managements new idea for call-lights

Nurses General Nursing

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It just never ends. For the last year or more, management has been harping about hourly rounds. They have gone as far as to go in to rooms with us and watch us do our hourly rounds, making sure we have hit each key behavior. Also, they will go to each pt daily and ask about our hourly rounds. NOW... they have come up with the idea of call-lights needing to be answered within 2 minutes (it will soon go down to 1 min) and if it is not, at the end of the shift, we have to "sign off" on it. They have also now put up a poster board in the middle of the hall with each nurse's name. We get stars next to our names if none of our call-lights were >2min. It is crap like this that makes me want to leave the bedside. I do not have to be "shamed" to answer my pt's call-lights. I would not mind if it were in the breakroom, locker room, med room, but I have a huge issue with it being in the hallway. Some nurses only work 2 days a week, others 5. If I were a pt or family member and I were to look at that board and my nurse did not have many stars, I think I would assume that generally she/he was not good at answering their pt's call-lights. Also, it is a team effort. There are times we are all "stuck" in a room for a good amount of time. How am I supposed to be both in the hall at all times watching for call-lights and in my pts room doing my job?? Not possible. I also would not have a problem if the poster board was separated in shifts with no names and stars given to each shift for call-lights >2 minutes. I spoke with my director about it and she sounded annoyed with me and said this a positive thing and is supposed to be a fun game. I told her my concerns and why I disagree with it (mostly being where she has displayed it) and I told her not one person I have spoken to is happy about it. She completely did not hear or understand my concerns. I went as far as asking her if she were still on the floor how she would feel, to which I did not get a decent reply.

I am curious how others would feel about this. Am I being ridiculous because that this is really annoying me??

Thanks,

Deb

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O..M..G! :eek:

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Specializes in ER.

Who has time to figure out how long it takes to answer call lights?!

At least they don't have you on the badge tracker that creates a printout of how long you are in the patient's room, the bathroom, the med room, the cafeteria, etc!

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Specializes in neurology, cardiology, ED.

Sounds like another stupid idea from management who has been out of bedside nursing for so long they forgot everything about it. If you are unionized, I would take it over your manager's head, saying it is a privacy issue and that the board should be anonymous, or voluntary. If you don't have union protection however, I would leave it alone. It's a a dumb idea and will probably fall by the wayside within a few weeks. Not worth losing your job over.

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Who has time to figure out how long it takes to answer call lights?!

At least they don't have you on the badge tracker that creates a printout of how long you are in the patient's room, the bathroom, the med room, the cafeteria, etc!

Yes, we do have a badge tracker. They print the call-light report at the end of each shift and any call-lights >2 min they make the nurse "sign-off" on. Although they say that this is not going to lead to disciplinary actions (which I do not believe). If it is not, what is the point of keeping track of each nurse. They can track where we are when the call-light is on. I think that needs to also be noted and more importantly, who was in the hall/at the nurses station. If I am in another room, how am I to answer another call-light. And, just because someone is showing up in the hall does not mean they had the time to get to the call-light in

I am going to invent a phone tracker that will keep track of how many times the phone rings. It can be another torture device for nurses and another way to discipline us. Hospital management will eat it up and I will be rich!! :idea:

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Specializes in Tele, ED/Pediatrics, CCU/MICU.

I feel repulsed just thinking about it. Blehck!

The person who came up with that idea has clearly never been stuck with a disoriented, agitated, rapid Afib, C-Diff diarrhea patient before :uhoh3:

Sometimes, you literally CANNOT get away! It's a team effort, gosh.

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Specializes in Gerontology, nursing education.

ITA w/ 86toronado. Sounds like the brainchild of someone who is so far removed from patient care that he/she has unrealistic expectations of the realities of the floor. Or it was conceived by some rocket scientist in administration who is committed to "customer service".

Not to sound cynical but it's probably going to be just as you said---that it will have the "unforeseen" effect of decreasing patient confidence in certain nurses---and it has the potential to turn into just another way for management to penalize nurses who aren't "performing" to an unrealistic standard. Less than two minutes to answer a call light? Great idea if the staff is just sitting around waiting for the lights to go off but not if they're busy with other patients and other duties.

So are you supposed to interrupt patient care, say, medication administration or coding someone, so you can get that call light in less than two minutes?

:banghead:

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Specializes in PACU, CARDIAC ICU, TRAUMA, SICU, LTC.

"Holy mackerel!" as my aunt would say. IMO, this wreaks of public humiliation, so to speak. Your points are valid ones, to say the least. A poster board with stars??? Reminds me of kindergarten...you got a star on your forehead if you behaved well that day! Answering call lights is a never ending issue. Have the "powers that be" been inundated with patient complaints that their call lights were not being answered in a timely fashion?? If so, was this presented at a staff meeting? Have your co-workers verbalized their thoughts/feelings to the individual(s) who came up with this "bright" idea? Is it possible to request a staff meeting to discuss this issue? What is morale like at your facility? Sorry about all the questions, but I am curious as to what brought about the creation of this poster board. It doesn't sound as if there is open communication between staff and management, and that is a HUGE problem. Frankly, I would not want this poster board anywhere, period! It is childish, and shows blatant disrespect for you and your co workers as professional individuals. This is not a Quality Improvement tool; rather, it is a morale buster!!

Is there a quality improvement committee in your facility?

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This just discourages the whole 'team work" approach pitting one nurse against the other like kindegarden... who has the most stars?

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My problem with calllights is the ones who need it the most don't know how to work it.

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Just another point that addresses how far removed from patient care managers are.

However many time wasting and expensive ways they find to flog a dead horse, the cart ain't going to move any faster.

Your manager appears to be a worthless management tool.

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i would have GREAT difficulty in allowing it to remain in place........

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