The patient's call-light has evolved since the days when Florence Nightingale suggested the need for bells with valves that stayed open to alert nurses about which patients needed assistance.
Today, the need for communication between a nurse and their patient is just as important as it was back then. The ability to do so has just gotten a lot more high-tech. Recently; Roosevelt Medical Center installed a new patient's call-light system to provide patients with immediate access to staff when they need it. While patients have been able to do this with the 42-year-old system that was in place, the upgrade ensures it is easier for staff to see the lights and hear the bells sounding, ensuring the patient's needs are met faster and with more streamlined processes.
"The old system stood the test of time for decades, but it was long overdue for replacement," said Jeff Haus, maintenance supervisor.
The new system is smaller with brighter lights and optimal alert sounds. A phone that rings has replaced the clunky callbox that took up valuable counter space at the nurse's station and lights up each time a patient call-light goes off. A caregiver can pick up the phone and speak to the patient before walking down to their room. Staff instantly knows who needs attention and what type of call they have placed, as well as their location. These notifications are done by using tones and indications at the Nurse Console in the nurse's station, at duty stations, and at the dome light outside the patient's room. The nurse's station console indicates the top call priorities and their respective room numbers ensuring staff do not have to second-guess who placed the first call. This ensures prompter response times for patients.
A new feature is the addition of dock stations located in the central areas where nursing staff completes the majority of their work. This ensures they can hear and see the call-lights. Six pagers are also available to enable nursing staff to connect with patients from anywhere in the facility. "These pagers are great for staff who are already assisting a resident in another room because it alerts them immediately that another resident needs them," said Haus.
"This new system will create simplified nursing workflows while allowing for real-time communication and data capture," said Brian Fordyce, information technology director. "Quickly meeting our patient's needs is vital to ensuring they have a great care experience each day. It's also important in helping to ensure patients don't try to do things for themselves that may be unsafe," Fordyce added.
As needs change, the scalability and flexibility of the system will also make it easy to build upon with other more advanced features and updates.
"I really like having indicators in the other areas where nursing staff spend their time because it enables us to be vigilant about meeting the needs of our patients quickly. Now, I can be in a variety of locations and still see and hear the calls. Before, I had to be at the nurse's station and continually looking at the callbox or down all the hallways to see where I was needed next," said Karla Hunter, RN.
The nearly $50,000 project was made possible through funds raised from several Roosevelt Memorial Healthcare Foundation fundraising events and with Covid-relief funds. "The residents and the staff are thrilled to have the system and we are so thankful to have a community that made it possible to complete the project along with so many others over the years," said Jaimee Green, marketing and foundation director. "Their generosity and kindness is amazing," she added.
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