Kindly answer me any surgical nurse please...

[kameera]

what would you do when you are doing the wound dressing on your patient, another patient is keep ringing nurse call bell in the same time. There is no any other staff member somehow.

I was asked this questions in my interview, i asked my friends who worked in hospital. Nobody knows for sure. Should I leave the wound open and go to answer the call bell? Should I finish the wound first and answer call bell later? Should I use new dressing set becausee it might have been unsterile ?

Please Help...

[OkieeRN]

I would finish the dressing. It is not worth leaving a sterile dressing change open to air while seeing what another pt needs. That pt could end up with an infx. I would also reply that it is important to hourly round on all my pts so that they have what they need before I am in the middle of a task. Finding co-nurse and Asking them to listen for my other pts while I do a sterile dressing change would also be appropriate. hope this helps.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

I would LIKE to ask them... is this unit always going to be this short staffed?

I would have answered, keep the wound covered from air, answer the bell (you cannot prioritize this until you know why the other patient called for assistance). If that patient is bleeding, having chest pain, SOB.. of course your priority would change.

If the patient needed fresh ice water... doesn't matter, you needed to weigh the situation.

Then continue with the dressing change , using sterile technique. If you need to start over.. and use new supplies.. oh well.

[kameera]

Thank you both for such a great help. I answer the interviewer almost in the same way as okieeRN, they questioned me what if coincidentally everybody busy or gone to break etc. I just stuck there unfortunately. Anyway, I am going to do better in next interview, thanks for the input.

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

How do you know the other pt called? Did the secretary tell you one of your pt's called? I would have asked the secretary what the pt needed and go from there. If emergent I would have left the dressing change. Otherwise, once I was involved in a procedure, I would have not left the first pt.

[kameera]

no, nobody in the floor somehow according to scenario. By the way, thank you so much for the suggestions.