Call bell/nurse notify system

[studentsara]

My hospital is getting ready to revamp out call bell system. Currently it's the basic patient calls out to a central desk and the person who answers either takes care of the issue or calls the nurse on her Spectralink pocket phone (think Nokia from 2000). They are changing to a new system we don't quite understand, but there will be different buttons for the patient to choose depending on their need? Also we will have iPhones that we get at the beginning of our shift. Is anyone using this system and what feedback do you have? Thanks in advance!

[AceOfHearts<3]

I'm interested in replies, this is something that's being considered for my facility.

[ievent2]

At my facility, our call bells have the option for "toilet", "pain", and "water", plus a regular bell function. If the patient presses any of those buttons, it shows up on our central phone base. Each of the "functions" has a different ring and light pattern outside of the room. We also use VOALTE phones to send texts and call others, and carry them throughout our shift. There is a dedicated extension for each user, and we can give that number to the patient to call and it rings directly to us, theoretically reducing the amount the call bell system is used. Our IV pumps and bed alarms have the ability to alarm on our phones if IT connected them as well.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

"Spectralink, Nokia, iPhone"

Which is it?

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

"Spectralink, Nokia, iPhone"

Which is it?

Spectralink is a phone that looks like a 2000 Nokia. We have them in our hospital. Just cordless phones. She's saying their new system will have iPhones.

[studentsara]

Spectralink is a phone that looks like a 2000 Nokia. We have them in our hospital. Just cordless phones. She's saying their new system will have iPhones.

Yep! Exactly.

[studentsara]

ievent2, I like the use of the word theoretically LOL. That's how our administration is selling this system to the nursing staff, needless to say we are somewhat skeptical.

[AutumnApple]

I've worked at facilities using this system. I saw nothing useful come of it.

The facility had a person answering the bell (off site) if any of the buttons other than the reg nurse light were pushed. If the nurse button was activated, we were to respond immediately. For the other buttons, the operator asked what they wanted to request then told the nurse (called nurse on their phone).

The theory was that it would help prioritize things. It did, somewhat.

But patients eventually caught on to the fact that it took longer using a button other than the nurse one. With all the calling around and everything, there was a delay with the other buttons.

So the patients just used the nurse one regardless of what their request was. Yes......this is the equivalent of saying "I have chest pain" so your extra pillow gets delivered more quickly but..........it is what it is.

This led to some friction with said patients. Nurses would try to educate them on which call bell would have been the appropriate one to use......and they got defensive and complained.

My problem with it was: Pain was treated as a low priority call bell. The protocol for answering the pain button was the same as the protocol for the water button lol. That was asking for trouble from my point of view.

[NuGuyNurse2b]

None of these fancy calling systems will ever work if you don't have the staff to execute it. We've had everything from different colored lights to 'timing' the responses by manager and people getting reprimanded/written up if not meeting the allowed time, to 'prioritizing' (aide comes in first regardless of what the needs are, and then escalates if necessary), and all it did was just force people to be creative and beat the system because without the adequate staff to provide that level of service, it won't work. Hospitals just need to hire more people for their floors, which is the answer staring right at them that no one wants to pick. And if you even dare to throw that out there, they'll accuse you of not being a part of the answer. Well sorry but if there's a leak in the roof and the only solution is to fix the leak, and you keep trying different sizes and brands of bandages, that's not really being part of the answer.

[tele queen]

Basically every patient hits the big red nurse button and every call comes to you. You then decide whether to toilet every patient, bring water, turn off the light, etc every call or attempt to reach an aide. I preferred the calls going to the desk and then routed by a secretary.