Triage Call Bell?

[Esme12]

This friend of mine posted a picture....her daughter went to the ER last night and posted a picture of this call bell and the question.

Which one do you think they answer first?

[tokebi]

We have those newfangled gadget and I actually like it. It's not so much about which calls get answered faster as it is about efficient routing of the calls. "Toilet" calls will automatically go to the aide's phone and not bother mine. Likewise, "pain" call will automatically come to my phone without alerting the aide's who may be busy somewhere else. By putting those dedicated buttons for the most frequent reasons for calling, the unit clerk will have to answer and route fewer calls. But yeah, most patients still just hit the big red button.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

That was my thought that it wouldn't take patient very long to figure out which one gets answered first. How compliant are patients with them. What about the poor little slightly confused patient who just doesn't exactly follow directions.

Lets not address the real issue of proper staffing but institute what helps the administrator/CEO sleep better at night while making unsafe staffing decisions.

[Karou]

We have those call lights! Our rooms are set up with intercoms so that when you push the red button someone at the desk answers and will ask you what you need. If it's a nurse or tech need then the secretary can hit a green button for nurse and yellow for pct. The light over their room lights up accordingly. Hopefully whoever answered also will call the appropriate person and tell them who needed something and what it was. It helps in general because we can prioritize better. I HATE it when someone answers at the desk, hits the light, and never calls me though. I may have patients in a different hall and never see the patients green light when it's activated.

I always ask my patients to use the red button though. If they use the toilet or pain then a yellow/green light comes up but that's it. Also, if those lights aren't shut off from inside of the room in a certain amount of time then they start alarming annoying beeps. It's frustrating because I may be doing a complex dressing change on one pt, and another asked to talk with me (green light!) and the green light will start alarming while I am doing the dressing change on the other pt. For this reason, on night shift we never activate the green/yellow lights when a patient calls. We find out the patients need and just call the RN pr PCT. That way if they are busy then the alarm won't start sounding off and wake anyone up.

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

I haven't had the pleasure of seeing this yet.. I have a better solution.. Hire more staff / give hours to the staff you have..

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

We have those call bells in our ER. Some patients just push all the buttons no matter what their request. Some will hit the pain button, you go in ask them about their pain, the patient will say "no I wanted a warm blanket." Even if they hit the pain button when the are in pain, it does not mean they will get pain meds any more quickly. You still have to ask the patient about it, find the doc, see the order, get the med, etc. The water button is also kind silly since many patient can't have something to drink yet if their w/u is not complete...it only gives them false hope and adds to the disappointment when you tell them no.

FWIW, if I did have to triage the call buttons, I would answer the toilet bell first, particularly for someone who is a fall risk, lest they try and go on their own. Plus the other bells could be, conceivably, answered over the phone.

[scifispam]

What about a pillow fluff button? Good grief.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

I think they are a good thing. It doesn't really matter in my ICU, but it helps a lot when I get floated to stepdown and have CNAs that can help with ADLs/water. Half of the time when the patients just call they say, "I need my nurse" regardless of what they need, but if you put a toilet button on there and they press it, or they press the water button, the person answering the call light knows they can send the CNA in instead of the nurse. It saves a lot of time and leaves the nurses free to do other things. I think having a pain option on there is kind of ridiculous, though.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

How do they keep track if this is effective. How do they assure correct patient use? It's crazy that you need to give an instruction on how to use the call bell for different needs.

[tokebi]

How do they keep track if this is effective. How do they assure correct patient use? It's crazy that you need to give an instruction on how to use the call bell for different needs.

I think tracking is possible at my workplace. We wear sensors so that our location is visible from the desk. Our movement is supposedly all recorded. So, they could technically correlate the calls and staff movements, and analyze the efficiency... Kinda creepy if they were really doing that, though...

Anyways, I do like the system. I agree it would be useless if staffing is inadequate. It works for us because they staff us pretty well.

And, you know what? When I have an alert patient and I know their pain regimen well, I really do magically appear with their med with the push of the button. I save time, and they suffer less. Being an oncology nurse, though, I wish there was "nausea" button too.

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

Many of our private hospital rooms have flat screen televisions with remote control access for the patient/family.

You're a lucky nurse if you've never had a patient who puts their light on so you can change the channel. Even when a remote is inches away.

[gigi_rn]

My hospital doesn't have those call lights, but when the call light is answered at the desk, there are different colors of light over the door, Nurse, Aide, or Pain. This just started, but I don't think it's a bad idea. EVERY call light does not require the nurse, especially when I'm on roller skates and the aides are sitting at the desk.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

I think tracking is possible at my workplace. We wear sensors so that our location is visible from the desk. Our movement is supposedly all recorded. So, they could technically correlate the calls and staff movements, and analyze the efficiency... Kinda creepy if they were really doing that, though...

Anyways, I do like the system. I agree it would be useless if staffing is inadequate. It works for us because they staff us pretty well.

And, you know what? When I have an alert patient and I know their pain regimen well, I really do magically appear with their med with the push of the button. I save time, and they suffer less. Being an oncology nurse, though, I wish there was "nausea" button too.

I know the system you are talking about and yes to do track whereabouts and response time. Of course it didn't take long for the nurses to take them off when they left the floor.