Patient Surveys..vent.

caregiver1977 · Jan 10, 2012

there are rarely -- that i've seen -- any meaningful complaints about the nursing staff. instead, we get hasseled about the silly complaints. "three lovely young nurses and one fat, old one tied me down and forced me to have sex all night long." (agitated, combative and confused young man on a propofol drip who kept exposing his genitals and trying to pull out his lines and tubes. now tell me how we should have dealt with that one.)

i know several males (young and old) who would be battering down your hospital doors for that kind of "medical treatment."

TopazLover, BSN, RN · Jan 10, 2012

A few months ago I was briefly hospitalized. I wanted to respond to a survey but, alas, I did not get sent one. When my late DH was hospitalized for a new knee I recall getting one. it had sections that made it easy for one to answer questions in the manner you all describe. If you wanted to have an intelligent note you had to find a corner and hand write it. There were lots of questions that would lead to answers such as warm ice. Less chance to note lack of professionalism in care.

My recent hospitalization resulted in me calling my friend, at work, she works for an attorney. I simply stated to her that my side rail had been getting it's blood pressure checked q 15 min for the past 1 1/2 hr but I had not seen a nurse since it had been attached. This call was heard by a clerk who happened to be doing something in the room. She obviously reported it to a nurse who came in and informed me they were busy with a sick person. Imagine my surprise when I had been brought in by ambulance with a sky high B/P and chest pain. I thought I might behaving an MI. The resident, when I saw her, thought I had an aneurysm. But according to this nurse, I was not sick, and did not require either direct or monitoring observation. At least, that is what I took out of her one sided conversation that she threw at me from the doorway.

Too bad I did not get a survey. I don't expect the nurse involved would even remember her crude comment. I will remember and I will hesitate to ever access emergency health care as a result of her nasty comment. But that does not fit on a survey well. it is far easier to check the box that indicates the ice was warm.

merlee · Jan 10, 2012

I am soooo disappointed that I never received a survey for either of my past 2 hospitalizations. I might have said that the nurses did a good job!!

maxthecat · Jan 10, 2012

I am having a moment so please excuse me.
I can't stand these stupid surveys but I know they are here to stay. Patients give us (the nurses) poor ratings based on things like:
Took too long to get ice
The lab had trouble drawing my blood
They woke me up too much
Nobody offered me a bath
Those are actual comments.
I value my patients and recognize that their perception is their reality but I think it has gone overboard.
I have yet to see any complaints like:
My oxygen fell off and no one helped me put it back on when I called
I complained of chest pain and was ignored for 30 minutes
Accidently pulled out IV and was left bleeding for 10 minutes
Why? Probably because we respond pretty quickly to things that are a higher priority.

I agree, these things are awful. But...as I understand it, our reimbursements are going to be tied to patient satisfaction scores, at least for Medicare. (And you know that the insurance companies will follow suit.) I think this is totally wrong and unfair, but it's coming.

nkochrn, RN · Jan 10, 2012

Our patient surverys don't get posted anywhere, but if there is a serious one it's brought up either to the nurse involved or in the nurse's meeting. I know that there was one that said, "the night nurses are fat," this wasn't posted, I think it just kinda got passed down through the grapevine :) We also had a complaint from someone that the, "ER nurses didn't smile." I don't tend to smile a whole lot when I'm working in the ER and have a TRUE emergency. I'm gonna guess I was either not the nurse or the patient didn't need to be in the ER :)

Lovely_RN, MSN · Jan 10, 2012

Is there any hospital that does well on these surveys? If everyone sucks then what? Is every hospital in the U.S going to be shut down due to declining reimbursements over lack of pt satisfaction? It doesn't seem possible for any facility to meet these expectations. I'm also very curious about what MDs are being taught about customer service. I just read an email from my lovely NM with an attachment of our most recent survey results. One of the questions was related to pt teaching and asked the pts if the nurses and MDs were doing it. So nursing and medicine gets lumped together on the survey but it's the nursing staff that gets beat up for the poor scores regardless if it was medicine or nursing that provided the poor "service."

Do any of you find yourselves becoming numb to this CSR stuff? I find myself starting to really not care. When these pts and families are ranting and raving over petty stuff I can feel my eyes glazing over and I just nod, smile/not smile, and remind myself to try and look like I care so I don't bring any more heat/attention to myself. I'm physically present but my mind is on the beach.

Same goes for the lectures from administration...."What can we do to fix these scores?" I just smile/not smile, nod, eyes glazed over...try to look like I'm taking these people seriously...is it time to go home yet?

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Jan 10, 2012

The system is flaawed from the start. Usually only people not completely happy with things respond so you get all the negative and noen of the positive. Or only rarely do the happy folks take time to respond.

There needs to be a professional that rates the responses so that only meaningful ones are used to improve processes and also to see that they go to appropriate departments when they are not nursing care related.

I am sure this will happen when I see a bunch of pigs fly by my window. :lol2:

AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN · Jan 10, 2012

I distinctly remember a patient complaining while in hospital that she had not been bathed. The aides on the day shift after the complaint were diligent about bathing her after that. Her survey came back with the comment (written by her adult daughter, who was an EXCELLENT 'sitter') that the patient "had water and soap all over her, and felt she was bathed 'like a hog'".

Now, never having bathed a hog, and not knowing the intricacies involved therein, someone enlighten me...HOW, pray tell, are you supposed to bathe a body WITHOUT the benefit of water and soap?

I remember as an aide, that was my least favorite chore. Usually the ones that howled the loudest were the ones that were the most capable of actually getting up and getting in the shower.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Jan 10, 2012

The system is flaawed from the start. Usually only people not completely happy with things respond so you get all the negative and noen of the positive. Or only rarely do the happy folks take time to respond.
There needs to be a professional that rates the responses so that only meaningful ones are used to improve processes and also to see that they go to appropriate departments when they are not nursing care related.
I am sure this will happen when I see a bunch of pigs fly by my window.

What's interesting is that when the hospital scores poorly on employee satisfaction surveys, this is their excuse. "It's a one-sided view, only unhappy staff filled it out." So, you had a 74% response rate therefore 74% of your staff are unhappy? And you're ok with that?

46oldnewrn · Jan 10, 2012

I actually like patient surveys!! It shows the hospital what a bunch of miserable nurses that I work with who are so negative and mean are really like. And it shows that people appreciate me, as a kind and helpful nurse.

Altra, BSN, RN · Jan 10, 2012

I briefly worked with a nurse who liked seeing her name on survey comments - we knew this because she said so. On her third day of orientation she asked when the last time was that survey comments had been posted, because she looked forward to them.

A couple of hours into a shift, she had typically *met* a dozen or so patients including those not assigned to her, had chatted with them & their families, felt that she had *bonded* with them, and *understood their situation*. It was an interesting phenomenon to watch ... patients' verbal dissatisfaction with delays in meds & treatments were directed to the nurses who picked up her slack and actually medicated her patients.

Her precepted orientation was extended two weeks when 3 different preceptors all recited numerous examples of her inability to keep up with the tasks required to treat patients' symptoms, expedite diagnosis and maintain department flow. At the end of the additional two weeks she was terminated. Even giving the hiring manager the benefit of the doubt and assuming that she interviewed well, if there had been any cojones at all among the management team, this individual should have been separated from employment at about the 3-week mark.

AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN · Jan 10, 2012

I'm curious, did she have a pretty face to offset that brown nose? Sorry, couldn't resist!