Yelling down the halls like a banshee...

[Poi Dog]

At my facility it this is an irritating practice. Would it actually kill someone to walk a few feet to speak with the person? Does everyone NEED to know that so and so has diarrhea or is constipated? Seriously, folks.

In spite of numerous reminders to not yell down the halls, people still do it.

Is this common practice at your facility?

[NM nurse to be]

I haven't really heard that much at my facility. Unless there is an accident and someone needs help NOW, that doesn't really happen. And at night, I try not to talk in front of room doors either. We do have one nurse who has only one volume and even though she's not yelling down the hall, people do complain about noise at night on occassion.

[Dorali, BSN, LPN, RN]

The most yelling we do is calling someone's name (a fellow aide) and pointing to the room we're gonna go in (or something like that anyway).

It's never been an issue really so I don't know how they have prevented it in the first place.

[KimberlyRN89, BSN, RN]

That annoys the crap out of me too. At one of my jobs, the aides & nurses all carry walkie-talkies & simply state "Room 4242 needs assistance". I think that is such a better way of doing things!

If only all facilities did this

[One Flew Over]

I hate that! Seriously there are few instances that warrant yelling! Only when I'm about to drop somebody I just caught from falling and I need help.. When somebody actually falls.. Or when somebody stops breathing! (a full code people! Obviously I won't yell like crazy if they're a DNR )

[LaterAlligator]

At my job we carry walkies & just use room numbers, and usually don't get real specific about what someone needs. Though the other day, I have to admit, I walkied the med tech for "immodium, ASAP", lol.

We also have designated code phrases for falls or injuries so we don't alarm other residents that may overhear our walkies.

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

Thankfully, no. and in the critical care units at my hospital, all of the nurses/aides/techs have Voceras, which is kind of like a little walkie talkie that clips to your uniform or to a lanyard around your neck. If we really need to talk to someone, you just push the button and say "call so-and-so" and it will connect you to that person and you can talk to them that way. It's really nice :)

[CoffeemateCNA]

On occasion, yes.

I'll never forget the time at my last facility when the aides were screaming (I repeat: SCREAMINGGG) at each other and dropping F-bombs and slamming doors on each other -- AT MIDNIGHT.

The only time I ever scream at people (including visitors) is during codes when I'm running like a madman for the AED, O2, charts, transfer paperwork, etc., and people are just standing in the hall chatting about American Idol and clogging up the flow of traffic. I'll scream "GET OUT OF MY WAY NOWWWWWW!" at the top of my lungs about 500 times. I even did it in front of the DON once and never had anything said to me about it. It's surprising how dumb a crowd of visitors can be when they see a group of 4-5 nurses and CNAs sprinting everywhere, and they just stand right in the middle of the hall and stare at us while we're trying to push them out of the way. You'd think the general public has seen ER enough times to know that a group of running health care professionals is not good news and that maybe they should MOVE.