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

[rainbowsandsunshine]

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!

[gentlegiver, ASN, LPN, RN]

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!

I had a patient who was like that many years ago. I would always make sure to enter her room as soon as report was done, Help her out with a few things, then tell her that I had no choise but to go pass meds, take care of other people etc.. I would tell her I would be back to check on her in 1/2 hr. She did not ring the bell the entire 1/2 hr, I always made sure I came back even if just for a couple minutes. All the CNA's loved it when I was there cause she was quiet & happy. Find out what she really likes (a certian cookie, cup of tea, juice, whatever) and make sure to bring it to her when you first go in. Sometimes all they really need is to feel like they are not alone and ignored. As time went on I was able to stretch out my "visits" to every few hours. When she finally passed, her son's told me she always refered to me as "her Nurse" or "her friend". Try this, it may work!