Call Bell

Narrative Clinical Exemplar One

John Zhang

Hartwick College

The Call Bell

Patients use call lights to seek nurses' assistance will implied in patients safty.

Call light use and response time correlated with inpatient falls and inpatient dissatisfaction

I am an RN who has worked at this hospital for almost two years, and one thing that has always bothered me a lot is not answering the call bell in our hospital.

I will never forget that on June 20, 2013, patient Ms X had to make a long distance call to her son who lives more than three hundred miles away from this hospital. Ms X was in this hospital due to recently fracturing her right hip, and had received a total hip replacement. She wanted some pain medication, and pushed the call bell for the nurse for more than one hour. No one came to the room to check on her, and the son had to call the hospital operator to complain.

Ms X was 86 years old, and fell at home on June 18, 2013, and was admitted to our hospital on the same day to the emergency room. She had surgery on the 19th of June for a total hip replacement, and an anterior procedure was performed. June 20th was considered post operated day one, and the main nursing care was focused on pain control and repositioning every two hours. The patient was in room 421, and Nurse J who was assigned for Ms X that day has been a Nurse for about 30 years. My group assignments are from 402 to room 405, I had six patients that day, and normally two or three call lights blinking at our floor is very common. We didn’t know Ms X was waiting for pain medication until her son made a long distance call from another state.

Whether it’s a request for ice water, help getting to the bathroom or a plea for pain relief, an unanswered call light leaves hospital patients feeling helpless and frustrated.

What mental operations...