Bedside reporting as a management tool of humiliation

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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.

Specializes in ED, PACU.

Did they writ you up?

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Specializes in Med/Surg/ICU/Stepdown.
They don't have a choice?!?!?!?!?!?!?! WTH is wrong with people these days

The "rationale" is that a pilot study was conducted on one unit and it increased HACAPS scores. One unit. And a few articles they've pulled offline. Never mind that there's more to making bedside report a success than a brutal gun-to-your head approach.

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Specializes in Med/Surg/ICU/Stepdown.
Did they writ you up?

Presumably, yes. I can't say I've heard of that yet but I wouldn't doubt that's what noncompliance would result in.

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you wake me up for that, you better be ducking.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Hearing about all of this makes me grateful to the Lord above that I got out of hospital nursing when I did. I cannot even imagine working under conditions like this. I refuse to be treated like a fast-food worker with a ninth-grade education. (And they don't deserve it either.) Of course, I probably wouldn't have a job if this incident had happened to me, because I would have vigorously protested such treatment through the chain of command. But I can guarantee that manager wouldn't have laid hands on me again.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
I'm strongly considering finding evidence-based articles on the link between sleep deprivation in hospitals and recovery time and sending them to the morons that are demanding we wake sleeping patients for bedside report. I actually had an ANM demand I wake a patient at 2200. I refused. And continued with report in the hallway where the oncoming RN and I could lay eyes on said patient who was resting comfortably.

I'm an advocate. Not a robot. And I'll be damned if I'm going to undo all the hard work I spent 8 hours on making my patients happy and comfortable.

Good for you, refusing to wake your patient!!

You should totally get some EBP articles. I worked in an LTACH for a year and a half, taking care of people who had been very sick for a very long time. MONTHS in the hospital, for some of them. Our policy was that sleep is sacred and we should do everything in our power to protect it for them. Interrupted sleep is a HUGE factor in developing delirium :no:

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Specializes in Inpatient Oncology/Public Health.

Aaaaand my manager got reported to HR.

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Specializes in MICU, SICU, CICU.

Bedside report, when done in an open and honest manner, can be beneficial and educational for an awake alert and oriented patient.

It is reassuring when two nurses do a focused neuro exam, assessment of circulation or a surgical site and discuss pain management or other goals.

The adage of "say nothing about me without me" is appropriate for many patients. Following a script of any kind is phony and absurd.

A bedside handoff of a critically ill pt is really easier in many ways in terms of the checking the patient, tubes, lines, the equipment and infusions together.

Doing so also protects you from people who might say something negative about the care that was provided on your shift, and if I am handing off a pt to someone who is known to criticize and make false statements, I will insist on a bedside handoff.

I have seen and experienced clueless, abusive and threatening nurse managers, and I do not doubt for a minute what was written in the original post.

.

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Specializes in Inpatient Oncology/Public Health.

And manager just announced retirement in a few months. It's thought hr forced her hand.

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How may I exceed your expectations today???

If I called the hospital that my mother was staying in, and heard THAT, I would immediately wonder what was being compensated for -- something pi$$ poor -- by some over-educated buffoon, probably in risk management.

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" -)
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I left the hospital setting because management seems to put scripts and other mundane duties above pt care. I got tired of being threatened with my job over such nonsense. I was never much of a customer service type of person. I got into nursing because I was passionate about helping sick people. So of course I'm going to do my job to the best of my ability. I got tired of spending hours in meetings going over scripts to say to pts, and waking up my pts to give report when we could have stayed in the nurses station. I've had a manager even correct my script in front of the pt and the pt was dumbfounded. I find that to be the most unprofessional thing you can do. I just couldn't take it anymore. So I do home hospice now.

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