Dumbest rule in your hospital?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in med-surg, psych, ER, school nurse-CRNP.

OK, here's a good one: Same psych hospital I mentioned in the "called on the carpet" thread allows discharged patients to fill out a "satisfaction survey" before they leave. Now, in all fairness, some of these patients were more than complimentary, and we would get a little note in our mailbox if they mentioned us in a positive way. On he flip side, if someone said something negative, we would get a reprimand. Remember, now, these are certified PSYCH patients, and the management would take these things seriously! I had more than a few talkings to because (GASP!) I would not give 4 Lorcets to a patient at a time because "that's the way I take them at home!"

The crowning indignity was this one woman who put on her paper that I "made faces" at her through her admission and that I "called her names". The faces I made were at her 2 year old that she BROUGHT WITH HER while she was being admitted, and the name? She overheard another nurse and I discussing music, and later put on her d/c papers that I called her an "All American Reject".

This case was very interesting, simply because, during an admission, the first question you asked was "Why are you here?" She replied "I just found out I have HIV." I asked when she was diagnosed, and she said, "Oh, my family and friends told me I have it." No doctor visit, not bloodwork, nothing. And management took these people seriously.

So, my question is: does your facility have anything in place like this? I'd be interested to hear about it. Thanks for reading.

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.
OK, here's a good one: Same psych hospital I mentioned in the "called on the carpet" thread allows discharged patients to fill out a "satisfaction survey" before they leave. Now, in all fairness, some of these patients were more than complimentary, and we would get a little note in our mailbox if they mentioned us in a positive way. On he flip side, if someone said something negative, we would get a reprimand. Remember, now, these are certified PSYCH patients, and the management would take these things seriously! I had more than a few talkings to because (GASP!) I would not give 4 Lorcets to a patient at a time because "that's the way I take them at home!"

The crowning indignity was this one woman who put on her paper that I "made faces" at her through her admission and that I "called her names". The faces I made were at her 2 year old that she BROUGHT WITH HER while she was being admitted, and the name? She overheard another nurse and I discussing music, and later put on her d/c papers that I called her an "All American Reject".

This case was very interesting, simply because, during an admission, the first question you asked was "Why are you here?" She replied "I just found out I have HIV." I asked when she was diagnosed, and she said, "Oh, my family and friends told me I have it." No doctor visit, not bloodwork, nothing. And management took these people seriously.

So, my question is: does your facility have anything in place like this? I'd be interested to hear about it. Thanks for reading.

I have nothing to top your story. :smiletea2::coollook::Melody::barf01:

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Specializes in Cardiology.

We have this new initiative called Take 5. It is part of our job duties to spend 5 minutes of face to face time with our each of our pts. Is this a necessary rule? Um, I don't know about you, but I spend alot more than 5 minutes speaking with each of my pts! What does managment think nurses do for 12 hours???

I am so burned out on this whole customer satisfaction phase.

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Specializes in Day Surgery, Agency, Cath Lab, LTC/Psych.
We have this new initiative called Take 5. It is part of our job duties to spend 5 minutes of face to face time with our each of our pts. Is this a necessary rule? Um, I don't know about you, but I spend alot more than 5 minutes speaking with each of my pts! What does managment think nurses do for 12 hours???

I am so burned out on this whole customer satisfaction phase.

Wow. Five whole minutes! How could I ever finish my solitaire game on the computer?

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Well it wasn't a hospital rule but it is probably the dumbest rule I ever fell under.

When working as a Paramedic in an unnamed city we used to use the local homeless shelter as the address on our run sheets for homeless people. Well that center got tired of getting bills so they complained to the city. The city came down with this brilliant rule. We were to used the address where we FOUND the patient as their billing address.

This lasted about two months until the city changed their minds. Why? About 400 local businesses did not appreciate getting bills for ambulance runs for homeless people. Gee who would have thought that? The run sheets had now way for the billing people to know this was not their address. So businesses like Quik trip, McDonalds, Citgo, The Performing Arts Center and even City Hall were getting these bills.

:rotfl:

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Specializes in acute care.

OMG! too funny!

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Well it wasn't a hospital rule but it is probably the dumbest rule I ever fell under.

When working as a Paramedic in an unnamed city we used to use the local homeless shelter as the address on our run sheets for homeless people. Well that center got tired of getting bills so they complained to the city. The city came down with this brilliant rule. We were to used the address where we FOUND the patient as their billing address.

This lasted about two months until the city changed their minds. Why? About 400 local businesses did not appreciate getting bills for ambulance runs for homeless people. Gee who would have thought that? The run sheets had now way for the billing people to know this was not their address. So businesses like Quik trip, McDonalds, Citgo, The Performing Arts Center and even City Hall were getting these bills.

:rotfl:

Not a hospital rule but along the lines of what Captain Tripps described.

We had a homeless man in our small town. I'll call him Sam. Sam was forever getting drunk and getting hurt, or passing out on the sidewalks of the town. Everyone knew Sam. Many tried to help him with finding a place to live, getting him to the shelter a few towns over, giving him food to eat etc. But Sam was "happy" with things as they were and declined any help. Sam was harmless. And a very interesting man if you gave him a chance and spoke with him.

Anyway, after years of Sam and his antics, when the call came in for "man down on sidewalk" or whatever, we always knew/assumed it was Sam. Sam "lived" in a tent that was in the wooded area off the main road in our town.

After a couple of years, the local hospital that Sam was always taken to, started mailing his "bills" which they knew would never be paid to the following address that Sam would give every time when asked his address:

Sam Jones (not his real name)

In the Woods

Rt. 123

Our Town, Connecticut

Funny thing was, the mailman KNEW who Sam was and actually delivered the mail to him! The local paper caught wind of it and did a big spread on him and the plights of the homeless.

RIP Sam! You were a character.

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having to sign our FULL name with every entry we write- but of course, only nurses have to do it and only certain nurses get written up for not doing it. Meanwhile, how many other people have totally illegible and indecipherable signatures? Pisses me off no end because of the unfairness.

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Specializes in ICU, ER, EP,.

THEY make me show up at work to get paid!!!!:trout:

seriously, We're nonsmoking.. have to leave the campus and go to "neutral ground to smoke". But to leave the campus ground you have to clock out. Clocking out to leave the campus is prohibited except under special circumstances as cleared by the house supervisor. (A different policy that they don't even know exists... the wheel is not round yet with these people). We have 4000 employees.....:lol2: If they only knew what following the rules entails.

-ps, we just go smoke, crying out loud. poor snoops.

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Our hospital came up with the brilliant idea that EVERY patient should have a red allergy band applied, if they have an allergy or not. If the patient does not have an allergy, we write NKA on the band. Great alert, huh?

We figure a pencil pusher who has not taken care of patients in a very long time came up with that idea! GRRRRR!

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Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.
OK, here's a good one: Same psych hospital I mentioned in the "called on the carpet" thread allows discharged patients to fill out a "satisfaction survey" before they leave. Now, in all fairness, some of these patients were more than complimentary, and we would get a little note in our mailbox if they mentioned us in a positive way. On he flip side, if someone said something negative, we would get a reprimand. Remember, now, these are certified PSYCH patients, and the management would take these things seriously! I had more than a few talkings to because (GASP!) I would not give 4 Lorcets to a patient at a time because "that's the way I take them at home!"

The crowning indignity was this one woman who put on her paper that I "made faces" at her through her admission and that I "called her names". The faces I made were at her 2 year old that she BROUGHT WITH HER while she was being admitted, and the name? She overheard another nurse and I discussing music, and later put on her d/c papers that I called her an "All American Reject".

This case was very interesting, simply because, during an admission, the first question you asked was "Why are you here?" She replied "I just found out I have HIV." I asked when she was diagnosed, and she said, "Oh, my family and friends told me I have it." No doctor visit, not bloodwork, nothing. And management took these people seriously.

For some reason, the scarcity of common sense never ceases to astound me.

Some of these folks must be related to the school adminstrators with "zero tolerance" policies who do things like suspend 5-year-olds for "sexual harrassment" for hugging someone.

I wonder how they'd like to be evaluated by folks who were patients in the first place because their grasp on reality might not be all that great?

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Our hospital came up with the brilliant idea that EVERY patient should have a red allergy band applied, if they have an allergy or not. If the patient does not have an allergy, we write NKA on the band. Great alert, huh?

We figure a pencil pusher who has not taken care of patients in a very long time came up with that idea! GRRRRR!

I hate that too. We have to do that and the pt;s are like I have no allergies!

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