Did You Know?
allnurses is the largest community for nurses on the web. We now have over 388,872 members! Join today to network with other nurses, laugh, share, and much more.
| No. 50 | 
Nov 01, 2009, 08:22 AM
 Re: Customer Violence Originally Posted by TurnLeftSide  Whatever. In any other profession, verbal abuse or physical abuse from customers would not be tolerated. The grin and bear it crap isn't happening. Sorry, I don't get my paycheck from my patients, I get paid by the hospital where I work. That whole "they pay you" is a sorry excuse to let more people treat healthcare workers like crap. And the "They are having a bad day" is a crappy excuse too, it doesn't give anyone the right to lay their hands on me or any other person for that matter or verbally abuse them.
I am going to very strongly disagree with you. Nowadays, it is not uncommon for people to use all kinds of threats of violence to get what they want at the grocery store, Walmart, and the like. Throw a fit, have the police called, and then call up corporate headquarters, tell your side of the story, and get a packet of free and discount coupons.   | | Advertisement Sponsored Links | | | | No. 51 |
Nov 01, 2009, 08:25 AM
Re: Customer Violence Originally Posted by tencat People feel so entitled to complain about everything, even if they don't know anything about why it works the way it does. Healthcare 'customers' need to realize that there is inherent discomfort in being a patient. You are going to be tired, ill, and feeling generally cruddy when you're in a hospital, otherwise you wouldn't be there....and the most you are 'entitled' to is respect and professional, competent care. (which does NOT include hot tea, fluffy pillows, and catering to whims) And staff is 'entitled' to respect and a violence/abuse-free workplace. Any fault to follow those basic 'entitlements' should be dealt with quickly and decisively, whether it's patient or staff who break the rules.
This an important point.
As we have discussed to death on this board, the public often has little to no knowledge about what nurses do. At the same time, many in hospital management seem to have concluded that the way to earn better loyalty from patients and positive responses on surveys is to direct time, effort and money to aesthetic improvements - plush lobbies - and various efforts to make patients feel like they are being catered to.
The public's knowledge deficit, combined with overwhelming management focus on nonclinical aspects of quality, makes it very difficult for the nonmedical public/patients to understand how they should actually judge their hospital stay.
Patients are not well-served by this combination of circumstances. At the extreme, a hospital ends up with a lot of resources devoted to hotel/spa-type "services" and smiling, friendly nurses who might fail to recognize monitor rhythm changes. (I have personally experienced this) More commonly, both clinical and nonclinical quality measures suffer as the hospital forces staff to try to be all things to all people.
I'm not the first to say this: nursing desperately needs a public education campaign with less fuzzy pictures of nurses hugging patients or setting up meal trays and much more depiction of crucial activities like coordinating care with other health care team members, doing procedures and interpreting assessment data.
| | No. 52 |
Nov 01, 2009, 09:46 AM
Re: Customer Violence
To help ensure that responses address my point I will repeat what I've several times said: Abuse and violence is not to be tolerated. Period.
I must point out, however, that my personal experience has shown that there is a subset of nurses who are antagonistic, controlling, and argumentative - and fully responsible for the escalation of emotions.
Being a patient or loved one is very stressful... if you've never been there then you really don't get it, regardless of how long you've been a nurse.
The onus of deescalation and emotional self-control is on the nurse, just like it's on the cop who's dealing with some loser anal sphincter out on the street.
Threats, assault, and battery are not to be tolerated, not for one second. However, emotional intensity from the patient or family should not be mirrored and reflected by the nurse. JMO...
| | No. 53 |
Nov 01, 2009, 12:50 PM
Re: Customer Violence
I've been a patient, and had a loved one in the hospital, and I have not felt the need to belittle staff or have my every whim catered to immediately. Yes, it is stressful, but it is MY responsibility to act like a rationale human being, even if I am sick or my loved one is sick. It is not up to the nurse to take garbage from me, period. Being concerned or stressed out is one thing, but being abusive is another. Sometimes 'intensity' from family and patients borders on hostility and abuse. No need to 'take' it. I have plenty of empathy, but once someone starts belittling, or being ugly, my empathy goes down proportionately. I will not tolerate bad behavior simply because a patient or family member is stressed. The only 'excuse' for any kind of abusive behavior is if you are demented, delirious, or off your meds and thinking that the aliens, directed by Dick Cheney, are out to get you....otherwise, deal with the stress and at least attempt to be a rationale human being.
| | No. 54 |
Nov 01, 2009, 02:32 PM
Re: Customer Violence
I've been a nurse for 16 years, and have worked in med / surg, behavioral health, ICU and ER. In just the short time i've been nursing, there has been a growing trend of lack of simple manners. This includes patients, visitors and physicians. Unfortunately for me, I am usually the lucky one that is assigned to these "problem" people. I'm just a little 5'4" girl, so its not my stature that has any effect on them. I dont go in their room with a big smile and be extra nice as one poster suggested. I go in and am professional. I dont try to be one of those cute and silly little nurses. I have found that in most cases, if you have a no nonsense attitude, they tend to back down. If not, and they still say theyre going to administration I give them administration's number and invite them to call at that time. Usually, when they call and are in the same angry mindset, they slit their own throat. As far as physical abuse goes, i've only had to deal with that once. It was an elderly hip replacement (for some reason they ALL go nuts) who decided he was going to beat the crap out of me with his call bell. (while his 6'0 / 300 pound "bubba redneck" son, sipped his coffee and said "watch out.....watch out....watch out" every time he hit me). Anyway old dude got restraints until he straightened up.
Long story short....healthcare has become a joke. Hospitals arent as concerned with what kind or how many nurses they hire, as long as the new lobby looks nice. They have case management teams that want to know why Patient X isnt going home in 3 days like he's supposed to. Well, its because Patient X doesnt want to get out of bed. Patient X wants every kind of narcotic he can have, as soon as he can have it, so he's gotten an ileus and now has to stay longer. Patient X doesnt want his catheter removed, because he doesnt want to get up to go to the bathroom. Patient X doesnt want to do his ADL's because he's had surgery and he hurts. Well Patient X doesnt know what's good for him. But the hospital doesnt want to make him mad, so lets just go along with Patient X until he has not only an ileus, but pneumonia AND a UTI. Helathcare isnt a health service anymore. Its a HOSPITALITY service. Administration has lost sight of the goal. And if that means that patients and families are allowed to speak to the staff however they want...so be it. Because god knows we wouldnt want to hurt THEIR feelings and let them take their insurance dollars elsewhere.
| | No. 55 |
Nov 01, 2009, 03:53 PM
 Re: Customer Violence Originally Posted by rph3664 There are several male nurses at my facility who have been corraled to put abusive patients in their place.
One memorable incident was a few years ago. There was a middle-aged male patient who was groping nurses, pulling their shirts out so he could look down them, etc. You wonder how sick he really was if he could do that. Anyway, they decided to assign all male nurses to him, which was even worse because he made disgusting assumptions about their sexuality. 
So, they called 6'7", 400 pound Tom from the oncology floor, who walked into the room, introduced himself, and said, "We don't harass the nurses in this hospital." He never acted inappropriately towards a nurse, male or female, again for the duration of his stay.
Wish I had 400lb Tom the night a resident tried to beat me to a pulp!
| | No. 57 |
Nov 01, 2009, 05:43 PM
Re: Customer Violence
A good nurse has always been , one who displays good clinical skills , good people skills ( which is an amalgum of good customer service and the ability to de-escalate a misunderstanding ) , but as Virgo mentioned the hospital it is NOT a place where the customer is always right . Sometimes their condition dictates that things are done to the patient at inconvenient times and can be downright challenging to even a saintly disposition .
Personally given the choice of being admitted to a) a hospital with an excellent clinical reputation , or b)one with a sumptious lobby , Haute cuisine menu , wifi and rooms with panoramic views , I would always choose a) .Patients / customers should be educated so that they will demand that hospitals primarily promote excellence in clinical skills .
| | No. 58 |
Nov 01, 2009, 06:42 PM
Re: Customer Violence
I've been a patient; I've even been intubated in an ICU. I've had tubes in everything but my ears and eyeballs. I've been in pain, and I've been morally afraid I was about to die (and almost did). I never threw urine or fecal, I never cussed out someone who was trying to help me, I never hit, kicked, bit or slapped someone because I was having a bad day.
I did, however used to manage a store belonging to a major retail chain. There we had customers. And if the customer acted like some of the patients I have seen, they got an escort to the curb by the county; if they took services or things and did not pay for them, they went to jail for theft. If you hit, bit, kicked or slapped my employees, you were arrested for assault. Period. And my incident reports were detailed enough and accompanied by video tape and no one was ever given a gift certificate and invited to return. And our "unit" was one of the highest grossing stores in Atlanta. My employees knew one thing -- I would do everything I could to keep them safe, and the first thing I did was remove a potential or actual source of violence.
At my hospital, one third of our patients do not pay, aren't on medicare/medicaid, and have no insurance. We eat everything they cost us -- time/material/payroll. They are classed as "non-recoverables" by management. We cannot turn these people away by law, but my hospital is running in the red, we have had no raises this year, they've stopped paying into the retirement plan, and openings as nurses leave aren't being replaced with nurses but with "customer care associates" who float into the rooms asking the patients what they can do to make things better (but can't do anything clinically). We can't find COWs that work, we're down to 2 functioning VS machines for the whole floor, we have ONE pulse ox for 30 patients, but we just spent 5,000 on bushes for the main entrance of the hospital. We spent an hour trying to find dressings for TLCs, only to be told we were out. Now, we can buy azaleas, but can't get the sterile dressings we need for patient care, or the equipment we need to provide nursing care?
And, yes, I am going to find another place to work as soon as I graduate. The inmates are running the asylum.
| | No. 59 |
Nov 01, 2009, 06:43 PM
Re: Customer Violence Originally Posted by smileedee Reading these posts I can't believe some of these ATTITUDES. Patients ARE customers. If they aren't paying, someone is. If they don't qualify for Medicaid or Medicare then your hospital qualifies for some sort of grant money for indigent. Patients pay your paycheck. So you have to grin and bear it to a certain extent and not pop off. Suck it up, eat some **** and be respectful, whether you think you are superior or not.
As for violence and abuse, this is another level from someone just being a smartass or having a bad day. This is not tolerated and any idiot should know how to handle this situation.
I am interested in the initial question this poster submitted. Why the need for a specific policy? Would you not handle all threats of violence the same, regardless of who they come from? Does your hospital not have a forensic policy to start with? This forum is not the place to ask about another hospital's policy, because all you will get is what you got. Fussin'!
I certainly hope you're being sarcastic. I'd really hate to think that there's ANYONE that really believes that drivel. And I was under the impression that we could start forums about whatever we please.
If you're not being sarcastic, I hope you enjoy the meal that you say we should eat. I, for one, won't be dining. Bon appetit!
|
| 108 members
1,145 guests 1,253
| 48 | | | 1 | | | 13 | | | 2 | | | 10 | | | 17 | | | 11 | | | 16 | | | 16 | | | 43 | | | 14 | | | 21 | | | 23 | | | 20 | | | 24 | |
|
Nursing News