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Our CEO has announced that staff will greet patients and visitors with scripts based on those used at Florida Baptist Hospital. The outcome is aimed at increasing patient satisfaction.
Goes like this: Knock on door, enter room, smile, "Hello Mr._, I am __RN, I will be your caregiver until _pm. I want to make sure your care is very good. If at any time we are not meeting your expectations, please call___." " I have time, is there anything I can do for you?"
These are to be recited exactly, we were not given input or a choice. I always want to add "would you like fries with that order"
Have any of you had experience with similar scripts in your hospital? Is patient satisfation improved? How was the reaction by nursing staff?
Oh, dear Lord. Wouldn't it just give you, as a patient, the warm fuzzies to hear EXACTLY THE SAME GREETING from every single nurse who walked into your room? I'd think they were sharing one collective brain or were, possibly, androids. The Stepford Nurses. What if the patient is hemorrhaging, coding, or is comatose? Do you still have to go through the whole script?
This is truly the dumbest thing I have heard in a long time. Now administrators don't even trust nurses to ad-lib a greeting? This reminds me of an article on another nursing website (sorry, don't remember which one)about a year ago on how one ER had decided to have all patients fill out a "satisfaction survey" asking them to rate the "service" they received from the medical staff and the overwhelmingly negative impact this had on nurses' morale (needless to say, many of the repeat-ER abusers, drug seekers, etc. took the opportunity to rate staff poorly--all of which was taken with dead seriousness by administration).
The hospital I work for introduced "scripts" to us a couple of years ago. Did it help patient satisfaction? All I know is our patient satisfaction scores still go down according to high census (not enough staff = low scores) and up with low patient census (adequate staff = satisfied scores).
Side note: The nursing staff (RNs and LPNs) are now required, starting March 1st, to wear all white tops/jackets with white or navy pants. Only areas requiring scrubs are exempt. So now, not only are we told what to say, we are told what to wear.
I am waiting for the "chip" to be implanted into my head next.
Ya know, this really irritates me. I graduated last June, so I suppose I am still in somewhat of an idealistic phase, but for crying out loud, SCRIPTS?? Nursing really needs to be about doing what is in the best interest of the patient based on accurate assessments, not wasting time with scripted greetings in order to increase 'customer satisfaction'. I had to quit my hospital job because I felt like a waitress, not a nurse, and it ****** me off. I love patients and always was happy to greet them with a smile and let them know I'd be their nurse for shift, but to be REQUIRED to deliver a canned greeting telling them a number to call if not satisfied? Is that some sort of scare tactic for the nurses to be on their 'best behavior'? What about the narcotic-seeking frequent flyer (and every floor has 'em) who demands you phone their Dr. for a bolus of MS on top of their PCA for the 25th time in a shift? If you don't get right on that and they dial the number you gave them to complain, is the nurse is some sort of trouble? This makes no sense in a time period where nurses are scarce and getting more fed up. I'd be curious to know if this scrip thing has had success in any hospital.
I'm glad I don't work in a hospital anymore. I probably never will again. I learned my lesson nice and early in my career. Hats off to all of you warriors who face this crap daily.
Unbelievable (well, maybe not, really). Scary. What sort of people are running (ruining) health care organizations nowadays? Are they totally devoid of reasoning and common decency? I would have to quit. What do the other nurses in your facility think of this latest insult to the profession? Wouldn't be surprised if there were a mass exodus of nurses from your hospital.
Many years ago, I was advised by the MD for whom I worked that he had learned a wonderful new thing at a meeting. The wonderful CEO thing you just described. I told him to find a different robot. How to approach and interact with a patient is part of nursing assessment. I introduce myself and from there on I communicate along whatever lines are dictated by the needs of the patient - within the parameters of good nursing practice, of course. Our individual personalities and abilities to determine the holistic needs of our patients are what put us high on the list of professions people trust the most. Fight this asinine, disrespectful BS to the courts. If a nurse came into my room with this line, she would lose all credibility with me. Stepford Nurses indeed! What will they think of next? I'm almost afraid to find out, but maybe it will be a big enough joke to catch the attention of the people who hold the purse strings.
What does this tell you about respect for the nursing profession? Apparently, despite all the nursing education, we are too stupid to know how to address a patient. Several years ago, I had to attend a mandatory inservice where I worked. Believe it or not, the subject matter was "warm fuzzies and cold pricklies" in dealing with patients. I simply could not believe I had to take a day off and spend it listening to this woman who was not a nurse taking eight hours to teach nurses how to talk.
Yes, our hospital too, has those disgusting scripts. Such as the one you mentioned and "is there anything else I can do for you, I have the time" and "it's my pleasure". I refuse to say those.
We all make fun of the scripts. The doctors joke and say "oh the nurses are pleasuring the patients now, what about the doctors, ha ha"
It is disgusting that educated, professional nurses must be grouped with McDonalds and WalMart employee mumbo jumbo.
I'd like to see these CEO's say "it's my pleasure" after wiping a patients butt for the umpteenth time.
I agree, soon we'll have implants or collars with bells.....
Oh, dear LORD, NCRN, please tell me what city you live in, as I am an RN in NC and am now TERRIFIED that this horrid scheme will soon be on the doorstep of MY hospital. How DARE they do that to you? Nurses are already treated like waitresses enough as it is...those inane "scripts" only add to the problem. Y'all (nurses)should send a collective letter to the CEO and every unit nurse manager stating that since you're now required to speak and act like a Wal-mart employee, you're leaving to go work THERE since the pay will probably be better anyway. Hah!
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verbal 'scripts'
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