What a crock of shiat. I spent over a decade as an RN and I would just quit if the place I worked had one of these.

If I am making noise it is because I am doing something that requires talking or using equiptment that makes noise. L&D is a fecking madhouse at times and nobody in L&D expects silence.

They could jam this up their arse as far as I am concerned.

I've never had any trouble sleeping in the hospital (as long as they keep up the meds!)

Cog: I've never had any trouble sleeping in the hospital (as long as they keep up the meds!)

Intravenous morphine is great for insomnia.

As I have done to many 'backup beepers', yank some wires out and it will never make any more noise.

/Weren't my backup beepers either.....

What an incredibly stupid and disruptive idea. This accomplishes nothing more than frustrating employees in what is already a high-stress environment.

It's too loud. We should set off an alarm that makes even more noise to let everyone know there's too much noise.

"It's kind of scary," Grubbs said of the stoplight, flickering from green to yellow and back to green again as the nurses go about their business. "Because it's loud, and you forget it until it goes: WHARRGARBL!"

The internet needs such a stoplight.

"That stoplight device... actually part of the solution, rather than the problem... is set to sound an alarm when things get too loud."

Irony? Anyone else?

puffy999: What an incredibly stupid and disruptive idea. This accomplishes nothing more than frustrating employees in what is already a high-stress environment.

This.

feckingmorons: What a crock of shiat. I spent over a decade as an RN and I would just quit if the place I worked had one of these.

If I am making noise it is because I am doing something that requires talking or using equiptment that makes noise. L&D is a fecking madhouse at times and nobody in L&D expects silence.

They could jam this up their arse as far as I am concerned.

And this. Aside from being counter-productive, it's also insulting. This is the kind of crap they do in elementary schools to shut up 4th Graders.

/has spent more time than desirable in a hospital
//noise never bothered me

helix400: "It's kind of scary," Grubbs said of the stoplight, flickering from green to yellow and back to green again as the nurses go about their business. "Because it's loud, and you forget it until it goes: WHARRGARBL!"

The internet needs such a stoplight.

helix400: The internet needs such a stoplight.

I think "Troll/Don't Troll" signals would also be welcome.

We should install one in the House of Representatives and put it on its lowest setting?

Spiffy? More like asinine. I did tech support for a hospital where I went into live nursing units and they do not make noise for the hell of it. If there is noise it's because there is a good reason for it as in trying to make sure the patient doesn't die.

Oh, and I'd just like to say that if I ran into a place like this, I'd probably lose my job rather quickly after taking an ax or baseball bat to the buzzer.

helix400: "It's kind of scary," Grubbs said of the stoplight, flickering from green to yellow and back to green again as the nurses go about their business. "Because it's loud, and you forget it until it goes: WHARRGARBL!"

The internet needs such a stoplight.

oh, farkin a, i lol'd hard at that one

Get Lost: As I have done to many 'backup beepers', yank some wires out and it will never make any more noise.

/Weren't my backup beepers either.....

Thanks for disabling safety devices. I'm hoping you're never in a situation where one may have saved your life. The coincidence would just lay me out.

I'd like to hear "Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard".

Wow, we had one of these in our cafeteria in elementary school, twenty years ago.

Oh, and speaking of San Antonio and stoplights, does this city not have the longest farking stoplights in the country? They are awful.

puffy999: Oh, and I'd just like to say that if I ran into a place like this, I'd probably lose my job rather quickly after taking an ax or baseball bat to the buzzer.
The best thing about being a nurse is there is always another hospital that needs nurses. Quit the place with the traffic light in the morning, have a nice lesiurely lunch, get a new job in the afternoon.

I had one of those in the cafeteria when I was in elementary school.

/God I hated that thing.

So a guy screaming his way through a heart attack gets free bells and whistles? How is the food?

But will it fine you 5 credits for violation of the verbal morality statute?!?

/obscure?

I know your legs were smashed in a car accident, but could you whisper? Can someone duct tape the mouth of the chick in labor over there?

/there now
//nice & quiet

FTA: Throughout the hospital, the "always quiet" score has risen about 5 percentage points, said Carlos Castañeda, director of patient relations.

Maybe he's wondering if adding some peyote to the Jell-o might net them few more points on their score...

The_Terminator: But will it fine you 5 credits for violation of the verbal morality statute?!?

/obscure?

I bet the seashells aren't noisy.

The_Terminator: But will it fine you 5 credits for violation of the verbal morality statute?!?

/obscure?

*slaps the shiat out of Arnold*

feckingmorons: If I am making noise it is because I am doing something that requires talking or using equiptment that makes noise. L&D is a fecking madhouse at times and nobody in L&D expects silence.

Right. Because people are never socializing in and around the nurses' station.

nothing's ever obscure on fark

M-G: feckingmorons: If I am making noise it is because I am doing something that requires talking or using equiptment that makes noise. L&D is a fecking madhouse at times and nobody in L&D expects silence.

Right. Because people are never socializing in and around the nurses' station.

Exactly. To a night-shift worker it's their normal uptime and they very well might not realize they are keeping patients from sleeping. Something to remind them of this seems quite reasonable.

M-G: feckingmorons: If I am making noise it is because I am doing something that requires talking or using equiptment that makes noise. L&D is a fecking madhouse at times and nobody in L&D expects silence.

Right. Because people are never socializing in and around the nurses' station.

Not where I worked, but I worked in a large city ER/Trauma Center. I would have liked the time to socialize. I've eaten sandwiches at codes - I never went to the cafeteria about a dozen times in the years I worked there. (if there is a code, try to be the one writing, not touching the patient).

So next time you are in a hospital complain to the nursing staff (and you don't find the nurses at the desk for the most part, those are the unit clerks, and various other functionaries) that the noise level is too high. Your care won't suffer but we will all think you are a huge tool.

But if you pay $5 a month for TotalHospital, you can make the lights go away.

as someone who works in a hospital im really getting a kick.....

When I worked at a hospital, my unit was mixed, so because of the possibility of admitting a pedi at any time, all the patients had to be fully oriented. That unit was much quieter than the other units with disoriented patients.

And because most of our patients could sleep easier (depending on pain levels vs meds), the staff was quieter than the other units (usually) -- awake patients click their call lights, sleeping patients don't.

But it wasn't always as quiet as we would have liked -- the most thoughtful presents IMO were ear plugs, eye masks, and full-body pillows (very helpful for post-ops to get more comfortable).

There was also one of these in my elementary school cafeteria 'bout 13 years ago. I personally thought it was awesome, but most of the kids must have thought otherwise. They usually just got louder and louder until it turned red, then set off an ungodly high-pitched beeping alarm for a few seconds. Eventually the school realized no one was paying any attention to it and ditched it.

/Replaced it with a lame table-by-table thing where they'd put a wooden star on the end of every table that was being quiet enough
//Like that's gonna work
///I have a great memory for useless stuff like that

CornFedIowan: helix400: The internet needs such a stoplight.

I think "Troll/Don't Troll" signals would also be welcome.

Well this is just a typical Canada Nanny State phony solution isn't it? Rather than actually doing anything about the problem, it just contributes to it, and the bureaucrats and activists responsible get to feel good about themselves.

/Who trips over my bridge?

i was in the cardiac care unit after open heart surgery and the staff at night liked to argue politics at 2:00 am and i was right across the hall from nurses station so i slept very little even with the door closed.

Get Lost: As I have done to many 'backup beepers', yank some wires out and it will never make any more noise.

/Weren't my backup beepers either.....

Yeah, that's great, asshole. Make some random guy pay for a replacement.

Oh dear god, this brings back memories.

This isn't a new system at all. I remember when I was in second grade the school I went to had one of those in the cafeteria (this was the early 90's)/ The light would go from green to yellow than beep loudly at red. Everyone had to shut up or get "written up" (this threat actually worked, probably because this was a school on an air force base).

sagegrey: The_Terminator: But will it fine you 5 credits for violation of the verbal morality statute?!?

/obscure?

I bet the seashells aren't noisy.

Does anyone have a diagram of how those seashells are supposed to work?

just_another_asshole/jaa: i was in the cardiac care unit after open heart surgery and the staff at night liked to argue politics at 2:00 am and i was right across the hall from nurses station so i slept very little even with the door closed.

Ask for a sleeper, they have a whole freaking pharmacy right there in the hospital. Live better chemically. Trust me, there was an order for a prn sleeper if you had only asked.

Tell your nurses about any problems or concerns you have, we can solve them all (well except the whole being dead thing, but I've never had anyone actually complain about that directly).

Uhm... labour and delivery... quiet???

*flashbacks to my 38 hour pain fest*

Yeah.. uh... RED LIGHT RED LIGHT!
what a crock of shiat. If some nurse came in and said "the lights red, can you keep it down please", I would have ripped her head off.

Fireproof: There was also one of these in my elementary school cafeteria 'bout 13 years ago.

This, but mine was at the primary school (K and 1), and served much the same purpose. Red, don't talk. Yellow, whisper. Green, talk. Worked great for kids that young. Are we treating our nurses like kindergartners now?

Gee.

Last two times my husband was at Seton here in Austin, they were doing construction either on the floor above or the floor below. His stays were about a year apart.

You have never been in a noisy environment until you've been in a farking hospital room when they are running a farking concrete drill in the room above yours.

He called me one day when I was at work absolutely in tears because of the noise (and this is the guy who toughs out kidney stones). I called the hospital's patient rep who went to his room, agreed that it was too noisy (they could hardly have a conversation, it was so bad) and then returned with farking ear plugs. As if the noise weren't so farking bad that you could feel it in your bones (or your 8 inch cut from your chest down). Even the drugs weren't enough to let him sleep.

Naturally, there was no place to move him either time. The first time was worse because they were working from 5a to 7p (even though they weren't supposed to start work until 8a). It sounded like there was a war being waged most of the day. The only reason he agreed to be admitted there the second time was we figured there was no way they'd still be doing construction.

So, yeah, noise is a problem

CruJones: Wow, we had one of these in our cafeteria in elementary school, twenty years ago.

Yep, same here. Must have been a 1980s trend.

We had one of those awful stoplights in my elementary school. I always thought they were a bad idea - they had us sitting still and quiet all morning and all afternoon, yet for some reason, twenty minutes of loud conversation was too much to ask. At least we still had recess, where we could run around, scream and shout, and break things on the horrifically unsafe playground equipment. Ah, the good old days.

Get Lost: As I have done to many 'backup beepers', yank some wires out and it will never make any more noise.

/Weren't my backup beepers either.....

You need to beep when you back up? Just how big are you?

My wife's hospital has these at the nursing stations on all the inpatient units. This is a major problem with night shift at their hospital, apparently. She worked overtime one night and I called up to see how she was doing that it sounded like a party was going on with the music and talking up there.

Maybe they could also get an "Everything is OK" alarm.

bugdog 2008-07-27 01:13:05 AM
You have never been in a noisy environment until you've been in a farking hospital room when they are running a farking concrete drill in the room above yours.

I can attest to this, as I spend far much more time than I'd like on construction sites.