The Effectiveness of nursing hourly: Call Light usage

A tracking tool was developed to represent a full 7-day period statistically . The call light data which were registered in a computer were tracked in the last full week of the month and the frequency and reason for call lights were noted . Days and hours used for the study were suitably adjusted for weekdays and week-end times . The study saw a decrease in call light usage by 77 in step down units , 56 in medical units and 31 in surgical units which is significant enough to prove the benefits of hourly rounds

. In the course of the study , overall patient satisfaction improved which became a motivator for continuing rounds . Even in the surgical units which did not show much drop in the call usage , patient satisfaction rates soared

According to Tea , Ellison and Feghali (2008 , nursing care after response to call bells is a reactionary mode of provision of health care which must be replaced with proactive hourly patient rounding which allows the nursing staff organize their daily tasks and also to anticipate and address the needs of their patients in a timely manner leading to greater patient satisfaction . The authors proposed I Care Rounding ' model of nursing care which places emphasis on proactive rounds by the nursing staff

Conclusion

Frequent rounding by nurses helps identification of the timely needs of the patient by virtue of the physical presence of the nurse and decreases unnecessary and abrupt interruption of regular tasks of the nurse , thus enhancing patient management performance and decreasing frustration and burn-out for the nurse . Conduction of frequent rounds also increases a sense of vigilance and satisfaction for the patient More research is warranted to know the long-term effects of frequent rounds

References

Culley , T (2008 . Reduce call light frequency with hourly rounds Nursing Management , 50-54

Meade , C...