speaking of call bells...

Antikigirl, ASN, RN · Nov 3, 2004

"I often joke with the new orientee's that you will only get a "small shock" if you go out of your designated area!!!! gets people's attention!!"

Oh My Gosh I laughed so hard I fell off my chair and had to spit out my sandwich I was eating! LOL!!!!!!! I love it!!!!!!

We use a call light system that needs to be re-set in residents rooms...walkies for communication, but I am in an assisted living facility (huge one)..not hospital. If people want to get a hold of me, they just have to be patient on the walkie...and not 15 minutes before EOS..I tend not to answer LOL (unless it is stat!).

HappyNurse2005, RN · Nov 3, 2004

wow-electronic nurse locators? wow-high tech. i am only a student, but i can share what i've seen. mostly, the patient presses the call button and it rings at the nurses station. some you have to pick up a phone to hear, some is just a speaker phone. mostly, whoever answers the call bell, has to find the appropriate nurse or nurses assistant. a light also flashes above the patients room so teveryone can see. also, you can hear the bell out in the hall, too.

2 variations i have seen-in one place, all of the nurses and aides have hospital cell phones so they can easily be reached. in another, in a sub-acute hosptial, the aides have beepers that are you can page them with messages "bathroom assist in room XXX" or something like that. also, there is a PA system there, too.

love, rose

lovingtheunloved, ASN, RN · Nov 3, 2004

We can't cancel it but we have a glorious "tone silence" button, for the resident who rings and says "I'm cold" so you get her a blanket, and no sooner do you walk out of the room, she pushes the godforsaken button again and says "I'm cold"...And we have a phone so we can tell the people who ring to ask what time it is.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Nov 3, 2004

LOL. I was reading your post and thinking "Big Brother is watching" and you said it for me.

That sounds quite high tech. We've got a horribly old system, but it does the trick.

LydiaGreen · Nov 3, 2004

Our call bells ring a different tone for each type of call. If the patient initiates the call bell, it has one tone. If it is pulled in the bathroom it has a different tone. Staff members can push buttons on the call bell panel above each bed for code blue, staff assist, and talk (to talk to someone at the nurses' desk). We can also utilize the talk function from the desk. Not only do the tones ring at a panel at the nurses' desk but also on a second one just outside the medication room - this ensures that you can hear the distinctive tone from anywhere on the floor. We CAN cancel the bell at the nurses' desk and often do on nightshift. We cancel it and go down to the room, if the call bell is pushed again for that room, it means the nurse needs assistance because it is a two-person transfer but not an emergency (the staff assist button is for a patient emergency that isn't a code but requires assistance while one nurse stays with the patient or for violent situations). This set-up works well for us.

Edited to add: the call-bell system does record the type of call bells from each bed and the times as well and where the call was cancelled from.

xmaxiex · Nov 3, 2004

my aunt was recently in a hospital that used a cell phone system . Each of the nurses had a cell phone that the desk could reach them through . She was in my aunt's room for all of five minutes and spent all of it on the phone . Some tech advances aren't for the better .

annmariern · Nov 4, 2004

At this facility, call bells are answered at the desk by a unit secretary. Only the nurses carry cell phones, not the CNA's. A lot of times, they call you when the CNA could handle it. It rings constantly. My pet peeve is them putting calls through from Doctors. You might be in the middle of a procedure and can't answer, or have a doc asking questions you can't answer because you are not in reach of the chart or a computer...so you sound dumb! Not to mention, privacy issues...have to duck into bathrooms etc. Plus when you don't get to spend much one on one time with the patients as it is, to be distracted by it several times during a conversation. They mistake it sometimes for personal calls....which happens with some staff too, but for me is a big no no. I mean, yes, its good to be able to call from a room on the spot, but very distracting and stressing. Not sure what the answer is.

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Nov 4, 2004

We have an audible system that is heard throughout the floor, along with lights above the room and it also is able to be answered from the nurses desk if needed. The beeping gets on your nerves sometimes, but it gets the lights answered. Normally we go to the room personally to answer call lights (or cancel them) unless we are very busy with other things. I know normally we are busy,, but most of the time someone from the team is close or able to go answer the call light if nothing more than to tell the patient someone will be right back. I cant stand the call system being answered from the desk unless necissary, i think a actual person lets the patient know there is staff available to help them, not some voice on the other end of a intercom. We have color coded lights above each room that we turn on when we enter a room that tells other staff where we are.

I was a patient in a hospital that answered their lights from the nurses desk and i felt like i was being categorized before they even saw what it was i needed. I felt the nurses were to lazy to come see what i needed. That was before i was a nurse myself so i had nothing to compare it to. It makes a difference in response time and the patients comfort level if they know there is a nurse at least out there with the patients.

If they pinned a locator on me i think id quit. If someones to lazy to get off their behinds and look down the hall to see over which room my light is turned on they dont need to know where i am. If they need me that bad they can quadrant page(audible page heard on individual quadrents of the unit) me and ill come back to the desk.

Ortho_RN · Nov 4, 2004

We basically have this same system... At times it is really helpful, but then sometimes it gets very annoying... We can however cancel all call lights at the desk except for the pain med one, that one must physically be cut off in the room

I was wondering how does the call bell system/nurse locator works at your hospital?
When the patient pushes the call button at our hospital, it cannot be cancelled at the desk (even if it is an accident). Someone has to physically go into the room and cancel the light.
Also, we where electronic locators. A computer screen shows exactly where the nurse is (give or take a few seconds). Also, if a nurse is in the room a green light displays above the door and nurse tech in a room will show a white light.
We also have a "panic button" on the back of our locator that will display the nurse's name and "immediate assist" message on the main computer at the nurse's desk and throughout the monitor boxes in the hallways.
I often joke with the new orientee's that you will only get a "small shock" if you go out of your designated area!!!! gets people's attention!!
Seriously, I feel like BIG BROTHER is watching!!!!

Nemhain · Nov 4, 2004

That's what is was like at the last hospital I was doing clinics at. I thought it was a great system. It would only pick the nurse up if she were in one of the rooms, though. I wouldn't locate her in the breakroom lunchroom or the bathroom!

mrdoc2005 · Nov 4, 2004

one place where I had clinicals last semester had the normal call light system but to find the tech they just had a old regular bell hop bell that the unit sec would ring. I hated that thing. One of my friends works there and she admitted that when the nurses are pounding on the thing that she will answer.

an old bell hop bell. still cannot get over that. And it is no small hospital.