Tzeng Huey-Ming, Larson Janet L
Department of Nursing, School of Health Professions and Studies, The University of Michigan-Flint, Flint 48502-1950, USA.
Comput Inform Nurs. 2011 Apr;29(4 Suppl):TC75-80. doi: 10.1097/NCN.0b013e31821ef7fc.
Patient call-light usage and nurse responsiveness to call lights are two intertwined concepts that could affect patients' safety during hospital stays. Little is known about the relationship between call-light usage and call-light response time. Consequently, this exploratory study examined the relationship between the patient-initiated call-light use rate and the nursing staff's average call-light response time in a Michigan community hospital. It used hospital archived data retrieved from the call-light tracking system for the period from February 2007 through June 2008. Curve estimation regression and multiple regression analyses were conducted. The results showed that the call-light response time was not affected by the total nursing hours or RN hours. The nurse call-light response time was longer when the patient call-light use rate was higher and the average length of stay was shorter. It is likely that a shorter length of stay contributes to the nursing care activity level on the unit because it is associated with a higher frequency of patient admissions/discharges and treatment per patient-day. This suggests that the nursing care activity level on the unit and number of call-light alarms could affect nurse call-light response time, independently of the number of nurses available to respond.
患者呼叫灯的使用情况以及护士对呼叫灯的响应是两个相互交织的概念，可能会影响患者住院期间的安全。关于呼叫灯使用情况与呼叫灯响应时间之间的关系，目前所知甚少。因此，这项探索性研究调查了密歇根州一家社区医院中患者发起呼叫灯的使用率与护理人员平均呼叫灯响应时间之间的关系。该研究使用了从2007年2月至2008年6月期间呼叫灯跟踪系统中获取的医院存档数据。进行了曲线估计回归和多元回归分析。结果显示，呼叫灯响应时间不受护理总时长或注册护士工作时长的影响。当患者呼叫灯使用率较高且平均住院时间较短时，护士对呼叫灯的响应时间会更长。住院时间较短可能会导致病房护理活动水平提高，因为这与每位患者每天更高的入院/出院频率以及治疗频率相关。这表明，病房护理活动水平和呼叫灯警报数量可能会影响护士对呼叫灯的响应时间，而与能够响应的护士数量无关。
