Residents who are constantly on the call bell... help!

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We have a resident or two (mostly one major offender) who is ALWAYS on her call bell.... seriously, it can be as often as every 5-10minutes when she is at her peak. It is not uncommon to leave her room, and have her bell go off as you exit the doorway. I just dont know what to do to appease her! The CNA's are exhausted, and hate to be assigned to her more than 1 day in a row. Usually it is just little requests... handing her something that is hardly out of reach, rolling up the bed a half inch, refilling a 3/4 full beverage. Every time I assist her, I make sure to ask "is there anything else I can help you with?" before leaving the room, and she'll say "no", but is back on the light a minute later. These are not new behaviors for her, she has been like this since before I started working there. What can we do? (wanted to add that she has her beside table SO full of stuff, but she still asks us to hand her the items that are right in front of her. There is no room to move anything closer!)

Once we tried to document all the requests, but it filled pages and pages and gave us a terrible hand cramp. Help me!

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Make sure you cut off the power before you cut the call bell cord with your scissors, and try to make it discrete

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Make sure you cut off the power before you cut the call bell cord with your scissors, and try to make it discrete

Haha! I might have dreamed of that.... but even if the resident is unable to reach her call bell (lets say, it is 2 inches out of her reach because she refuses to reach for anything), she will call out "hello???" repeatedly until you go in there. Actually, the call bell sound is less annoying than that!! :uhoh3:

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Specializes in Medical Surgical Orthopedic.

Trying to think of a solution makes my head feel like it's going to explode. Patients like that drive me crazy, but where I work, they leave after a couple of days.

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We used to have a lady that would do that where I worked. She was lonely and wanted to have interaction with someone, she never had friends or family visit and the person she shared a room with couldn't speak. There was a voulnteer who would come in and sit with her for about an hour and she would lay off the bell for at least two hours after the voulnteer left. The lady that sat with her told us she never asked for anything when she was in the room either. We loved when she was able to come by.

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Specializes in Cardiac.

I just dealt with pretty much the same situation at my hospital last Sunday night. I'm sure the situation is a little different considering you're in LTC and they stress that you need to make it feel like "home" for them.. although, you should tell the resident to be as independent as possible. I also don't think it would be out of line for you to tell her that it's a little ridiculous for her to call you into the room for something unimportant right after you walk out of the door. That would really burn my grits. As long as she's A&O I don't think it would be inappropriate for you to tell her that. best of luck! We all know how frustrating this can be..

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Can you bring her out to the nurses' station? She sounds lonely and needy. And, yes, incredibly annoying. The company and ability to watch the goings-on might help.

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Specializes in MDS/Office.

Perhaps this resident needs a Psych Eval. :D

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I worked in a nursing home with a resident like this and somehow they got it care planned(I think) that she would only get care at certain times during the day. It really worked well for everyone.

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Specializes in Public Health, LTC/SNF.

I have a resident who is exactly like that but when she puts on her call light and the two aids and the nurse on the unit are in rooms doing patient care she CALLS THE FACILITY TO PAGE US TO HER ROOM!!!! :down:

She refuses mental health services, and in a 8 hour shift uses her call light on average 42 times... yeah!

What I have to remind myself is that this resident has significant independence loss and thus the only control she can exert in her life is to ensure she is cared for. And in LTC you just have to grin and bear it because it is their home.

Hang in there and just remind staff what factors contribute to her behaviors... care planning can be effective for big things but the intermediate needs (e.g. wants more fluids though the cup is full) is tough ground because if she becomes dehydrated and gets a UTI state can throw down and relate it to your refusal to care for her- wah wah wah.

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Specializes in LTC.

Document on this one even if you need 3 inch binder to fit all the pages.

When you know that all care has been done, toileting, drinks, bed change, shower, meds, pain, food. Then I would suggest not answering the call bell.

It sounds harsh and negligent but, you have 20-30(or whatever you have) residents that also need your attention.

Let her know this in a nice way too. "Mary I have done this, this and this for you. I will be back in a half hour. (Or give her a time when you know you will be back). I have other residents who also need my attention right now and I have to care for them also.

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Specializes in Peds Medical Floor.

First of all, DON'T hand her stuff that's right in front of her. Make her get it herself. If she complains tell her you are helping her to stay independent. Second, when you answer the call light say "Ok I'm leaving now. I will be busy and won't be able to come back unless there is an emergency so do you need anything else?" Next DO NOT run to her light. We have 2 minutes to answer a call light so if someone keeps asking for stupid stuff, we wait the 2 minutes. Lastly, if any of the above doesn't help, take her out of her room and give her something to do. Activities, TV, reading, etc (I assume by "resident" you work in LTC).

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