Nurse locator devices...

[JRP1120, RN]

What does your facility use to locate you when you are needed elsewhere? As a nurse, do you carry a phone of some sort? Pager? Do you wear those locator thingies (don't know their name, sorry) next to your ID badges so the nurses station knows exactly what room you're in? Or are you just paged over the intercom?

Just curious to know how many different types of systems there are out there. Our hospital uses small phones that each nurse is assigned when they come on. Good but can be a pain when you're in the middle of something and it's constantly ringing! :)

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

We have the locator thingies, which I totally love. Even if I'm not around the locator board, all I have to do is look for a green light and I know there is an RN in the room.

We don't have phones, but Vocera. Can be a pain, when Voscera thinks you said some other name and you have to ask again, but if somebody calls you it is handless. You can be in the middle of something and not have to worry about using your hands.

[churchsgirl]

The hospital that I worked in before I started the BSN program used both phones and the locator devices. I love love love the locator devices. If a nurse was in a patient room the light outside the room turned white and the CNA's turned orange. It was very helpful if you needed to find another body to help move someone, that is for sure. We each (RNs and CNAs) had our own cordless phones that were directly connected to our assigned patient's call lights. If the patient hit the call light it would ring both the RN and CNA's phone. This was also helpful, especially if they just had a question. You didn't necessarily have to leave what you were doing to answer the call light!

[mlclove]

Wow, those systems sound awesome, esp churchsgirl. All we use is the intercom system through our phones in the building. If you're in a pt's room you can't hear it. Which is quite a pain when there is a dr on the phone who will hang up and not answer your call when you call back.

[PediNurse3]

The ER I worked in was beginning to trial Motorlla cell phone type things right before I left. We would put our name by the number we were taking in Epic so we all knew what to dial for one another, and the doctors were pre-programmed. There were a lot of issues with signal and a lot of kinks that they had to work out but it worked pretty well.

In the PICU we used Vocera. Problems with signal, but overall, worked pretty well aside from the 'genie' who didn't seem to understand what you were saying most of the time. It was nice to be able to answer your calls hands free, but if you were in an isolation room all gowned and gloved and without your ear piece in it was a bit of a pain because you'd have to call them back. The solution was easy enough though- keep the ear piece in and it wouldn't be a problem but sometimes it was hard to remember to put it in before getting gowned and gloved.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

I did my partnership at a place where we wore locators. I didn't mind them, and they were helpful when you needed to find someone. But the unit secretaries would always contact you through the speaker in each room. So if I was in with Mr. Jones changing a dressing, I'd hear, "Ashley, your patient in 102 needs your help." through the speaker. This did three things: 1. Interrupted my thinking if I was giving meds or explaining something. 2. Guaranteed that the patient knew I needed to leave and many times felt guilty for keeping me. (Which is counter productive when management doesn't want you to leave the room before saying: 'Is there anything else I can do for you? I have the time.') 3. Made the patient feel as though he was less important than the other patient that needed me. Plus, it didn't get me to the patient much faster, as I usually finished my tasks with Mr. Jones first.

The unit I work at now has us carry phones, but no one ever uses them. We are usually close enough to the nurse's station that someone knows where you are or you can hear your name from the desk.

[beckster_01, BSN, RN]

I love the locators, they don't always say the exact room a nurse is in but do give a general area...it helps. Actually what I like most is that they turn off the call light when you walk in. We have phones too which I don't mind, it is nice to be able to call a doc without having to wait by the phone for them to call back.

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

I did my partnership at a place where we wore locators. I didn't mind them, and they were helpful when you needed to find someone. But the unit secretaries would always contact you through the speaker in each room. So if I was in with Mr. Jones changing a dressing, I'd hear, "Ashley, your patient in 102 needs your help." through the speaker. This did three things: 1. Interrupted my thinking if I was giving meds or explaining something. 2. Guaranteed that the patient knew I needed to leave and many times felt guilty for keeping me. (Which is counter productive when management doesn't want you to leave the room before saying: 'Is there anything else I can do for you? I have the time.') 3. Made the patient feel as though he was less important than the other patient that needed me. Plus, it didn't get me to the patient much faster, as I usually finished my tasks with Mr. Jones first.

The unit I work at now has us carry phones, but no one ever uses them. We are usually close enough to the nurse's station that someone knows where you are or you can hear your name from the desk.

That was a huge pain in my old facility. I hated that intercom system! My current place does not allow us to use the intercom to page anyone from a room. Instead they use Vocera, but I can pause it so not to be interrupted during a discharge/education.

[LegzRN]

We use both phones and HillRom locators... I'm a fan of the little green light that pops up when a staff member is in the room

[Aurora77]

Our day shift nurses and CNAs carry phones. At night, only the charge nurse carries a phone.

[NewlyANurse]

At the hospital I did my preceptorship at, the nurses were each assigned a phone at the beginning of a shift. The other nurses could use that to contact you, and you could also use it to text/page doctors. I thought it was pretty convenient! The patients' call lights would ring directly to the nurse assigned, as well as any monitor alarms (brady, tachy, etc.). The only downfall was that the monitors would constantly be alarming (pulse ox on an 8 month old's kicking foot?!), and the phone would be constantly buzzing or ringing while you were at a patient's bedside.

[FancypantsRN]

We are just paged overhead. No phone, locator, etc.

I have worked where we had phones assigned. They work great on the floors, as long as the person transferring calls is paying attention. It really sucked when you were right in the middle of something and had to drop everything and go investigate bc dr. So and so called back and was incorrectly transferred to your phone!