Visitors chasing you down the hallway....

carolmaccas66, BSN, RN · Jan 28, 2011

Telling patients with visitors to use the call light will not work. They don't use it because nurses won't come as quickly as they'd like, and they know they can chase you down in the hallway and get what they want right there and then.

There are a few strategies I have used to combat this problem:

1) When you are doing drugs/pulling drugs be VERY FIRM and say you cannot help the person right now, and explain why it is important not to be interrupted during a drug round. Then ask what room are you in? I or an aide/another nurse will come and see you as soon as we are free. If there is a door to the drug room, close it firmly after they have spoken to you. Our drug room doors are only accessible with a swipe card. Also tell the person how busy you are with new admits, etc. Even doing/checking people's drugs and ID bands in the room, I ask not to be interrupted and always explain why.

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james2309 · Jan 28, 2011

i'm just a student....so take my comments with a grain of salt.....but has anyone tried asking them to use the call light?
so, say i was pulling meds for my patient and another patient's visitor came and interrupted me with a request for a blanket. would it be out of line for me to say something to the effect of,
"i'm getting medication for another patient and can't stop right now, the best and fastest way to let your nurse know you need something is for the patient to use the call light...have you tried that?"

sadly, in my experience, it's the patients who have been patient and had the call-light ignored for sometimes hours at a time that then learn that the only way they can get the help they need is to follow or come looking for nurses and 'harrass' them...

two things stand out to me in these situations...

1. to the visitor/loved one of the patient, nothing (and i repeat nothing) is more important than getting their loved one whatever they need ... ... as quickly as possible... ... and as someone who has been on both sides of the nurse / patient wars with a terminally ill friend, trust me - there are some nurses who need a serious dose of customer service training! the patients and their families are our customers... in what other service area would you tolerate someone looking you directly in the face when you approach the counter because you need something and then, blatanly looking away and proceeding to ignore you, as if you were invisible? it has happened to me... ... you'd soon rant and rave in a shop or restaurant or other service industry if you were treated this way... and we are no less mandated to provide service... without these people we wouldn't be here... we wouldn't need to be here and we wouldn't be getting paid to be here if it wasn't for the patients and their families...

2. there's nothing wrong with good, old-fashioned assertiveness. i'm sorry, i'm a bit busy just at the moment but if you wouldn't mind giving me x minutes and then i'll either find the person who can help you or help you myself... if you'd like to try asking for xxx, s/he might be able to help you... respectful, courteous, clear, limit-setting - bearing in mind that 'unconditional positive regard' is a pre-requisite for being a caring nurse... these people are not a hindrance to our job, they are our job... it's clearly documented on many, many occasions - good family engagement facilitates good recovery... they're not in the way and they're typically upset, worried and not at their best... this is not to excuse bad treatment from families ever... but to remember that they are so out of their comfort zone, while we - who spend up to 40 hours per week in the ward/hospital setting, are well and truly in ours...

:-)

nursej22, MSN, RN · Jan 28, 2011

Our hospital discourages visitors in our little pantry as well as in the clean linen due to infection control issues, so it is up to staff to fetch water/ice, blankets, whatever.

But I agree that more and more visitors are resistant to use the call light, and I'm guessing for a variety of reasons: lack of knowledge or trust, impatience, feeling a need to be helpful, power trip,etc.

I say kill 'em with kindness:

"That is so great you're here for your mom. I am not familiar with her care and I need to deliver these meds. I will be happy to page your nurse or aide as soon as I have delivered these. If you put on the call light in the room our secretary can page the person you need faster than myself. We all carry cell phones and call light requests are sent directly to staff. Oh, look, there goes my phone right now."

Dalzac, LPN, LVN, RN · Jan 28, 2011

I worked in ICU and was actually doing CPR and a woman walked into the room with a water pitcher and asked me to get ice for her mother!!!! The Doc running the code looked at the nursing supervisor and said "Get that f&*%ing B*(^% out of here!!! I was just flabberghasted she actually stood there and expected me to climb down and do it, I couldn't even speak. He and I were both written up. But I think my unit manager put it in the circular file

Ayeloflo · Jan 28, 2011

My good friends, society has it's own idea of what a nurse's responsibility is. You might not see the same family members the next day. We have new admits all the time. Same issues with families all the time. You try to please families and your frustration will never end and you won't be able to finish your work on time. Set boundaries all the time. Tell then you'd love to help them but at this time their need has to wait. i get scared when families refer to me as "nice nurse". When I first started, I have been stuck on the phone several times with family. Always clocking out late, getting called into CNO's office, always extremely tired. When I repeated myself twice to a family member, charge nurse says: Don't look them in the eye if it's not important. Keep doing your busy stuff. Tell them you'll take care of their need when you get a chance. When you let them know that certain things are not priority, they won't always get it. Addressing thier relative's inconvenience is a top priority for the visitors. If there is a phone in the hallway, I tell them, Dial #0 for operator and tell them what you need. PLEASE STOP TRYING TO PLEASE EVERYBODY COS YOU CAN'T. Ordinary people like to take advantage of nice people :)

StNeotser, ASN, RN · Jan 28, 2011

in what other service area would you tolerate someone looking you directly in the face when you approach the counter because you need something and then, blatanly looking away and proceeding to ignore you, as if you were invisible? it has happened to me... ... you'd soon rant and rave in a shop or restaurant or other service industry if you were treated this way... and we are no less mandated to provide service... without these people we wouldn't be here... we wouldn't need to be here and we wouldn't be getting paid to be here if it wasn't for the patients and their families...

what they are doing in this scenario if they have already been told the system is jumping the line. so it would be like a customer is at the checkout and then some fool pushes in line and says, hey, i'm more important, ring my purchases up right now!

i don't have so much of a problem if folk come up to the nurses station and i know they don't understand why i am either on the telephone or looking through a chart.

however, if someone sees me dressing up in isolation garb outside someone elses room and decides i'm coffee girl, they are a fool. if a vistor decides they will flag the nearest scrub wearing member of staff outside a room when i am walking down the hall with all sorts of dressings or syringes/tubing in my hands they are a fool.

i'd about had it on christmas day when all of the patients on our 28 bed unit had at least two visitors each. i came back to the nurses station to find three family members all proclaiming that something minor needed to happen "right now" and "nobody was here" and how long they had been "waiting".

of course, there were no call lights on.

james2309 · Jan 28, 2011

i worked in icu and was actually doing cpr and a woman walked into the room with a water pitcher and asked me to get ice for her mother!!!! the doc running the code looked at the nursing supervisor and said "get that f&*%ing b*(^% out of here!!! i was just flabberghasted she actually stood there and expected me to climb down and do it, i couldn't even speak. he and i were both written up. but i think my unit manager put it in the circular file

and then, of course, there's always the other extreme... i would probably have been written up here, too - we're all likely to be a little bit less assertive and more instructive with expletives under certain conditions!!!

:-)

KSU-SN · Jan 28, 2011

we always explain to the patients when they come up from surgery that if they need anything to press the call light, then we place it in their hand and show them the button to press. And its usually not about not getting their needs met on time because most of the people that come to the nurse's station or chase you down dont try to use the call light first. Also, we do have a unit secretary and she is great about answering call lights using the system at the desk (when people do decide to use the call light.) Also, if the visitors approach the unit secretary and ask for something she will get it but the problem with that is, she may be in the middle of entering orders for a patient and once she gets pulled away from that, orders have gotten missed because she has lost her train of thought or whatever. I guess I will just have to try to practice being assertive and encourage my coworkers to do the same.

NaKcl, BSN, RN · Jan 28, 2011

it is so frustrating when the patients' family think their sick ones are the only one we are caring for them. your hospital sounds like where I work. I do not like those family members standing at the end of the hallway stairing at you until you bring a bag of ice or a warm blankit they requested earlier. :argue:

allnurses Guide · Jan 28, 2011

I will say, for some it is definitely a lack of education. I spent significant time in the hospital with a family member who had AML. I thought using the call light for the nurse was "bugging" them and that it was more personal and respectful of them to go talk to them face to face. Of course, I never entered another patient's room and I bent over backward to say "no rush, whenever you have time", but back then I just didn't know. Pushing a button to page someone to my beck and call felt as if I were being demeaning toward that person.

Obviously I know better now. :)

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Jan 28, 2011

"Inferior" can also refer to rank. I guess it's all matter of perception. I've even referred to myself as an underling, on occasion. It actually sounds like an affectionate term to me.

Yes, that's why I said it has negative connotations to "many," vs. "everyone."

To many people, "inferior" means "not as good as" vs. "lower in rank."

It certainly is a matter of perception.

I personally prefer to use language that is less likely to offend because I respect our support staff and really can't afford to offend them. They are an essential part of our team, and I've observed that those who offend the support staff have a very difficult time.

JDougRN, BSN, RN · Jan 28, 2011

Had an 80+ man in my ER last night- ABd pain- (He was FOS...surprise)- Wife, and 2 very pushy family members with them. I made sure I told them what was going on, how long it would approx. take. They still HOUNDED me for stupid things- She followed me into the med room to tell me he needed help using the urinal....HUH? 1. He used it FINE by himself 45 minutes ago when I was in the room...2. His parts are in the same place they have been for the last 80+ years- his belly hurts, his arms aren't broken..3. YOU have been married to him for the past 60 years- STUFF HIS PARTS into the damn urinal yourself!... I did't get in there quickly enough- the next thing I know, he's reported to be having "HORRIBLE CHEST PAIN!"- as reported to me by the PIA family. I asked them to leave the room, did EKG, Cardiac enzymes, VS- re-assesed for potential cardiac issues- I ask him, as I get ready to pop the first nitro- Where is your chest pain? His answer- "I don't HAVE chest pain, I haven't had chest pain since I've been here, my belly hurts!" So I open the door, coming nose to nose with the family. "Did you report to the nurses station that he was having CP?" "Oh, well, yes, that's what we thought he said......"