CNA/NTs singled out?

New CCU RN · Jan 23, 2003

I agree with ya there..... either do all or nothing.... Why single out just the CNA/NT's.

delirium · Jan 23, 2003

Um, that's weird. It reminds me of those little cards at fast food restaurants: was your food hot? did you get it in a timely manner? was the facility clean?

I think I would have a problem with this. It seems to be taking the customer service aspect a bit too far... although, surprisingly, I have no problem with the generic surveys the hospital I work for sends to patients after discharge. That's generally the whole hospital experience, though, not the performance of one employee.

I'm paranoid and suspicious, of course, but I wonder if this is a way to cut back on merit raises? Where do the cards go when they are filled out? Certainly not back to you to screen before they go to the higher ups.

We have these atta boy cards at work where someone can fill out a card on you if you do a great job, but that's slightly different (and a stupid idea, in my opinion, but I have lots of negative opinions about my place of employment... uh clue phone? This isn't disney world).

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Jan 23, 2003

This is all part of that customer-service crap that has been rammed down our throats for the past few years. Sometimes I've thought that the only difference between me and the average waitress was about $15 an hour! Now, I do my best to take good care of people, and I certainly don't consider myself above fetching a glass of soda or some ice chips for a pt. and family. But to grade a hospital or nursing home like a McDonald's is nothing short of demeaning. I hope you all will protest this, to the top of the management food chain if need be. We are all professional health care workers, and when we start being treated like service people, it's time to look for another job!!

Gromit · Jan 23, 2003

I don't have a real problem with being treated like service personnel (as my girlfriend pointed out, the patients are customers, OUR customers. Ok. Not the way I was trained, but modern times, modern definitions.). My real problem is singleing out CNAs. Had they also handed out a card for RN/LPN(etc)s, as well, or even on the same card, I'd have no issue. And also, EVERY DAY?? Doesn't the hospital (ours does) usually send a form to their home asking about the entire hospital experience?

Yes, I'm raising some noise about this.

Very one-sided, and against one facet of the dept., we all play a role, why seek comments only on one part?

vaughanmk · Jan 23, 2003

These card seem absolutely ludicrious. What exactly is their rational behind targeting CNA's/ NT's? Is it just one floor or the entire hospital? I wonder if maybe there was a specific event that prompted these cards. If I were you I would really question this new protocol. Try talking to the floor manager next time you go to work. Maybe that will explain the why's behind this scheme.

New CCU RN · Jan 23, 2003

HA!!! It does sound like a courtesy card from a fast food restaurant!!!!!!

Mofe'ny · Jan 23, 2003

No it doesn't! At least fast food chains usually give you a free hamburger or a coupon for filling out a survey. What do you get for this> One free hour of care by a CNA.

Seriously, I would have to complain about this too. Grade everyone or no one!!!!

New CCU RN · Jan 23, 2003

Hey that is true..... good point

emily_mom · Jan 23, 2003

Originally posted by mjlrn97
This is all part of that customer-service crap that has been rammed down our throats for the past few years. Sometimes I've thought that the only difference between me and the average waitress was about $15 an hour! Now, I do my best to take good care of people, and I certainly don't consider myself above fetching a glass of soda or some ice chips for a pt. and family. But to grade a hospital or nursing home like a McDonald's is nothing short of demeaning. I hope you all will protest this, to the top of the management food chain if need be. We are all professional health care workers, and when we start being treated like service people, it's time to look for another job!!

Um, when I finish school I will be making less than I did as a server. I averaged $26/hr.....

ERNurse752, RN · Jan 23, 2003

If I were a pt, I would think it was a major pain in the a** to fill out a survey card EVERY...SINGLE...DAY...yuck!

sjoe · Jan 23, 2003

"the patients are customers, OUR customers."

WRONG. It is not as though most patients could go to any one of 10 different competitors within a mile and that each facility is aiming strictly at the maximum possible number of customers, hopefully with lines stretching out the door.

Most patients come to your facility because their insurance plan or "the government" will pay for it, or that is where their doc has admitting privileges, and to get their acute healthcare needs taken care of as quickly and as painlessly as possible so they can go home.

Facility workers are supposed to have particular skills and abilities and, those who are professionals, work within their professional standards of care--regardless of whether the patients would prefer that they behave as personal servants, waitpersons, secretaries, or whatever.

There is no reason to go out of one's way to offend the maximum number of patients, but on the other hand, most patients have no idea of what we are doing overall in our jobs, what we need to be thinking about and assessing, what ongoing planning and priority-setting we always need to be dealing with--things that may preclude our giving that particular patient ALL our attention ALL the time, as many would wish. They are in no position, therefore, to "evaluate" us in terms of our performance. That is the position of supervisors who are supposed to be in touch with our patients and their charts and noting how well or how poorly they are being taken care of.

Of course, most of these evaluations are simply thrown away, after being scanned for obvious "problem employees," since their primary purpose is to give patients the (unfounded) impression that the facility actually cares about them. (Just like the similar evaluations in fast food restaurants.)

IMHO.

But to return, after this extended digression, to the original post: What does your union say about this? If you don't have a union,you clearly need one to protect your interests, since a facility can easily misuse (or falsify) this kind of information to suit its own purposes. (You don't think this new policy was instituted to help YOU or your co-workers, do you?)