Vent lazy nurses/techs dont want to answer call light

[lovehospital]

Ok so I noticed this phenomenon a lot.....at the hospitals.Lights go off no one even bothers to respond,I even got reprimended by one of the person in a white coat than it is not their job to answer call lights when I stopped her to let her know that person such as that and that needs help...I didnt mean to stop specifically her but she was just simply walking by and I am a nursing student so I dont know what my limitation are as to you know helpin out with answering call lights,but I always observe keep my eyes and ears open.

I though people who work in hospitals are supposed to be a fast acting team,boy was I naive or what.I mean I know that 80% of patient use call lights for fairly safe resons but what about that 10th patient who might be just try to let you know he is coding....

[heron, ASN, RN]

OP ... relax! Life is tough when you're perfect. The only thing you can really control is your own behavior so do what you're supposed to and are allowed to do and let management deal with what staff is doing.

As others have pointed out ... you don't know what you don't know. Your interpretation of staff behavior may or may not be correct. For the moment, at least, it's not your problem.

You have enough on your plate with nursing school.

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

I'm too a nursing student. My clinical instructor told us that we are responsible for answering call lights whether its our patient or not ! Call lights in the hospital is a universal sign that someone needs help. Patients don't care who helps them as long as they are getting the help they need. When I was at clinicals and a patient hit their call button, I attended to them right away. NO , she was not my pt., however it was still my responsibility to help her. When I entered the patients room, she didn't care that I wasn't her nurse, tech, or doctor. What she care about was getting to the commode with out falling ! Answer the call lights, its your duty !

[RN1982]

With all due respect, I have yet to come across a pt who oh so politely uses the call light to let you know he's coding.

Yeah, I haven't had a patient do that yet either. No patient I have taken care of said right before cardiac arrest "Nurse, I think I'd like to code today"

[Magsulfate, BSN, RN]

With all due respect, I have yet to come across a pt who oh so politely uses the call light to let you know he's coding.

lol me either, Acually,,, I have NEVER used a call light when someone is coding. I have never seen ANYONE use one in that case. It is MUCH more effective to YELL OUT, really loud, "GET THE CRASH CART! CODE BLUE!"... than to 'ding'..... 'ding'..... yes please, we have a code in here. lol

[DLS_PMHNP, MSN, RN, NP]

If the call light is going off, answer it. Sheesh! It's called teamwork.

Student or not, YOU are also responsible for patient safety and patient care. When we are in clinicals, we MUST answer call lights. No matter if it is not "our patient.." As a student, we have more time to help out since we do not normally have full patient loads.

I would think you would want to be looked upon favorably by those that work in that hospital. Won't you be applying for jobs after graduation???? The "not my job" philosophy doesn't go over well ANYWHERE.

Happy Holidays, :reindeer:

Diane

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

Very true. That reminds me of the other night, when my CNA tried to prioritize my time for me. I was in the middle of assessing my new admit with an acute intracranial bleed (I am a cardiac nurse, and this neuro stuff freaks me out!), already having planned to go to my patient who had come in with V Tach and make sure he got his amiodarone on time next. The aide comes into the room where I'm assessing the ICB to inform me that "when you're done here, XXX needs her meds". Uh, gee, thanks for letting me know. I already knew she would be asking about her meds right about now, and I will get to her when *I* deem, in my nursing judgment, I need to. Her request is a matter of convenience, not safety. Heck, I already spent a half an hour I didn't have fetching another blanket, getting her chamomile tea because she doesn't like peppermint, and placing a new IV because she didn't like where the ED put in the one she came up to the floor with (of course, I didn't say any of this; I thanked the aide and told her I'd be there in a little bit).

As a CNA I would have done the same thing. If someone rings and wants me to tell the nurse they want their meds, I go tell her. That doesn't mean I expect the nurse to say "omg So-and-So needs their MEDS!" and go running. I'm just fulfilling the patient/resident's request. If I KNOW the person gets the same med every evening and I can see the nurse down the hall I'll say, "She's 3 doors down and on her way soon" but some meds are PRN and I don't want to wait till the end of the night and make the patient mad or left in discomfort and the nurse mad because I should have told her earlier before she thought she was done with her medpass.

[lpnflorida]

Fuzzy, you made a valid point.

[nurse_mo1986]

lol me either, Acually,,, I have NEVER used a call light when someone is coding. I have never seen ANYONE use one in that case. It is MUCH more effective to YELL OUT, really loud, "GET THE CRASH CART! CODE BLUE!"... than to 'ding'..... 'ding'..... yes please, we have a code in here. lol

ROFL:yeah::yeah:I hear ya

[Zana2]

offtopic and just to satisfy my curiosity, don't you guys in the US have a red button that sounds different (more allert) than the normal bell?

I've changed trusts, and they have 3 buttons on this one:orange for call the nurse, yellow for 'a colleague needs help now, she's there but needs and extra hand' and the normal red one for 'run!'

PS sorry if it's a stupid question!

[lpnflorida]

We have an emergency call/bell, and the patient call light. However the emergency call is for staff to pull.

[mrsraisinkain]

I am a nursing student, too. We were told that if we were seen in the hallways doing nothing while a call light is going off by a staff member of the facility we could be in jeopardy of losing our privilege to be at that clinical site. The place is trusting us to take care of their patients and we should do anything to help them. Sometimes the patient does need to be transferred somewhere and according to your school's policy you may need to get help. Yesterday I was in a room about to start a procedure on my patient. My instructor and 2 other students were in the room with me and my patient's roommate rings his bell so his aid would come open his milk. Yep, you got it, we managed to do it for him, even though we didn't work there.

Always find out what the call light is going off for. What if it is the patient who managed to grasp at the call light cord on their way down falling off the toilet? You just wasted precious time trying to find somebody to go see what the light is all about.

And never ever assume you know what everybody else on the floor is doing. You know what they say about assume.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

And never ever assume you know what everybody else on the floor is doing. You know what they say about assume.

That is so true.