Practice Innovations

Call Bell Usage: Tracking the Effect of Hourly Staff Rounding

Barry C. Johnson

Laurie Bryant

hourly rounding, patient safety, patient satisfaction, quality improvement
CJON 2020, 24(3), 328-330. DOI: 10.1188/20.CJON.328-330

Hourly rounding by nursing staff helps to proactively manage patient needs and minimize the number of unscheduled calls from patients. The focus of this study was to determine if an increased emphasis on hourly rounding had an effect on call bell usage on an oncology unit. Patient call bell usage requests, such as asking for water or repositioning, and the total number of all alarms, such as bed exit alarms and lavatory assist alarms, decreased. Subsequent patient satisfaction surveys showed an increase in patient perception of how quickly help was received.

AT A GLANCE

  • Proactive hourly rounding decreased call bell usage and total alarms in this project.
  • There were no significant differences in bed exit and lavatory assist alarms pre- and postintervention.
  • Patients’ perceptions of prompt responses to their needs increased, as demonstrated on patient satisfaction surveys.
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