Bedside reporting as a management tool of humiliation

[sistrmoon]

I am just sitting here with my mouth hanging open. On Day One of go live with our bedside reporting, our big boss(not an assistant manager) was following nurses to "coach" them. A nurse who has been here for 30+ years and is probably one of the most stoic people I've ever met was apparently dressed down in front of the patient, to the point of the nurse crying so hard she couldn't speak.

Let me repeat, day one. The nurse receiving report attempted to redirect and prompt and she had the micromanaging ire turned on her. They are insisting we do everything just so(like: offgoing nurse must do x, y, and z and oncoming must do a, b, c when really either could do them, and you'd best get your scripts perfect.) Any plus sides to this are being drowned by management control and humiliation. Half the floor is looking for a new job. It's the height of inappropriate behavior.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

There are pieces of paper taped everywhere in our nursing station. Scripts at the ward clerks chair with what to say to people who approach. Scripts taped to the telephones with how to answer. Scripts taped in the employee bathroom. I hope we won't have to share with the customers, but who knows?

Scripting is just ridiculous. If they think patients don't pick up on the fact that we are told what to say, then they are seriously underestimating the intelligence of our patients. We are educated professionals; those who can't figure out how to speak with patients/visitors will reveal themselves at some point and be addressed accordingly. There is no reason to try to turn nursing professionals into robots.

[nynursey_]

I knew this was coming. Believe me, I called it from Day 1.

When we had our "Go Live" launch, I was horrified. I was forced to wake sleeping patients in spite of my strong wishes not to. These are medical/surgical patients, multiple comorbidities, some with admissions as early as 0300 that morning, who I was forced to wake with a cheesy grin for the excuse of "it's for YOUR safety."

On Day 2, I inadvertently revealed information about a patient to a family member she would have preferred not been mentioned. I did this, even with asking if the patient would like her family member to leave (she stated she did not), and the patient was mortified. Not only was she turned off to the idea of my being her nurse for the duration of the shift, but she complained to management. The result? We're sorry, but bedside report is not an option. This will turn patients off to the HOSPITAL as an entity entirely.

I, too, will NOT have my interactions with patients scripted. I'm also looking for a new RN position.

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

I once worked in a hopsital where we all shared duty of answering phones if the ward secretary was busy. We were requested to answer the phone "Thank you for calling---------, this is -------------, how may I exceed your expectations today" -)

[NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN]

Don't even get me started on this........ entering a room with sleeping toddler and sleeping parents at 0700 for bedside report when all parties involved have only been asleep for a couple of hours......

Oh, any facility that doesn't all for some flexibility with this one is bound to have several unhappy pediatric parents. Nothing like a stupid policy to get the patients to op for a different facility. They would not want me to be that parent. I'm a pitbull when it come to my child

[NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN]

To think I was worried about my coworkers hounding me in front of the patients. Manager clapped the crying nurse on the arm and told her to "buck up." Manager also physically and roughly moved the nurses into their prescribed places.

I don't take kindly to being touched without permission. I just...wow.

Great, now the poor patient is a witness to battery!

[caliotter3]

Should the nurses actually start departing, while there may be talk in the community about this idiocy, the departing nurses should expect no understanding from prospective employers. I was one of several nurses who departed a hellhole within weeks of each other. Each was blacklisted for a very long time and some had to leave the area altogether to get work. It seems the responsible idiots never pay the price.

[nynursey_]

Should the nurses actually start departing, while there may be talk in the community about this idiocy, the departing nurses should expect no understanding from prospective employers. I was one of several nurses who departed a hellhole within weeks of each other. Each was blacklisted for a very long time and some had to leave the area altogether to get work. It seems the responsible idiots never pay the price.

I've been at my establishment for a full calendar year. In fact, I just had my year eval and recieved accolades. My leaving this particular hospital as a result of it violating nurse ethical principals isn't going to get me blacklisted. I believe my clinical skills will speak for themselves. And it's sad, because my current NM is amazing, and he's going to do great things. I doubt he'd speak ill of me simply because I disagree with bedside reporting.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

From the picture painted here, the relationship between staff and manager was straight out of a Dickens novel ... way before the bedside report initiative came along.

And yet, professionals have remained on this unit.

Fascinating story.

Professionals have bills to pay.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

Great, now the poor patient is a witness to battery!

That's who really pays - the patients. I was a pt once when a doctor went nuts, started yelling at everyone. Even as a nurse, I was truly scared.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

The implementation of this has been terrible for you guys. Bedside report has slowly, ever-so-slowly grown on me, where I actually see the benefit of it to my work and to the patient.

Your facility has just done it wrong. The nurses dug in their heels early, and management never addressed the resistance, it seems. They just plowed through, creating an even larger resistance to the change. No incremental steps, no allowance for you all to become accustomed to it...just do it this way and only this way. Not a good management strategy for change.

[Farawyn]

I once worked in a hopsital where we all shared duty of answering phones if the ward secretary was busy. We were requested to answer the phone "Thank you for calling---------, this is -------------, how may I exceed your expectations today" -)

Hahhahahahahhahahahaaaaaaa!

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

I once worked in a hopsital where we all shared duty of answering phones if the ward secretary was busy. We were requested to answer the phone "Thank you for calling---------, this is -------------, how may I exceed your expectations today" -)

Oh brother! That is just ridiculous!