Hospital or Hotel?

I was getting an accu check on a diabetic patient who happened to be on the phone at the time this morning. He snapped at me as I waited for the machine to register, "get me a glass of water." He then ignored me and continued talking to whom ever complaining loudly that no one in our facility gave a poop about how the customers got treated and then he said he would get his money's worth. My jaw was on the FLOOR!

No please, not nicely phrased as a request, a Snapped out rude ORDER, as if I was his maid. Then the nerve to complain right in front of me! Seriously! Usually I am good about getting stuff right away, but I was so annoyed I deliberately waited until after I gave him his insulin to even begin to get him water. By that time, he had returned to his room and gotten it for himself.

This happens a lot in long term care. With the residents and their families. They treat the aids and the nurses, and the ancillary staff the same way. It is usually the re-hab patient and their families that will only be with us for 60 or 90 days who are guiltiest of this behavior.

I can only imagine what LTC will be like after the baby boomers are done with us.

I agree. I'm also against the reference to "clients"...they are patients. IMHO, if they feel well enough to enjoy a hotel-vacation-like-resort...do they really need to be in the hospital? All of this money should be channeled into extra staff = lower nurse: patient ratios=better medical care.

I agree.

We in the US are spoiled. If I told a pt that he needs to bring and launder his/her own sheets and pillow from home ...imagine the outrage.

My hospital tried the "room service" thing - it lasted about 48 hours. The kitchen staff couldn't keep up. Now post-partum has room service and that's it.
I think the general attitude of a lot of hospital patients has changed in the last few years. They expect more - and we are expected to provide more, with less resources. I get tired of apologizing because the beds aren't comfortable enough, and explaining, that NO, I can't order an air mattress for you unless you have skin breakdown and are immobile. YOU should be trying to get OUT of the bed.
I actually went to see a patient because the new grad who put his foley in was concerned that it was leaking a little. I explained that I was the charge nurse, and that I was going to check his foley and make sure it was working properly. He told me "I almost punched that other nurse, I might punch you" WHAT!?!! I told him in no uncertain terms that he would not be punching me, or any other nurse. That being in pain was no excuse to punch or threaten the people who are trying to help you. If he persisted in threatening ANY staff member, I would have no problem calling security, and he might find himself in some restraints. This guy was not confused, was about 40. Where do these people get off? If it takes too long in the drive through at McDonalds do they threaten to punch the teenager at the window? These are grown up people!
We had a lot of complaints because we didn't have cable at my hospital - we finally got it a couple of years ago. Now they complain because there are too many channels to flip through.
I prefer to live under the assumption that you can make part of the people happy part of the time - but most importantly, they are most likely going to make it through my shift ALIVE. They will likely not have any problems and go home as expected for their particular illness. That is MY priority, although it may not be the patient's. I know the potential complications they can have, and I am administering their meds and watching their vitals and communicating with their Dr. for them - not to mention filling out 1.5 billion pieces of paper about them. I will absolutely make sure that they are recieving the correct diet and fluids, peeing, pooping, and are not too hot or too cold. I will even get them something special if they have to spend their birthday in the hospital.
But, I went to nursing school so I could stop working retail and being a waitress. I will not go back to it, even if the pay is slightly better.

Our hospital has a company that tracks pt. input after discharge. They call or send the pt. a form to fill out. Of course, we nurses hear about it when these ratings come back low. And they have been low because we have many patients that need to be in a step down unit rather than a general med-surg floor. The acuity level seems to be increasing on a daily basis, yet pt. load is increasing. We have a few great techs on our floor, but the majority of them spend most of their time in the break room. Yet, they are lumped in with nursing care. I might have given them great care, but if the tech was awful...there is no separate category for them to fill out...so i bear the brunt of it! Even if there was, most patients don't know the diffrence anyway! Fact is, I have spent almost entire shifts primarily in one patient room and no matter what, they are not satisfied. Then, my other patients are unhappy because I had so little time for them. It is a no win situation!

Pt's dtr staying in room with copd/chf pt. 0230. I'm meditech charting (finish it, file it or lose it). It's gonna take me about 2 more minutes to finish and file this assessment. Only one other nurse up at the station and she's on the phone with a doc. Dtr calls to get her mom up to bsc. Done told'em we needed to use a bedpan for this pt cuz if she exerts one more time to bsc, she's gonna end up in the unit on a vent. CNA is just coming out of another room, see's a confused pt attempting oob before bed alarm goes off, get's her settled, and goes to dtr's call to take care of mom cuz she heard the dtr call the nurses station from the room she was in. (Bear in mind, when she called, I answered the call myself and told her to give just 2 minutes and I'd be there.

Next night we (the entire shift) gets moxed by our supervisor that "since when were "all the nurses sitting around at the nurses station" too good to assist a pt to the bathroom? The dtr had called her (the super) in to the room that day and told her that she'd waited 20 minutes for someone to come take care of her mom. Oh and she had already done it herself when the cna got in there!
Super didn't even ask anyone about the situation. Just lambasted the entire shift! I'm all for pleasing the pts/families.....but PLEASE!!!!! Could ya ask me what occurred before thumping me up side the head for no reason???
See??? the customer IS always right!!! Regardless!

Honestly? Not more than another 10 minutes or so...
It wasn't the dtr complaining so much (they're frequent flyers, and just one of the "I'm the only patient in the hospital" kind of folks). And I myself have gone into pt's rooms (my assignment or anyone's) to help with toileting, bed changes, whatever....) so they know very well that none of us (OK, most of us) work with the nas all the time.
THAT was what got to me........a) the NM not asking anyone on duty what may or may not have acutally occurred, and b) that "all the nurses were sitting around the nurses station waiting for a cna to do it".
Sorry to have griped so.....but it just seems a little much to me that some people come into the hospital with the "hotel" attitude, we're servents to answer on command, and the "customer" is the only one who's opinion matters.
I usually am the one who gets the "families from hell" cuz I usually don't have any problems with them. I'm pretty good at giving the impression that their family member IS, in fact, the only pt in the hospital. I'm just heated right now because the NM acted without even considering what the whole picture truly was....?? Does that make sense? I've worked on this floor for only a year and have heard that this particular NM reacts this way frequently. It's just that this is the first time I've witnessed a situation first hand where the circumstances were just so different from what she was presented with and acted on.

OK nuff frumpin'!!!