Patient Satisfaction: Where Does it Start?

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Mar 23, 2009

I disagree that patient satisfaction starts with RN. The people in registration are the front line for customer service. However, your point is taken. Satisfied employees promote satisfied customers.

Lorie P. · Mar 23, 2009

then again some pts can never be satisfied! :rolleyes: no matter where or what is done! just my :twocents:

LilyBlue · Mar 23, 2009

I don't know, but I am completely sick of hearing about patient satisfaction and having management lay it on MY shoulders. If management was truly concerned about patient satisfaction, they'd have a lower ration than 1 nurse to nine patients. They just want to work me like a mule and ALSO lay all the blame on my shoulders, when they put me in a situation that I will never succeed at. It's a bunch of crap.

HonestRN · Mar 23, 2009

A better question might be, where does it end? What lengths must a nurse go to to ensure "patient satisfaction"?

CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2009

We had a person from corporate once say at the podium that our patient customer service aught to be more up beat like Disneyland's or The Seattle Fish Mart. Ex: "Halibut on the fly, I got it Joe!" Hosp Ex: "Patient off restraints! Catch her before she falls, Myrtle!"

(to include required smile)

Disneyland, the happiest place on earth. Hospital, ignore the pain and suffering, enjoy the ride.

moosha1 · Mar 23, 2009

Amen to that-Callacode! Take everyone off restraints, personal bed alarms are gone too! All the talking heads gather around to question why the patient fell-but don't want to hear about burn out, understaffing, huge patient load-they only want to to why you weren't THERE! Ha.

Insanity.

mama_d, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2009

It sounds like you're saying that RNs only are giving care to the patients, which I would disagree with. There are many many people in various positions who interact with the patients and contribute to their care, from registrars to housekeeping to techs to nurses to docs to management to radiology techs...you get the idea.

Patient satisfaction is in all our hands, although administration does seem to come down on the nurses the hardest. Personally, I'm sick of our unit's PG scores being lowered b/c the patient came in to ED on a night when admin refused to let us go on diversion and therefore had a long wait...that is not my unit's fault. They can feed us the BS about bed turnover and how ED wait time is contributed to by all departments from radiology and lab to nursing units, but if you refuse to let us go on diversion when there are no freaking beds in house and the wait to be taken back to an ED room is four hours, that's on you, buddy. Or when they're lowered b/c the MRI machine broke down AGAIN and they had to wait three days for their brain MRI that ended up showing a bleed, and the only reason they got it that fast was b/c the neurosurgeon was up their butt for those three days. Just a small example of why I think "patient satisfaction" scores are BS.

Yes, healthcare is a consumer driven industry, so "satisfaction" should come into play. However, it seems like outcomes should be placed into a category of more importance, but you never hear admin saying "all these studies say that a lower nurse: patient ratio contributes to less mortality and shortens length of stay, so we're changing the staffing grids to give you more nurses, techs, and ancillary staff." Bunch of BS is what it is.

And I'm sick to death of the idiots not realizing that employee satisfaction is directly related to patient satisfaction. Preaching to the choir here, I know. But if I, a lowly LPN floor nurse, realize this, why don't the butt heads with MBAs that are running the place (and have never worked on the floor, I might add) realize it?

I think that everyone in upper management should be forced to work the floor for a few weeks every year or so to see what we face. You're gonna run the place, you should work in the front lines every once in a while. When I worked fast food when I was younger, I worked in a restaurant that was well run and the manager/owner respected his staff...b/c he worked the front line, grill, drive thru, etc. when we were short, he saw the crap we put up with, and recognized when little things (like how the stock was organized) contributed to inefficiency and changed it. So why do we have people running businesses where people's lives are at stake who have no clue how to care for said people, aside from interpreting risk/benefit analysis and comparing it to the bottom line?

CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2009

As soon as they walk or roll in the door. Think back to when you might have been a pt at the docs office, ER, hospital etc.

When you were signing in or admitted was the staff polite? did they listen? did they introduce themselves to you?

It isn't all about the nurses, but the whole picture. Yes, we as nurses spend the bulk of the time with the pts, but I seem to think it is everyones job.

southernbeegirl, BSN, RN · Mar 23, 2009

where does it start??

when they go home :nurse:

oh wait...thats STAFF satifsfaction....nevermind

mcknis · Mar 23, 2009

PG is so overrated, but since they rule over us...i guess we just have to bow down and obey...or not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

firstyearstudent · Mar 23, 2009

I am a nurse, not Julie, your cruise director. I am totally sick of this patient satisfaction crap. When I go to visit a professional for services, while I don't deny that it's nice to be treated with friendly, loving care and respect, frankly, I'm more interested in getting competent, top-rate service. My accountant can be grumpy as hell, as long as he does a good job, the same for my dentist, my lawyer, my mechanic, etc.

Unfortunately, today, more and more businesses are using friendly customers service to disguise their incompetence. When the service is too nice, it almost makes me suspicious. But then I lived in NYC for years. Heh heh.