Originally Posted by loricatus
I always try to keep in mind that the majority of patients that are in a hospital are sick (not counting L&D). When someone is sick, it is very hard for them to get that warm, fuzzy feeling for those caring for them & the caregiver is usually judged by how well the patient feels while being cared for. Simply, if we don't make them feel better, we aren't caring for them well. It just doesn't matter how much we busted our butts for them or how much attention we paid.
Personally, I feel this attitude developed as a direct result of trying to turn the healthcare industry into a consumer-driven, customer service oriented business. The very fact that this topic was posed by the NYT reeks of the Press Gainey driven philosophy of health care delivery in the US.
To a certain extent, I agree with your position that problems developed when health care turned to a consumer-driven customer service model. But I disagree with your position about a patient feeling better if he feels cared for. Reading all of the postings, on the NYT website, majority of complaints concerned bad food, dirty rooms, long waits for a response to a call bell, care being left in the hands of non-professionals (something many of us also complain about), rudeness on the part of both nurses and physicians, mistakes in medications, mistakes in parts of body operated on, apparent failure of staff to communicate with one another, to name a few.
If mine and the NYT attitude reeks of the Press Gainey driven philosophy, so be it. It is based on mine and other's experience. And what surprised me, is a number of other professional nurses who also posted, agreed with the patients and had like experiences during their own hospitalizations. To me, this means there is a bases for patient's complaints. One of the easiest things to solve is the waking up for early blood draws. Most patients find this very iritiating. But a simple explanation that the early blood draws are necessary so your doctor can get the results earlier in the day and act appropriately, for your well being, more then meets and resolves this complaint. But how many take the time to offer the explanation?
Fortunately, for me, I have not been hospitalized in a facility where the rooms and environment were dirty or waste not discarded. But there were numerous complaints about this and how do you address such complaints. By saying it is not my job? Do you enjoy working in such an environment? Do you think that the rate of infections increases? A question that lead to another observation, patients complaining that none of the so called health care professionals washed their hands before or after touching a patient. But how many times have I read negative responses to a facility instructing patients to ask about their providers hand washing. We act as if we are insulted by such a question but I have observed several of my own professional nurses, providing my care, failing to wash their hands before touch me.. And getting insulted when I asked them why they had not.
I spent twenty one days in an ICU. With the exception of one nurse, the nurses who cared for me were knowledgeable and informative, to me and my family. The first seven days I spent there, I was in and out of conciusness. But I received quality care. But I did not appreciate the care I received out on the floor or I should say the lack of care. I frequently waited for someone to respond to a call light, to put me on a bedpan. And when I could no longer wait, I had to suffer thru the comments of my care givers regarding my loose liquid BM's and the work I was making for them. I repeatedly asked for the bedpan to be left within reach but it never was. To me, my care givers made the work for themselves. I was so happy to be discharged, I could have danced down the road. What made me the angerous was the attitude of the staff. I will borrow a saying from the Bible, 'you reap what you sow'. As nurses we need to remember this.
Woody
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