Do you run to bed alarms?

Nursing Students CNA/MA

Published

Ok just curious and maybe its just me. I work in a 30 bed Med Unit. All patients that are at fall risk have their bed alarms put on. So lets say I'm at the other end of the unit and I hear a bed alarm go off. I will RUN to that room to make sure all is ok. Now granted, sometimes its the patient getting out of bed with assistance from a family member, PT getting the patient out of bed etc. and they forget to turn the alarm off before getting the patient up. Whereas the other aides I work with, and some of the nurses will walk quickly towards the alarm. My theory is I would hate that the one alarm I walk to be the one that the patient is ready to fall out of bed and if I had run like I normally do, I could have prevented a fall. However I think the nurses think I'm bonky or something for running lol. Do ya'll run or walk?

I work on a Vascular floor and rarely have bed alarms set...however; if we have a confused and/or fall risk patient and I hear their bed alarm being to sound I walk briskly to their room...I'm on a 32 bed floor, if I try to run around all the corners I have here, I'd knock someone (myself) out. :)

-=-holly-=-

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Specializes in Emergency.

Hi,

I am a nurse on a cardiac/telemetry unit, but we also get medical pts. I am a new nurse, but have worked as a NA in school. I have seen patients who have taken really bad falls in the hospital that were supposed to be going home eventually. Two of these falls turned into deaths as a result of the fall. I will ALWAYS run to a bed alarm. I don't care if the pt has siderails up x4, in a posey bed or other types of restraint. You would be surprised what a confused demented patient can do when you're not looking! Let alone the pts who are younger and determined that they don't need help, even though they are extremely sick. I consider all my patients to be a fall risk until they prove otherwise to me. I explain to them about the bed alarm, and why I have put them on fall precautions. I educate the family if need be. Some pts laugh at me, but I do my best to get them to comply by saying things like "Please do this to make me feel better, even though I know you are used to doing this without help at home." You would be surprised how well this "reverse psychology" works!

Only after I assess their mental/neuro status, their musculoskeletal status and know their orthostatic pressures will I allow them to be "up ad lib" no matter what the MD orders.

Since not every patient will comply with these restrictions no matter how much you educate them, I will probably continue to run to bed alarms throughout my career. Lives are saved by quick response to these alarms.

Amy

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Depends on the pt. Sometimes a walk, sometimes a run. One lady's alarm went off while I was talking to her in the hall...a wanderer got tired and took a nap in her bed...then got up and set off the alarm.

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I go to bed alarms at a very brisk walk. Honestly, if you think about it..if you are at the opposite end of the hall that the alarm is going off on, even if you DO run, the person can already be on the floor. The alarm goes off when the arise..and they can fall miliseconds after arising..leaving you no time to get there to prevent it at a full blown run or not. With you running, you open up more opportunity for you or others to be hurt..you twist your ankle, you run into another person, etc.

A code is a different animal by far

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Where I work i set the bed alarms with different sounds so i know which resident is getting up. But no matter what you have to respond even though you might know the family is in the room etc. Our facility policy is any nursing staff who hears the alarm is supposed to respond by getting to the room quickly. We are instructed to get there fast but try not to run as it sometimes causes other residents to think something terrible might be going on. We have one man who gets up so much during the day that we are responding to his alarm sometimes 20 or 30 times a shift try that running! So you can see that sometimes running is not always the best method.

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Specializes in ICU. Med/Surg: Ortho, Neuro, & Cardiac.

Always run to codes

Always run to codes if you are physically able.

I only say this because I've seen it happen where someone couldn't perform the code because they were too out of breath and would harm themselves in the act. Luckily there are TONS of people to take over.

Now, I don't run, but at 6'4" my "brisk walk" is a run to a person of average height.

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I all but run,(brisk walk) for all the reasons mentioned.The resident is gen. on the floor already, and gen. 2-3 people from different areas ,answer the call, all but running,

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It depends on the pt.

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Specializes in GYN/GON/Med-Surg/Oncology/Tele.

I walk...sometimes I speed walk. I'm afraid if I run I'll end up in a bed with an alarm. I'm clumsy:specs:

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I stop what I am doing and walk quickly to a bed alarm. 99% of the time there really was no need to run and risk hurting myself as well.

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Specializes in ICU. Med/Surg: Ortho, Neuro, & Cardiac.
Hi,

I am a nurse on a cardiac/telemetry unit, but we also get medical pts. I am a new nurse, but have worked as a NA in school. I have seen patients who have taken really bad falls in the hospital that were supposed to be going home eventually. Two of these falls turned into deaths as a result of the fall. I will ALWAYS run to a bed alarm. I don't care if the pt has siderails up x4, in a posey bed or other types of restraint. You would be surprised what a confused demented patient can do when you're not looking! Let alone the pts who are younger and determined that they don't need help, even though they are extremely sick. I consider all my patients to be a fall risk until they prove otherwise to me. I explain to them about the bed alarm, and why I have put them on fall precautions. I educate the family if need be. Some pts laugh at me, but I do my best to get them to comply by saying things like "Please do this to make me feel better, even though I know you are used to doing this without help at home." You would be surprised how well this "reverse psychology" works!

Only after I assess their mental/neuro status, their musculoskeletal status and know their orthostatic pressures will I allow them to be "up ad lib" no matter what the MD orders.

Since not every patient will comply with these restrictions no matter how much you educate them, I will probably continue to run to bed alarms throughout my career. Lives are saved by quick response to these alarms.

Amy

You make a good point. I've seen a pt with bil AKA's climb out of bed and get a SDH as a result of the fall.

I've also seen a pt with an ORIF of L Hip Fx, 4 hours post-op, climb out of bed, with siderails up x4 and sustain a pretty bad lac to his forehead and a dislocated shoulder. This was no more than 5-10 secs after the bed alarm started going off because I ran from the opposite end of the unit and by the time I got there he was on the floor. Even though he was scored a fall risk on the Braden scale, the nurse didn't think he needed a bed alarm because "he just had surgery four hours ago and was pretty sedated."

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