How long should it take to answer a call light.
Many have set an average time of 3 minutes to be a time to shoot for. The best average response time that I have seen is 2 minutes. But even with an average time of 2 minutes there will be a few calls that take 20 minutes.
If you have an average response time of 5 minutes, there is a problem that needs to be addressed. You will find there are a lot of calls that take over 30 minutes to respond to.
A number of times I have seen it taking 60 minutes to answer a call light at 3 AM. If you do not monitor your call lights, you will have no idea this is happening. Also it is good to examine the call data to see which hours of the day have the most calls. You can then make sure there is staff available to respond to the calls.
While it is good to get the average response time to 3 minutes or less, you should focus on the calls that are longer that 15 minutes. Do these calls occur at certain times of the day or in a particular shift. By cutting down on these longer calls you will reduce the average response time.
