Quick question...lately, it seems I've had patients whose families are extremly discontent with everything. Including me! My question is; am I the only one out there who is being complained about? The issues are I attempted pt teaching about medications and pt felt I was calling him stupid because I said "I encourage everyone to know what meds they're taking" and today because I wouldn't give patient information to family members without pt's consent (pt is alert, oriented and competent). I guess it's my 'delivery' but sometimes, I just want to ask "who's defending me and my practice?" Just once I'd like to hear someone say "she's a good nurse, doing a difficult job and we're lucky to have her". I guess the lesson learned is happy pt's/families keep their mouths shut and unhappy one's never shut their mouths.

How long have you been a nurse?

Almost 9 years...last 7 on a tele floor in a big city on the east coast. I've been PRN for quite awhile now I'm part time. Maybe it's time to leave bedside nursing, which would be a shame, cuz the other 90% of the time, I love what I do, the whole picture. But it kind of hurts my feelings when people complain when I know I'm giving 110% towards taking care of their loved one.

What do the patient's complain about?

At our hospital we are constantly being told we need to improve our "Press Ganey" scores. The pt's are asked a number of questions regarding the care that they recieved while in the hospital. The questions cover everything from room temp., diet choices, how nice the nurses are, etc. We all feel as if we give over 100% but yet according to these scores our pt's feel that their nursing care and things related to it, need to impove. It is so frustrating.

Have you had any evals at all? Maybe if you speak to your nurse manager she (or he) could give you some specifics as to the complaints (if in fact, that they are directed toward you) and also be able to tell you about your strong and weak areas of nursing. That way you will know what to work on, if you need to work on anything.

just a little vent here . . . .

i work in an icu, and the other night i picked up an assignment -- two patients in one room. one is awake, oriented, relatively stable but failing to thrive. just got extubated after three weeks on the vent, just passed his swallow eval, but he's npo for a procedure the next day. and he's "tasky." frequent turns, dressing changes, meds, etc. and he's deaf as a post, so every communication with him is excrutiating! the other is ready to transfer to the floor, but the floor won't take him without a sitter and the sitter didn't show up, so we keep him. the day nurse (who is having a nervous breakdown of sorts) was giving me report, and the first patient's (we'll call him mr. chronic) family interrupted three times in 20 minutes to ask questions or to say they wanted to visit. finally, the day nurse said "we'll tell you when it's time to visit, but it won't be until after 8pm."

report is over, day nurse couldn't get out of there fast enough. i pull the curtain between the beds and walked over to the second bed to check on cocaine boy whose transfer was aborted because the sitter didn't show. it's about 7:35. upon seeing me, cocaine boy flips his patient gown up to his chin, picks up his member, and says "touch it."

"i'm not touching that without gloves," i say. "nobody wants to see your member. cover it up and put it away."

"please," he says. "please," wiggling it in what i'm sure he meant as an enticing way. then he picks up the bulb suction attached to his blake drain (chest drain), and yanks really hard, pulling apart the damned drain. there's bloody drainage everywhere, and suddenly he's short of breath.

right about then, mr. chronic's daughter ripped the curtain back, stepped up beside me (in full view of cocaine boy and his mister happy, the bloody mess and everything) and said, "i want to talk to you about dad's dinner. now."

"kinda busy right now," i said. "please pull that curtain back for me to preserve this patient's privacy."

and the next day they complained to the day nurse that i was rude to them.

i really wonder about people sometimes.

Complaints like that make you wish you HAD said what you were thinking, if they were going to complain anyway.

i've started to see patient satisfaction scores posted on my unit lately. the scores seem low w/r/t my perception of pt care and how satisfied pt's are. but then again, pt and family member priorities are way different than ours are. you know how if their dinner is cold or not what they ordered it's the biggest deal in the entire world and "the care here is terrible". never mind that you: monitored hemodynamics, neuro status, dressings, drains, administered medications correctly, perhaps transfused them, all that (and more) without messing anything up and with a smile on your face, making small talk. people don't see what goes on behind the scenes and don't appreciate the work that goes in to their care. it can be frustrating when someone isn't happy with your best effort- but chin up, you know you're doing your best...

I am glad to hear that you have had 9 years of nursing and been protected from these kind of families. I have been a nurse 20 years and always have had this kind of experience with not all but some families. Usually I listen to the other nurses and see if it is me or if they are having the same kind of issues with the family, if so then it may not be me. I leave work everyday feeling that I have given my patient 110%, if I can have a good rapport with the family fine, if not then that is not my primary goal-my patient in better shape than when I came on is. Hang in there and remember that you can't please all the people all the time.

At our hospital we are constantly being told we need to improve our "Press Ganey" scores.

Speaking of Press Ganey:

This is a quote from a patient, who no doubt meant it sincerely: "The nurses were very nice even though they were very busy."

No doubt the author's intent was to compliment the staff, yet at the same time drop a hint that we are overworked. Any guesses as to what area this scored under? It was filed under the NEGATIVE column. It was considered a negative strike because we are not to even appear busy, it's a big no-no under our "Service Excellent" nonsense.:angryfire :angryfire

Heck we can please the patient and still catch crap.:trout:

Speaking of Press Ganey:

This is a quote from a patient, who no doubt meant it sincerely: "The nurses were very nice even though they were very busy."

No doubt the author's intent was to compliment the staff, yet at the same time drop a hint that we are overworked. Any guesses as to what area this scored under? It was filed under the NEGATIVE column. It was considered a negative strike because we are not to even appear busy, it's a big no-no under our "Service Excellent" nonsense.:angryfire :angryfire

Heck we can please the patient and still catch crap.:trout:

That's terrible. I mean, it isn't even like the patient said WHY he thought the nurses were "very busy". It would have been one thing if he had said this: "The nurses were very nice even though they constantly were telling me how busy they are", or even "The nurses were very very nice even though they were always complaining about how busy and overworked and understaffed they are". This could have been a walkie-talkie who perhaps went for a walk on the floor and observed on his OWN, how busy the floor was.

Geez!!!! We should all just wear crisp white, spotless dresses, spotless gleaming white shoes, caps, lots of lipstick, all be pretty like Lucille Ball, and have smiles PLASTERED on our faces at all times. Ahhhh, the nurse of the 1950's!

:gandalf:

That's terrible. I mean, it isn't even like the patient said WHY he thought the nurses were "very busy". It would have been one thing if he had said this: "The nurses were very nice even though they constantly were telling me how busy they are", or even "The nurses were very very nice even though they were always complaining about how busy and overworked and understaffed they are". This could have been a walkie-talkie who perhaps went for a walk on the floor and observed on his OWN, how busy the floor was.

Tell me about it. I think we've all been told at one time or another by a patient or their family: "Gee, you guys are busy." or something along that line.

Geez!!!! We should all just wear crisp white, spotless dresses, spotless gleaming white shoes, caps, lots of lipstick, all be pretty like Lucille Ball, and have smiles PLASTERED on our faces at all times. Ahhhh, the nurse of the 1950's!

:gandalf:

LOOOOSSIE, YOU HAVE SOME 'SPLAININ' TO DO.

:eek: NOT THE WHITE CAP AND UNIFORMS!!!!! Anything but that.

Although I'd love to have Lucille Ball's wit and humor.

What is this Press-Ganey nonsense? We worry about patient safety, getting everything done, our physical safety, protecting our licenses, now it's a popularity contest? Really, I've been lucky, I guess, not to come across Press-Ganey. Who advocates for us?

I have found the best solution for avoiding family member complaints. I only accept night shift jobs. Most of the time, there are few visitors at night. I love night shift!!!!!!!! And less politics too.