Introduction of a bleepless intern on-call era

Background

The current bleep communication system between nurses and interns on-call in most Irish hospitals has been linked with interruption in patient care, disruption to workflow, inefficiency, increased burden and stress to the on-call health staff. A new electronic system was introduced in a University Hospital to replace and eliminate bleep usage during on-call hours.

Methods

An Intern on-call task electronic template was generated using Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet. This electronic system enabled users to review and respond to requests placed by nursing healthcare staff. This project initially underwent a trial process in three wards for a period of two weeks in June 2023. Interns and nurses were asked to fill a survey before and after introduction of the system. The project was implemented across all wards in August 2023 and a secondary survey was obtained. In addition, the spreadsheets were analysed retrospectively.

Results

During the trial, twenty-six interns and twenty nurses were surveyed before and after implementation of the electronic system. Interns satisfaction rate was 73% and stress was reported to be reduced by 65%. Notably, 57% of interns reported a reduction in workload and the number of bleeps was reported to be as <10 by 42%. Nurses reported a decrease in the number of bleeps they needed to send overall by 65% and by 55% for repeated jobs. Workload was reported to be increased by 15% by nurses. However, exactly half of the nurses were unhappy with the new system and stress levels were unchanged.

Conclusion

This project has shown promising results, efficient and clear communication was noted with an overall positive feedback and satisfaction rate by doctors. However, as evident, from a nursing perspective further work is needed to further progress into a system that can benefit both parties involved.