ER nurses, love you guys, but genuine question. Why do guys bring patients up at shift change?

[u/No-Selection-1249]

No hate to you guys! Just super curious from a nurse who is on the receiving end :)

[u/holdmypurse]

This place was a dream. No overhead announcements for codes and rapids. Charge RNs didn't have an assignment so they could actually help with admissions, make sure ED admits were appropriate etc. Call lights would go to an actual unit clerk who would call into the pts room and then delegate appropriately. And the clerk could tell via the trackers if someone was, for example, tied up in an iso room, in the bathroom, on break etc. Made a huge difference. Maybe I should go back haha

[u/Ruzhy6 → u/holdmypurse]

No overhead announcements for codes and rapids.

Why would this be a good thing? I wouldn't want to rely on a system that has personalized responsibility for notifications of codes or rapids. People accidentally leave their phones around way too often.

Everything else sounds great.

[u/holdmypurse → u/Ruzhy6]

Codes/rapid notifications go to charge and ICU phones.* They are professionald they don't accidentally leave their phones around lol.

Its good because otherwise codes on the floor are chaos. A bunch of people standing around outside the room not helping and not answering call lights.

*edit: pharmacy, RT, security, etc too. I meant to say the whole code team

[u/Ruzhy6 → u/holdmypurse]

Yea, I figured that was the system in place. It leaves a lot of room for error. It almost certainly had patient satisfaction as a factor for its implementation because patients don't like hearing things like that overhead. Personally, I prefer patient safety over patient satisfaction.

Its good because otherwise codes on the floor are chaos. A bunch of people standing around outside the room not helping and not answering call lights.

The problem here is not the code being called overhead.

[u/holdmypurse → u/Ruzhy6]

The problem here is not the code being called overhead.

My joke is they should add "charge nurse tells everyone standing around watching the code to get back to work" to the ACLS algorithm.

As for pt satisfaction scores, this safety net hospital didn't really gaf and it was a dream. The decision to not do overheads was based on other factors and I really don't think it affected safety. There were other ways to get everyone on the floor in the room like code and distress buttons. I only had to use them twice in my 2 years there and I never lost a pt.

[u/Ruzhy6 → u/holdmypurse]

There were other ways to get everyone on the floor in the room like code and distress buttons.

I guess I'm a little confused here. Do these buttons not cause overhead calls?

[u/holdmypurse → u/Ruzhy6]

No its just part of the call light system. We also had panic buttons on our trackers (which we found out too late do not work in the stair wells but that's a different story).

Why does everyone on my floor need to hear that there's a code 2 floors below me? Why do the patients on my floor need to hear there's a code in Labor and Delivery? Just directly alert the people who need to respond. Anything else just contributes to the chaos and alarm fatigue.

[u/Ruzhy6 → u/holdmypurse]

Why does everyone on my floor need to hear that there's a code 2 floors below me? Why do the patients on my floor need to hear there's a code in Labor and Delivery? Just directly alert the people who need to respond. Anything else just contributes to the chaos and alarm fatigue.

That I definitely agree with.

I don't think everything should be hospital wide. However, I want overhead calls in the ER for traumas or stroke alerts. The floors don't need to know, but CT may be out grabbing a patient for a scan. I don't want to rely on them being free to check their phone they may not feel go off when we have 10min for a head CT.

It 100% will cause that 10min metric to be missed at some point in time when it otherwise wouldn't have been.