Your call-light is like the magical lamp in the Disney movie Aladdin ....you only get three wishes. In this case you only get 3 times to use the call light per 12-hour nurse's shift. Please choose your times appropriately and for real serious issues only. In an effort to maintain the mental sanity of the nurse caring for you, your call light might need to be removed if you abuse the right of having one.
I am 'justavolunter'. I can usually figure out quickly who needs help & who is just ringing in repeatedly for nonsense. E.g., they can't hit the buttons to adjust their bed, but they can hit the call button right next to them. These folks usually end up waiting longer to be answered because the staff decides to attend to folks who really need help. The admin types who gripe because a light doesn't instantly get answered probably haven't seen a pt unit since Columbus landed!
Do you ever come home and hear the call bells echoing in your head, while in the shower? Do you actually stop to listen and think, who the heck is ringing this time? I do...
No, but sometimes when I'm out and a buzzer goes off, I think its a bed alarm.
I know the call light going off gets annoying to nurses but when there is someone in the ER in severe pain they just feel helpless and miserable. Sometimes it takes ringing the call bell more than once to get someone in there....I know the nurses are busy because I am a nurse, but sometimes you have to put yourself in the patient's shoes and look at things from their perspective.
Patients who do not use the call bell more than a certain number of times (as tallied by an automatic system), should receive a discount on their hospital bill upon discharge. If their insurance pays for everything, the discount should be made in the form of a little check in a thank-you card sent to them at home.
I hate to rain on everyone's parade and yes call lights have frustrated me too.......and yes there are those patients that do abuse the light but, I have found that the overall majority have a deeper issue like fear......that has them ringing. Some patients feel frightened during shift change.....they fear no one will hear them when the nurses are in report. All patients day or night know when shift change has arrived due to the noise level of the on comming and off going shift. Hence the call light cue......I used to make last rounds, usually with an CNA, and ask if anyone needed, water, bedpan, pain med, blanket whatever....... and tell them where I was going and how long I would be gone. They seemed comforted.......they knew where I was if they needed anything and assured them that the CNA's knew we were in report and will hear them. I know the off going **** is trying to get the heck outta there and get work done, but remember those patients are frightened, alone, and in pain. Now, when that is not enough I set limits........I have told a patient that would put the call button on (on purpose) when you were still in the room because he needed something else.......I will come back every 15 min to check on you.......put your call light on only if you can breathe, have chest pain ect..........I understand you have needs and may be frightened but you are making it impossible to anything else to get done....if this is not enough we can provide your family with a list of private duty personel..........It stinks at first because it is a real pain in the a-- but eventually I lengthen the time between and when they know I am good to my word........you build their trust they seem to behave......worst case senario I have made the patinet a constant observation just to save everyone's sanity!
If you have never been a patient............be patient;)...........I have recently be come a professional patient due to polymyositis/dermatomyositis:crying2:............it is WAY different on the other side! I have a much deeper appreciation for the patients POV.
Why does someone always have to preach this type of thing, when everybody already knows it? It doesn't need to be explained, we KNOW. It's ok to vent even when you DO know the above. It's meant to be in good fun, nothing more.
Not all topics require serious discussion, or an insulting of intelligence.
I would MUCH rather they use their call light than send family/friends to the desk, however. THAT un-nerves me a bit.
or if they stand outside another pts room waiting for you while you are pushing a med. i have had both pts and their families do this. for some reason it takes longer to push the med when this happens.
Why does someone always have to preach this type of thing, when everybody already knows it? It doesn't need to be explained, we KNOW. It's ok to vent even when you DO know the above. It's meant to be in good fun, nothing more.
Not all topics require serious discussion, or an insulting of intelligence.
I don't see this as preaching to the choir. But I do see someone who has been through the wringer and is just giving an alternate point of view. My last hospitalization I called for pain medicine.....no response for 1 hour. Then when the nurse came in she said "you take so many meds I figured you know how to wait". That did not sit well with me. An oh Im so sorry would have worked much better.
I always told my patients at the beginning of a shift, "if you don't get a proper response after 15 minutes for something like pain med or bathroom, the nurse may have been so busy she couldn't come....then call again and explain to the clerk what you need and why you are calling again."
I don't see this as preaching to the choir. But I do see someone who has been through the wringer and is just giving an alternate point of view. My last hospitalization I called for pain medicine.....no response for 1 hour. Then when the nurse came in she said "you take so many meds I figured you know how to wait". That did not sit well with me. An oh Im so sorry would have worked much better.
I always told my patients at the beginning of a shift, "if you don't get a proper response after 15 minutes for something like pain med or bathroom, the nurse may have been so busy she couldn't come....then call again and explain to the clerk what you need and why you are calling again."
I know what you are saying, P. All I meant was that, I do believe the majority of nurses here know there are reasons behind why some patients call frequently (the fear thing was mentioned as a reason someone might mash the call bell). The original complaint was about those patients that think we're there to wait on them hand and food, fetch them food, endless blankets, and/or come back every five minutes to do 200 different tasks that could have been handled in one visit. Plenty of patients do THAT just because they don't care how busy we are, they think they are the most important person in the building and we should bend to their every whim. The deeper psychological reasons why someone may call frequently, IMO, was irrelevant....it came off to me as just being a vent thread, and meant to stay light-hearted.
Sometimes I wish my patients would use their call light MORE, when I walk in a room just in time to stop the weak old man who tried to toilet himself from head-diving into the floor! "Oh, but I didn't want to bother you!." Or worse, the confused patient who didn't want to wake me up, because she knew I had to work in the morning. No re-orientation would make her realize this WAS work for me, and I wasn't sleeping!
I have a much deeper appreciation for the patients POV.
SmilingBluEyes
20,964 Posts
I would MUCH rather they use their call light than send family/friends to the desk, however. THAT un-nerves me a bit.