had patients tell me, when I was able to get back to them (after prioritizing their needs taking safety and emergent needs into account) that they understand I have other patients, but then in the same breath expect me at their beck and call and to drop everything when they want it no matter what. They are a patient, not King for a day. I am their nurse, not their doormat or personal servant, and I have others I have to care for simultaneously. By all means, find me a cloning device and have me available five different ways at the exact same time. I have NEVER ignored a patient's light or their concerns. EVER. I find the insinuation that I lack care insulting when I do everything in my power to twist myself around as much as I can to accommodate these types. This is why I am ranting.
First off, I realize call bells are vitally important and even a silly request can be a valid request. I don't even mind the patients/families who haunt the hallways for staff. They usually had a bad experience with a need not being attended to timely before, or they aren't used to the hospital and think it's the easiest/best way to get a hold of someone. No problem.
That being said, the few times I have been followed into another patients room, I get very stern very fast. That is incredibly rude, inconsiderate, and out of line. It's a violation of the patients privacy. I have closed the door in the family members face, told them to leave, and afterward explained why. They are usually very ashamed when I explain why that's wrong. Unless it's a critical situation this is NOT appropriate. Other staff have called security on repeat offenders who do this. Security set them straight and threatened to escort them out of the facility, as they should.
I am sure you know needs aren't attended to on a first come first serve basis, they are prioritized based on safety and other factors. I think you do know that, and your post was showing your frustration with some of the other posters here. I truly hope you don't act that entitled...
Really? You'd be so rude as to interrupt me when I'm with another patient, for all you know is having a severe turn for the worse, for ice chips? You'd stalk me into someone else's room in which you have no business being when the use of the call light has been explained to you several times? *side eyes you* I'm not talking about putting on the call light and waiting patiently for either myself, another nurse, or the tech to come and assist you. Obviously in those cases, you would and should not be ignored, and we highly encourage the use of the call button, and YES, if you or your loved one is having a true emergency, by all means, come out and yell for immediate help.
You are incorrectly assuming I have no empathy for my patients or their families. You couldn't be more wrong. All I ask is that patients have families have some basic empathy for their nurse, and the OTHER patients and THEIR families and stop being so selfish and wake up and realize that a sprite is low on the list of priorities when the patient in the next room is having trouble breathing, or is in severe pain, or is about to fall out of bed due to confusion.
I've flat out had patients tell me, when I was able to get back to them (after prioritizing their needs taking safety and emergent needs into account) that they understand I have other patients, but then in the same breath expect me at their beck and call and to drop everything when they want it no matter what. They are a patient, not King for a day. I am their nurse, not their doormat or personal servant, and I have others I have to care for simultaneously. By all means, find me a cloning device and have me available five different ways at the exact same time. I have NEVER ignored a patient's light or their concerns. EVER. I find the insinuation that I lack care insulting when I do everything in my power to twist myself around as much as I can to accommodate these types. This is why I am ranting.
Totally true. I agree with you. And, on another point, are we really supposed to tell patients they are the one and only one we are caring for. Does management really expect us to never say we are busy. As a patient, I would rather have the staff tell me they are busy and that is why it took a long time to respond to me, rather than not knowing why and thinking they can't be bothered, etc. Also, it would give me confidence that if I were the sicker patient, the staff would attend to me before they would attend to trivial needs. That would make me feel good about the staff, not bad. It is a sign of warped managers that they don't want us to ever say we are busy or that we prioritize patient needs. Maybe those managers should try actually delivering patient care. I think that should be a requirement of their job.
If a family member or visitor followed me into another patient's room badgering me, security would be following them to their vehicle and off the premises.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
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.
How do you judge inappropriateness of the call bell? Even patients who are relentless in the bell have an appropriate reason....maybe they are scared, worried, anxious.....and they just don't know how to verbalize what they are feeling.
How do you judge inappropriateness of the call bell? Even patients who are relentless in the bell have an appropriate reason....maybe they are scared, worried, anxious.....and they just don't know how to verbalize what they are feeling.
I wish I had the time to hold hands and talk through issues with patients every time the issue comes up but ultimately I don't. There just isn't enough time in the day to spend any real time helping emotionally. My goal is to make sure everyone is alive and a little bit better than when I started my shift by the end of it.
I wish I had the time to hold hands and talk through issues with patients every time the issue comes up but ultimately I don't. There just isn't enough time in the day to spend any real time helping emotionally. My goal is to make sure everyone is alive and a little bit better than when I started my shift by the end of it.
This is one reason I left bedside nursing 10 years ago. Even then there wasn't enough time to spend with the patients.
Seeing Hospice patients in a facility setting gives me that time to hold hands and provide emotional support. I actually CAN say "Is there anything you would like me to get for you?" and mean it.
Nine times out of ten, my patients (or their family members) will say something like "Oh, you don't have to, I know you must be busy". That tells me the facility staff are stretched and undermanned. That's when my reply is "No, right now YOU are my priority. I'm not taking care of 30 other people, I really DO have the time to get you some more ice".
I truly detest those scripts-most of us aren't good enough actors to carry it off convincingly all the time. If we were, our name would be Meryl Streep or Jennifer Lawrence, and we would be in Hollywood making a Helluva lot more money than we do now.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
I wish I had the time to hold hands and talk through issues with patients every time the issue comes up but ultimately I don't. There just isn't enough time in the day to spend any real time helping emotionally. My goal is to make sure everyone is alive and a little bit better than when I started my shift by the end of it.
Then realize that call bells are a necessary evil and patients will use them.
As a patient and spending the last 8 months in a hospital I can't emphasize enough that patients feel your anxiety and impatience and will use the light more because they are anxious. The call bell is the only way some patients can communicate with the outside world.....well at least outside of their room. While every nurse is busy..... not every nurse shows it at the bedside. I had nurses who made me feel I was the only patient and nurses that made me feel I was one of many....guess which one made me anxious.
I guess what I am saying....work on your poker face. Appearing harried to the patient doesn't breed confidence. I get it I really do but this last 8 months in a hospital.....ICU to the floor to rehab and back to acute care....was an eye opening experience.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I don't want to argue or start trouble. It does seem, though, that you are not looking at this from the patients' or visitors' point of view at all.
If I were a patient or visitor, I'd think nothing of asking for what I need or want. I'd ask if you were busily walking in the hall, I might poke my head into another person's room, I'd badger you for whatever my loved one or I needed whenever we needed it.
Being in a hospital is foreign and very scary to "civilians". It's scary if you are a nurse who happens to be a patient, too. Imagine being a patient yourself and it will help you feel more kindly toward patients and their families and their needs.
After reading this entire thread, you still think it's OK to "think nothing of asking for what I need or want," accost staff busily walking in the hall, poke your head into another patient's room or badger the staff for whatever your loved one or (I'm assuming ablebodied) YOU, the vistor want or need whenever you need it. THAT is truly scary.
We nurses realize that being in a hospital is scary. I don't have to imagine being a patient myself -- I've been one far more often than I'd like to contemplate. I understand what it's like to feel helpless. Still and all, once the nurse explains that she'll round hourly and get you what you need then and the call light should be used for things like "I'm having servere pain in my chest" or "I'm short of breath" or "My IV is beeping" most reasonable people understand that it is NOT OK to hound the nurse for another ginger ale, poke your head into another patient's room for ANY reason, accost staff busily walking in the hall because the ice water is too cold or "Think nothing of using the call light" to ask for a straw.
The unmitigated gall of you telling us that we need to imagine ourselves in the patient's place in order to feel more kindly toward them is unbelievable! But then, I guess I was assuming that you had actually read the thread you're participating in. If not, please do so and let us know if you stand by your post.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I guess patients need to make arrangements for their own private duty nurse while they are in the hospital. I mean that seriously. If I ever encounter a nurse taking care of my family member who has the attitude that they don't think a family member's concerns in regard to the patient are important, or that answering the call bell is not important, I will report that nurse to the Board of Nursing, and to their manager. Then I will contact a lawyer. It's too bad that some nurses don't understand their job is to take care of the patient and their family. Yes, I will tell nurses what their job is if they don't know that family members have the right to advocate for their ill family member. It's quite one thing for family members to behave unreasonably; it's entirely another thing for family members to bring legitimate concerns. Some nurses seem to have forgotten or don't understand that they are not there for their own convenience. Yes, patients have a legal and ethical right to be able to call for help; and their family members who are behaving within the bounds of reason and decency have the right to bring concerns to the nurse.
To be honest, I can't believe that nurses are having this conversation about call bells. I just read part of Esme's post. Esme has spent a lot of time in hospital. Imagine patients and family members reading some of these posts. I actually feel ashamed for my profession when I read some of these posts. The call bell is the patient's life line. I stay with my family members 24/7, but not everyone is able to do this. Reading this thread I am even more convinced of the necessity to stay with my family members when they are sick in the hospital.
No one has said that family members should not be advocating for the patient, and no one has said that family members have no right to bring legitimate concerns. The topic is about those who press the call light two minutes after you've left and ask for another straw or ginger ale for all 17 visitors. Those requests (demands) aren't advocating for the patient, nor are they legitimate.
Please believe that nurses do discuss call bells and whether or not the patient in room 18 is using theirs appropriately. Believe that is the patient in room 18 is using hers frequently for small requests that could easily wait or be bundled, or that the family member standing next to the be could easily manage, room 18's call will go to the bottom of the priority list real quickly. Especially when room 19's call bell goes off and that patient has only used it once during his entire eight day hospital stay.
I -- and most nurses -- understand that patients are scared and lonely. However in these days with sicker patients, shorter staffing and 24/7 visitation, the visitors should be taking care of the "scared and lonely" as well as the volume on the TV, fluffing the pillows and feeding and toileting themselves. The nurses have all they can do to deal with sicker patients and shorter staffing.
kbrn2002, ADN, RN
3,970 Posts
No, just no. I can agree with advocating for your loved one but I 100% guarantee that if you have the nerve to follow me into another persons room I will be asking you to leave that room immediately.
"I'd badger you for whatever my loved one or I needed whenever we needed it." If you really think that is the way to get what you need you are sadly mistaken.