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!
The absolute worst are the people who hit the call light while you are still in the room. We had a guy doing that a few weeks ago that was on the bipap and would hit the light literally and actually at least every five minutes to ask for ice chips. Not super conducive to bipap time.
He would hit the light while you were in the room telling him he couldn't have ice again for however many minutes. If you asked him why he would say he was hoping who ever came in to answer it the next time would give him ice chips.
Good heavens this thread ruffled my feathers just like a hallway full of call bells!
I work in LTC and we have a few who use their call light AND yell out at the same time. It has gotten to the point where I've told a few the story of the boy who cried wolf.
It is everyones job to answer bells but honestly where I work.. I only see floor nurses and CNAs answering bells 99% of the time.
My pet peeve? - When I am passing meds(which are already very late) and trying to concentrate and I get told.. "theres a call light going off over there.."
Good heavens this thread ruffled my feathers just like a hallway full of call bells!
I work in LTC and we have a few who use their call light AND yell out at the same time. It has gotten to the point where I've told a few the story of the boy who cried wolf.
It is everyones job to answer bells but honestly where I work.. I only see floor nurses and CNAs answering bells 99% of the time.
My pet peeve? - When I am passing meds(which are already very late) and trying to concentrate and I get told.. "theres a call light going off over there.."
I actually told my DON in a moment of frustration, "OK, go answer it then." I don't recommend this approach as a rule, but in that moment it worked. He turned around and answered the light.
I actually told my DON in a moment of frustration, "OK, go answer it then." I don't recommend this approach as a rule, but in that moment it worked. He turned around and answered the light.
I will try that next time! I am curious the response and I don't think its grounds for any disciplinary action.. I am concentrating on my task at hand and the resident is most likely in no acute distress and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to answer a call light.
One of my favorite patients used the call bell while I stood next to the bed--three feet away--in spite of my assurances that I was there to help. No urgent needs. Nothing particular going on. Just wanted me in the room. Then she used it as a "phone" randomly hitting buttons. The call bell was one of 'em. My pedometer said I clocked 11 miles that day. I think it underestimated
Years ago I was working in ICU and had a repeat offender. Finally she said I'm so sorry I keep ringing the bell. I said "its ok, we bill one dollar each time you ring" It will just go on your bill! She was like really! I laughed and said, just kidding. She laid off the bell after that!
Don't worry, I knew what you meant when you said..retreat instead of repeat.....Completely.....omg......I Have worked in LTC since the early 90s..I am tired of it...maybe because I am losing my patience and don't feel well most times myself....the tolerance is wearing thin....especially with excessive call bell ringing...most times I feel like taking the cord and wrapping it around their necks....You get BONKERS....and its not emergencies.....the emergencies YOU always find when you happened to walk into the room at the right moment....I am usually Left with a very sick respiratory patient they didn't give a neb treatment to or left her terribly SOB and did nothing....and these are the people that NEED TO RING....not the pull my curtain, close my window, the soup needs to be warmed up, My blanket needs straightening, etc....THESE ARE JOBS THE AIDES should be doing and MAKING SURE their patients needs are being watched...and are keeping vigilant to cues of illness . I tell my Aides all the time.....and they should know cause they have been there working far long before I got there and should know their patients quirks, wants, and demands...that NO CALL bells should be ringing......But what happens with the elderly is that THEY KNOW THAT YOU have to answer these bells..ITS YOUR JOB.....I had one woman ring every 5 minutes....for little things....Oh...change the channel on the tv....then you stand there for 10 minutes trying to find her channel because she knew what the number of the channel was but forgot...so you flip through the whole channel system. I make no apology...but this system of patients rights has gone too far to the point where the nurse is answering too many call bells for absolute nonsense calls.....I cant run like I used to.....I feel sorry for many of them......but the familys pump the information into their heads too....OH...RING FOR THE NURSE if you want the volume up on the TV....RING FOR THE NURSE if you feel cold.....Ring for the nurse....ring for the nurse.....and then the family stands there and doesn't do a thing for their loved one.......I admired and respected those family members and friends that ACTUALLY did something for the residents...instead of standing there and ringing the callbell for the resident!!!!!! OH it gets me so angry......I thought I had high blood pressure recently....I always ran in the 120s over 80s......and found out my BP was going high at work....till I found out IT WAS WORK.....
I am not making myself sick for these people that think you are a maid or somekind of slave...it really takes away from giving care to those that are really sick and it angers me terribly.......
Personally, I have had family members in the hospital with serious issues. They were not call bell over users and used it when they needed pain medication. That was the only thing besides medication administration that nursing needed because I was doing everything else for my family member. Just want to mention that on average, when my family members rang the call bell it took 30 to 40 minutes for anyone to come and tgat was with a second call bell 35 minutes after the initial call...didn't matter what time of day, etc. Very frustrating, and also to have my family members calling nurses "stupid" or "uncaring" was pretty embarrasing. However, I realize it it such a problem to get all the necessary work done when call bells are going off every two minutes!!
.but this system of patients rights has gone too far to the point where the nurse is answering too many call bells for absolute nonsense calls....OH...RING FOR THE NURSE if you want the volume up on the TV....RING FOR THE NURSE if you feel cold.....Ring for the nurse....ring for the nurse.....and then the family stands there and doesn't do a thing for their loved one.......I admired and respected those family members and friends that ACTUALLY did something for the residents...instead of standing there and ringing the callbell for the resident!!!!!! OH it gets me so angry.........people that think you are a maid or somekind of slave...it really takes away from giving care to those that are really sick and it angers me terribly.......
In my ideal hospital, there would be a team of 3 aids that would reliably round on the entire unit every two hours. They would bring a cart around with snacks, extra linens, ice water, drinks, socks, toiletries, phone numbers for other departments. Two of them could toilet/position/clean up/lotion someone while the third documented the care and tidied/stocked the room. On the off hours the nurse would go in and ask about pain, bring meds, and update assessments. Patients would have call lights, but they would be educated what they were for- pain, shortness of breath, urgent toileting needs, nausea, feeling dizzy, etc. Things that can't wait. They'd be okay with this because they would know that someone would reliably be in there every hour. And management would be okay with it because patient would be asked about if they were educated, and clean, and treated with dignity, or if people introduced themselves, on patient surveys. Not if their dilaudid was delivered in their preferred dose, or their pillow was fluffed with adequate frequency, or the mashed potatoes were properly seasoned. Hey, one can dream, right?
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.
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martymoose, BSN, RN
1,946 Posts
I'd get an order for NPO.