How to Test a Hospital Nurse Call System

Providing quality care and outstanding service is essential to establishing a reputation of excellence for your hospital within your community. Observing and testing the front line of interaction and care provided by your nursing staff is vital to ensuring your patients receive the care they need while staying in your facility. A simple program can be set up to test your nurse call system in your hospital and monitor the response time of your nursing staff.

Instructions

• 1

  Test the mechanics of the call button first. Pull the call button cord out of the wall and walk to the area, usually outside the patient's room at their doorway, to notice if the call light is blinking. Replace the cord back into the wall and depress the call button. Observe the hallway light to note if it is lit. If the light does not work with either of these tests, then notify your maintenance personnel immediately to arrange for the call button and call light to be fixed. Consider checking each call button quarterly to reduce the risk of poor quality of care.

• 2

  Locate a patient's room that is currently occupied but temporarily vacated by the patient who is at a test for a period of time. Go into the room and close the door slightly or close the curtain to hide your location. Try to enter the room without any staff noticing your presence. Wait for about 5 minutes and then depress the call light. Use a stopwatch to track the amount of time it takes your nursing staff to appropriately respond. Recommended call-light response time should range from 30 to 90 seconds.

• 3

  When they arrive, educate your staff on their performance. Praise those nurses who respond appropriately within the recommended time frame. Additionally, consider establishing a quarterly contest for the lowest call-button response times with appropriate prizes for the most timely staff. Reinforce your policy and expectation to staff members who fail to respond within the appropriate time and make sure to follow up with another test for those staff members to ensure they are improving their performance in response to your feedback.