Where i work, we all carry phones(nurses, cna etc)What  are other hospitals doing?Do they use pagers still, yell down the hall, or are most everyone using them now?I feel they are a big help,but can also be  a HUGE hinderance, invade pt pricacy and be unfair to pt's.It never fails when i am about to change a goopy dressing, in the middle of an iv, or all dresseed up to go in an airborne isolation room, it rings...Not to mention while you are talking/caring for other pt's, it is always ringing.I would like to know what's going on in your facility, how the pt's react, what you think about them....

We currently use spectra link phones. Only the RN's use these. The CNA's use pagers. The phones have their pros and cons. When the patient calls out, the westcom operator pages the appropriate person, ie, if patient needs to go to the bathroom it's sent to the CNA, if they want pain med they send it to the RN. It really saves alot of steps. It can be a bother at times, when your in the room and it starts ringing. I usually will not answer it if I am with a patient. But you can use it to call the pharmacy, lab or supervisor without having to walk to the desk. I will never use my phone to call a doc, b/c they can go dead. I use the regular phone to call an MD.

We also have a devices we wear that tracks where we are and how long we've been there. It's green and we call it a frog. It is not built into our name badge it's separate. This device also turns off the call bell when you enter a patients room. It has saved alot of butts at times thought, because there has been patients complaining that no one was in their room all night or only came in once. All they have to do is pull up the records of that device and print it out and it tells you how many times you were in the room and how long.

The pagers and phones also can be used to see how many pages were sent by specific patient. Some patients have been know to call out 40 to 50 times or more in an 8 hour period.