How Long Do You Take To Answer Call Bells?

[lisa41rn]

Yesterday, my director came over to me and said one of my patient's call bells was ringing for almost 4 1/2 minutes. I was stuck in an isolation room hanging blood. The aide leaves a lot to be desired, but I spoke with her and sounds like she was also in an isolation room cleaning up a big mess.

The director's ego seems to have been hurt because she mentioned family members were visiting and think "we don't take care of our patients." This director never yells or even raises her voice. She just has a way of letting you know about things. Kind of like "that look" your parents would give you when you were growing up! I'm pretty tough on myself about getting to patients quick, but wonder, what do you all do about call bells? I just think there's always things going on where you can't leave. We wear pagers and I knew this was a very stable patient thus didn't leave my other patient. The director did mention I needed to speak to the aide about moving quicker, but even that makes me wonder. I do believe this was just a time we couldn't get there in two seconds. Four minutes wasn't the end of the world in my opinion. I worked in LTC and those bells can ring for a very long amount of time. I really hated that and left soon after starting. While you never know what a ringing call might be for, you need to prioritize. I do find it crazy I had five patients spread out all over the entire floor. Why is it we can't have our patients on side of a floor instead of running from one end to the other?? At least that's the way it is or us. Once in a great while I have patients in closer rooms and it's so much easier and quicker!!

What are the rules on your floors? Thanks all!!

[TexasPediRN]

Wow...

Dont you have anyone else there that answers call bells? And, its not your job to speak to the aide about moving quicker, it should be the directors! And after all, if the aide was busy, you cant expect her to leave an isolation room to answer a call bell.

Do you work on a floor now?? If so, when I used to work on a floor anyone who was around would answer the call bell, regardless of it was their patient or not. Our secretary was a wonderful woman who would always answer the call bells and let us know, and if the patient just wanted a cup of water she would get it for them. I miss her...hehe

Can you at least request that your patients are in the same vicinity as each other?

Was the patients callbell who rang for 4 minutes a matter of life and death? I would of told them where I was when I went in the room, that I was with an isolation patient and could not leave, and that I apologize, but there was nothing I could do about it. Sometimes people just need to understand that they are not your only patient and letting them know where you were can put things into perspective...

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

You did the best you could do. Perhaps the director could come up with some solutions to deal with this situation. You cannot get in and out of an isolation room quickly and hanging blood requires a certain amount of observation. DO NOT be hard on yourself you did nothing wrong. Turf it back to her to come up with a solution to this issue for when you cannot quickly leave.

[NurseLatteDNP, MSN, DNP, RN]

In my facility we have a speaker system connected to every room. When a call bell is ringing and I am doing something in another room, I call the nurses desk and let them know that I am busy doing something else. They let the patient know that I will be there as soon as I get done. That way the patient or their family do not think that I am not responding.

[GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

We also have a speaker system. Whoever (RN/LPN/CNA/maintanance man) is at or near the nurses station will pick up the receiver and see what the patient needs. If they can take care of the request, they do. If their nurse is needed, they let the patient know that their nurse is with another patient and will be down to see them ASAP. We are very good about answering call bells for each others patients. If the patient requests a prn med but the pt. belongs to another nurse, i find the nurse and ask them if they want me to give it for them. Patients seem pretty happy with this system since they get to talk to someone pretty quick, since there is usually someone at/around the desk. This way they do not feel ignored and don't mind waiting 5 or 10 minutes to go to the bathroom as long as someone knows they have to go. It works well for staff too so we can answer at the desk and prioritize several call bells that way instead of a first beep first serve way. It also saves time since you know what you will need to take into the room with you instead of running up and down the hall a million times.

[OliveVinesRN]

Hello and Top O' the Morning to ya!!!

I am so glad you wrote about this. I started a thread similar to this, but not quite the same. It was title "Patients always needing something no matter what". Obviously, it hasn't been a big interest to a lot of people. But my rant was about patients always needing things everytime you go into their room. It's like they will think of things to ask for. I feel that most things they want or not my priority to get to them. People that are always ringing call bells take away from my actual sick patients that really need me. When that call bell is constantly going off for coffee, sodas, adjusting the television, that breaks into my concentration on my sick people. And it wears me out so that I don't have much energy to want to come and help out when my job needs to have an extra body. One replier to my post said something to the effect of "Well, isn't that what we're here for?" and I say no it isn't. We are here to take care of sick people and that's my priority. Getting coffee is at the bottom of the list for me. And to be honest, the patients sometimes do not get it if I am busy.

[mom2michael, MSN, RN, NP]

Where I do my clinicals now, call lights are actually rang to the nurses station where the US "fields the call" per se and sees what the deal is. After they find out, it's rang directly to either the tech or the nurses phone, depending on the situation. The tech or nurse must carry their phone at all times, etc...The patient gets to talk to the nurse or tech and everyone is happy. If the nurse or tech is busy - they can explain that and the patient seems to be OK with that. Done in private on the phone rather than through a speaker which leads me to the other place where we do our clinicals.....

This place uses locators to find the nurses or techs and then calls into whatever room they are in and then the patient can ask whatever they need to ask their nurse or tech. This isn't very private and the patients don't like this system much because they have to air their needs to everyone in earshot.

In both places, the nurse has their patients in one area, not spread out all over the floor. The only time that happens is if someone gets an admission and the only room free is somewhere else and it's their turn to get the next up admission. But it's usually not that big of a deal.

[L&Dnurse2Be]

We also have a Unit Secretary that answers all the calls. She then calls the appropriate person to handle it. If I get a call and I am busy with another patient, I let them know and they call someone else or they handle it themselves. All of our staff are cross trained from tech to US etc. If I am in an iso room and can't answer my phone, I just hit the call light and let the US know. I would rather tell them I am busy with another patient then just to let them assume I am going right away. At least this way the patient is taken care of ASAP whether it is the tech, nurse, charge, or US. We all work as a team.:)

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

I am pondering this.

If the director knew the call bell was ringing for 4 1/2 minutes, why didn't she answer it? If she had the time to time a call bell, she could have walked into the room to see what the person needed!

Just my idle thinking. :)

[Judee Smudee, ADN, RN]

I am pondering this.

If the director knew the call bell was ringing for 4 1/2 minutes, why didn't she answer it? If she had the time to time a call bell, she could have walked into the room to see what the person needed!

Just my idle thinking. :)

I agree, it is negligent of director to allow bell to ring that long. If she thinks she is to good to do it then she should have looked into why it was taking so long. I have seen a managerial person grab an aide or nurse and send them into the room when staff assigned to patient was busy. Sitting there looking at your watch counting the seconds that pass while the patient goes unattended is unacceptable.

[Kim O'Therapy, BSN, RN]

The med/surg floor I worked on for three years had a terrible time with call bells. Our supervisor wanted them answered by the third ring. I agree that this should be done if possible. Well, I worked 3-11 and after everyone had received their dinner trays, the bells would go nuts. "My dinner's too hot/cold, .....not what I ordered, .....etc., etc." Additionally, as an aide, I usually had a feeder or two to contend with also. Usually, all staff members would help out; however, sometimes, even with the best intentions, it was simply an unrealistic expectation. In most cases, there is a solution....its called "adequate staffing". JMHO

[Burnt Out, ASN, RN]

Some of our unit clerks are pretty good to come to a room we are in and tell us if our patient(s) needs are urgent, like someone who is very SOB, chest pain, etc.

I try to see what my patients need in 5 minutes or less if I am out in the hall and see the light flashing. Otherwise, I have someone tell them I will be there ASAP.