Visitors chasing you down the hallway....

[KSU-SN]

I work on a very busy med/surg unit. It is not uncommon to have 8-12 new post surgery patients come to the floor in an 8 hour shift. Recently we have had a lot of trouble finding beds for patients because the entire hospital is full. Everyone runs around busy as can be and we are all stretched to our limit. But visitors are constantly chasing you down the hallway, approaching you as you are getting out all the meds for a certain patient, coming up to the nurses station. Most of the time they approach someone who knows nothing about the patient they are visiting so then you have to not only stop what you're doing but find that nurse so the visitor can talk to the appropriate person. Its also almost always for things that can wait....they come to the nurses station all the time asking for ice chips or another blanket. The other day I was standing at the narc drawer taking out a morphine syringe and counting the ones still left in the drawer and some random lady came up to me and asked me for some towels so her mom could get cleaned up. She could see I was in the middle of something. I told her I couldn't help her right now but I would ask the nurse's aide to get her some towels. A few months ago I had a man whose mother was having a lot of pain and he would come out in the hall, look in all the rooms to find you, and chase you down so he could ask you to get her a pain pill. Then he would stand in the hall with his arms crossed and stare at you wherever you went until you went into her room. I am getting extremely frustrated with this....I cant tell you how many times I've gotten out all the meds for a patient and been about to go into the patient's room and some visitor asks me for a washcloth or a refill for their water pitcher. And we cant leave meds sitting out in the open so im forced to either put them all back in the drawer or carry them around with me and risk dropping them or losing them in the process. Does anyone have any ideas how we could reinforce the use of the call light without being rude? I can understand if its an emergency like so and so cant breathe or someone has to use the bathroom REAL BAD. But there are many times when I want to tell someone to just use the dang call light because I am very busy right now and either the nurse's aide will get to you or I will get to you when I have a free minute. I just have not come up with an effective way of getting this point across without offending anyone.

[CuriousMe]

I'm just a student....so take my comments with a grain of salt.....but has anyone tried asking them to use the call light?

So, say I was pulling meds for my patient and another patient's visitor came and interrupted me with a request for a blanket. Would it be out of line for me to say something to the effect of,

"I'm getting medication for another patient and can't stop right now, the best and fastest way to let your nurse know you need something is for the patient to use the call light...have you tried that?"

[BettyBoop01]

Sounds to me like you guys are so busy that even with the call light, they might go unanswered or ignored. Do the call lights get answered appropriately? Do you have enough techs or a huc that can help these family members? It might just come down to lack of staffing.

I had to put my foot down with a lady chasing me into other patients rooms for ridiculous requests like fluffing her husbands pillows. (um you cant fluff the pillow for him? You married him! Youd rather chase me?) It is not acceptable to come into another patients room, all of my patients deserve my full attention. And as a new nurse, I dont like being distracted with meds when I am doing my 5 rights and 3 checks. :)

I think that maybe your floor staff needs to do a better "settle in" process, maybe? When you settle in a patient you explain to the family & patient how the call light works and how things work. And get them all the little things they need (quickly).

Sometimes I wish the hospital would realize that better staffing with techs etc could REALLY help improve patient satisfaction. It is cheaper to add more techs to help with the little things then pay nurses to chase our own tails. A good tech is worth their weight and gold, the true unsung heros of healthcare. I wish they got paid what they are worth!

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

Hopefully those techs are able to assist with the patient's/family needs (ie water, warm blanket, jello) rather than chat on the phone with friends or be on another smoking break or charting...and us nurses still have to pick up the ball! Sheesh!

Not to say that helping family and patients with the little stuff is out of the question but underlings are hired mainly for this!!!

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

Just be friendly and firm. Obviously if you have meds in your hand you have to give them. If I know the tech is around I might ask them to go back to the room and push the call light. That way I can get back to my task.

[kakamegamama]

"Not to say that helping family and patients with the little stuff is out of the question but underlings are hired mainly for this!!!"

Maybe this is why the techs on some floors aren't very helpful? They are viewed as "underlings"? Doesn't sound very respected/respectful, imo.

To the OP---a quick orientation to the patient's family about availablility of water/ice (they can get it themselves from the nourishment room, perhaps), and if there's a convenient location for pillows/blankets/linens--they can also get what they need? Just a couple of thoughts.

And, explanation that sometimes due to busyness of the unit call lights may not be answered as quickly as they would like, but by all means, if the patient is in pain and a call light isn't answered within "x amount of time", please look for the nurse?

Meanwhile--hang in there! Patient's family members can be kinda loopy at times--especially when a loved one is ill.

[Guest717236]

This issue needs to be brought up at a staff meeting. Seems like this

could be a staff mismatch. Nurses should not be tied up with tasks that

aids/techs can do. The key words are that staff is running as fast as they can.

This is why you need to speak up now as this type of environment in my

experience only gets worse.

First, you need to set your nursing priorities without interference.

If you have meds poured, your current priority is to deliver them to the

patient. You will need to set limits firmly but politely on visitors

who interfere with that. Barring any pressing emergency,you need to complete one important task at a time.

It sounds like you are short staffed or have numerous tasks due to the

transfer of so many post op patients.

Your nurse manager needs to review staffing and protocol for visitors

advocating for their family members. I agree that teaching the family

members and patient about call light use is important. But visitors should

not shadow or intimidate nursing and tech staff and interfere with the

more current needs of another patient, this further delays getting the

issues for their loved one addressed.

[Chicago, BSN, RN]

Unbelievable!!!! Where is your UNIT CLERK or SECRETARY??? I'm sorry but before becoming a nurse I was an ICU clerk for 6yrs. Trust! I took my job very seriously! So I find it very hard to understand that nurses are being stalked by visitors all vicariously and the manager is ALOOF to this??? WALKING INTO PATIENT'S ROOMS??? Seriously??? No, no, no. Completely unacceptable! Besides answering the phones, they could grab some ice water and pull a blanket, etc. I have told a family member that the nurse is unavailable but aware of Mrs. So and So 1600 pill. Now, we all know that visitors should be acknowledged but you cannot downgrade a current priority for their whims! Don't be afraid to say that. I would address this issue with your manager ASAP. Because, if all the nurses are busy and the techs are assisting as well, then WHO is watching over the unit??? Never allow anyone, especially overbearing family members, to pull you out of your comfort zone.

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

"Not to say that helping family and patients with the little stuff is out of the question but underlings are hired mainly for this!!!"

Maybe this is why the techs on some floors aren't very helpful? They are viewed as "underlings"? Doesn't sound very respected/respectful, imo.

Aside from semantics (using support staff meet your standard)...those folks were hired to do a job, nothing less. How can you judge my attitude toward support staff by my above statement anyway?!

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

There are some visitors/family members who will not use the call light. Ever. Who knows why not. They think if they approach the closest person in scrubs, they will get quicker service. I try not to point out that using call lights is more appropriate, that is obvious. In my experience, if you ask someone to use the call light, instead of running staff members to ground (I don't say that) someone gets offended. Some people just have an aversion to pushing that button.

[happy2learn]

Aside from semantics (using support staff meet your standard)...those folks were hired to do a job, nothing less. How can you judge my attitude toward support staff by my above statement anyway?!

Pretty easily. You are pretty much stating they are "under" you, when you are all a team. Just saying, that is the attitude you give off by using the word "underlings." Sure, you may not feel that way, but it does come across that way by using that word. Would you like it if a doctor called you his underling?

I may not have a degree yet, and my job is to handle visitors, literally, that is all, but still. My nurses would never call me this. They would never refer to me in a way that would make me feel less than an equal member of the team.

OP- My job at my hospital is just to deal with visitors. I know that many times, the family members do not know where the ice is located or do not feel that they are allowed to fetch blankets/ice. Maybe they don't feel comfortable moving their loved ones head to fluff the pillow. Maybe they are afraid they might mess something up if they do that. Not saying this is always the case, there are always people who want other people to do things for them, but I'm just saying. Based on my experiences with the visitors, they are uncomfortable and don't want to do certain things out of fear that they are doing the wrong thing. They care about their loved one and as crazy as it sounds, they trust that if you do certain things, it will be done the right way.

Maybe they don't know about, or don't know where the call light is? I can't tell you how many times I have had issues locating the call light for a family member or patient. They are not always in the easiest to see or in an easily accessed location. The often fall and get hidden behind carts, tables, trays, tangled under blankets, etc.

I think the solution for the moment is family education. Make the ice and blankets visible enough for the family to locate. Encourage them that it is okay for them to do this on their own. Have someone show them where these things are located. When they hunt you down, politely let them know that they are more than welcome to retrieve the ice/blankets/whatnot on their own and let them know where it is located. If they still want you to handle it, explain to them that you need to complete this task, and then you can assist them, or find someone else who can help them.

Also, maybe the call lights are not getting answered quickly, which is why they have resorted to looking for someone in person. Sounds like an issue that needs to be addressed by management.

Something has to be done because you shouldn't have to deal with that.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Aside from semantics (using support staff meet your standard)...those folks were hired to do a job, nothing less. How can you judge my attitude toward support staff by my above statement anyway?!

Probably based on the derogatory term of "underlings". Just guessin'.

I think there would be nothing wrong with telling a family member interrupting med passing that you are getting another client medications right now but you will get to them as soon as you are able to. You could add that the nourishment center/clean linen closet is located down the hall to the left etc. And if you are not their nurse, you can simply state you are getting a client medications and they would probably get helped faster by their nurse if they use their call light and that you will check back to see if they got taken care of as soon as possible.