Medical Staff

Patients use "panic button" as last resort

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, June 22, 2011

When given the option of pushing a “panic button,” patients are more likely to underuse it than overuse it, according to Today’s Hospitalist. St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, CA, instituted “Condition H” in 2008, a program that allows patients to dial 66 (the in-house equivalent of 9-1-1) when they feel that there is an emergency. Yes, some patients have used it to report a malfunctioning television remote control or missing dinner tray, but for the most part, patients reserve the service for true emergencies. In the programs three-year history, its Condition H team has received only 70 calls. Most of the calls fall into three major categories:

  • Patients are confused about their care plan
  • Patients don’t feel that their pain is adequately treated
  • Unexplained delays in care
     

The Condition H team includes the medical emergency team nurse, a respiratory therapist, a consulting intensivist (if needed), the house supervising nurse, and the charge nurse from the floor where the call originated.
 

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