Work ALLOWS Patient Favoritism

[laKrugRN]

Hello Everyone!

Just wanted to share/rant what happened to me at work yesterday.

Well, I've always been told by my nurses I work with (I work in a Peds clinic) that if any of the CEO's grandchildren call to come in. You bend over backward to get them in. No matter who else you turn away, no matter how full we are, you get them in. Annoying but whatever.

Well yesterday I got a call saying that one of the CEO's grandchildren needed to be seen. Well, we were totally booked and my doctor was gone all morning at a C-Section. I got them in as soon as I could in the afternoon. Well an hour later, my doctor got back WAY earlier than I had anticipated. I was relieved because I had patients ready for him to see.

One of my co-workers CHEWED MY BUTT "You should have called 'CEO's grandson' back and told him that there was an earlier appointment." I told her, "I got them in as soon as possible, how was I supposed to know Dr. SoSo would be back so soon?" She replied, "It doesn't matter. You do WHATEVER they tell you. You should have double booked another doctor. It all runs downhill. Now the CEO is going to complain and our managers are going to come down on us."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I treated him just as I would any other patient. That is what I was taught. I do not show favoritism. I turn away very sick children so we can see the CEO's grandson with a simple paper cut on his finger. I wouldn't have called any other patients and told them my doc was back. I hate these politics.

[llg, PhD, RN]

I personally consider VIP treatment medically unethical. Fortunately, I work at a facility that used to practice such nonsense but does no longer. In my opinion, another reason why private insurance should be a abolished and health care and hospitals mostly government funded.

I was not suggesting that anyone get treatment that was not up to the proper standard of medical care. Nor do I suggest that any non-VIP get less than the usual standard of care.

But if you really want to help the most people -- and help the disadvantaged people in particularly -- you need resources. In most cases, the people who can gather the most resources are in a position to provide the best care to the most people. A little shmoozing of the VIP's can bring in resources -- and help more disadvantaged people in the long run.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

I personally consider VIP treatment medically unethical.

Where is the "love" button when you need it???

[caliotter3]

To the extent that I can accommodate, I accommodate, but I believe the CEO would have understood that his grandson with a paper cut needed to be triaged properly, or that the patient actually scheduled to be seen first, would have understood that a paper cut can be dealt with in less than five minutes. Either way works for me.

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

Our system is far from perfect however I am grateful that we get to treat people according to medical need as opposed to having to play 'kiss butt'

[tarotale]

It's not just part of our job, this attitude just part of this world. So I say to myself, be the vip rather than the poor nobody.

I took care of one of the big physicians at the er couple weeks ago. I swear people moved like it was code stroke for simple transverse fracture lol.

Although it's ugly, I get it easy when I think it's just the way this world works. And it is.

[icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN]

There was an occasion recently when I was requested to move a patient out of ICU to admit of friend of the CEO who was perfectly stable but he" might become septic post op." I refused to do it.

I was thinking how would this ICU patient feel if I said " we're moving you to stepdown so that we can admit a friend of the CEO?"

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

There was an occasion recently when I was requested to move a patient out of ICU to admit of friend of the CEO who was perfectly stable but he" might become septic post op." I refused to do it.

I was thinking how would this ICU patient feel if I said " we're moving you to stepdown so that we can admit a friend of the CEO?"

GOOD FOR YOU!!!

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

I was not suggesting that anyone get treatment that was not up to the proper standard of medical care. Nor do I suggest that any non-VIP get less than the usual standard of care.

But if you really want to help the most people -- and help the disadvantaged people in particularly -- you need resources. In most cases, the people who can gather the most resources are in a position to provide the best care to the most people. A little shmoozing of the VIP's can bring in resources -- and help more disadvantaged people in the long run.

Thats right. It is not considered unethical to give someone extra care as long as you are not depriving anyone else of care.

At my old place we had lots of VIPs. Most of them employees, or family members. It pretty much meant that we'd give you a private room if available, and that we'd take of our own.

No one else was short-changed.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

That's the way life is. You are not giving substandard care once you other patients get there are you? You would not withhold urgent life saving treatment if they were both in front of you and the less affluent or privileged was more stable. Life circumstances are not all equal that is the way it has always been. We are only promised in the US equal protection under the law, many in other nations do not even have that. We are not promised all things will be equal. We would not have our nice new addition had we not helped save the life of a very wealthy person on our community. He gave back :)

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

Depends on what the expectation is. There has been VIP's who get put ahead of others that "didn't want this room" or "the nurse didn't check on me enough" or countless other complaints once they were given preference. Give an inch, they take a mile....and have numerous complaints all the while....

Perhaps if this occurs, said VIP's relative/friend would like to choose a private nurse to call in for overtime.....

[elkpark]

I work for a large, urban, nonprofit academic medical center, and, while no one else gets shortchanged or neglected, you betcha we "look out for our own." "Our own" can be anyone from a member of the board or relative of the chief of medical staff to someone who works as a secretary in one of the hospital departments. An office clerk from my service was admitted a few years ago for cardiac issues, and the MDs in my service automatically stepped in to make sure that he had the best cardiac surgeon in the medical center doing his CABG, and visited every day while he was hospitalized to make sure he was getting the highest quality care possible.

There are also the annoying, entitled-wealthy-donor VIPS; but, as has already been pointed out, whether any of us, individually, like it or not, money makes the world go 'round in the US, for better or worse. Hospitals depend on people giving $$$ to keep hospitals flourishing, and the people who do give $$$ are going to be shown that their gifts are appreciated.

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

Although it's ugly, I get it easy when I think it's just the way this world works. And it is.

Perhaps in the US, its certainly not common place in NZ, Aus, Britain