Published Jun 19, 2008
karenG
1,049 Posts
oh dear.. this sort of thing makes me so glad I am in primary care!!
so now patients are going to be encouraged to score the nurses for their compassion.... did your nurse smile at you today?? did she mope your fevered brow??
what a piece of nonsence.. and the RCN is supporting this.
enough to make a grown woman weep........or laugh hysterically!
how much is this going to cost?? couldnt they find something better to throw money at?? nurses consistently do well in patient satisfaction surveys.....so exactly what is the point???
RGN1
1,700 Posts
Have a nice day!
XB9S, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN, APN
1 Article; 3,017 Posts
there is another thread on this, compassion is not somthing you can quanitfy, how do you assess it. You can look at patient expereinces of hospital and nursing care and if they were asking do you feel you recieved safe and professional care then that would be different but how compassionate is your nurse, please!!!!!!!
you may not smile when you are putting on the 15 litres FiO2 because your patients sats are in the 80's, or speed up the IV fluids because the BP is in his boots, does that mean your not compassionate - no it means you are busy trying to deal with your sick patient.
Just a little story, I once worked with a nurse who was a real sweetie, she was kind and compassionate and always spent time sitting talking to her patients. They loved her and had she been unqualified there would have been no problem, her compassion was never a concern, the 4 drug errors in 2 weeks, failing to recognise a seriously deteriorating patient was another (we worked in HDU) and her inability to prioritise was a real concern.
She would have scored very highly on the "compassion scale", would I want her caring for me goodness no, I would run as fast as I could as she was uable to provide safe and competent care.
If we are going to measure things, can't we please measure things that matter.
Silverdragon102, BSN
1 Article; 39,477 Posts
This is getting more and more ridiculous. Yes as nurses many are compassionate, I have to say many and not all cos we always see someone that makes us wonder why they are a nurse, but with everything else we have throw at us many do not have time to be as compassionate as we would like. Agree with you Sharrie, how can we have time to be compassionate to a patient if we are worried on the severity of their illness and that we are rushing around doing nursing care to help them. Can just see getting complaints about not being compassionate with some patient when I was busy sorting someone else out who is/was probably more seriously ill than them. But as far as they are concerned I was ignoring them and therefore not compassionate. Please...............................!!!
:yeahthat:
LiverpoolJane
309 Posts
Agree with the sentiments of all that has been said. I have colleagues who are sickly sweet to patients and relatives and people think they are fantastic. Would they be prepared to put themselves out for you? - Oh no - when their shift finishes they down tools and go - regardless. Then there are those of us - may be less "popular" but will be the ones to stay behind hours after their shift as they know they are needed by these patients - while the lovely colleagues are at home, with their feet up with a glass of wine not giving a second thought to those of us who have real compassion - not a showy display of falseness.
I'm not a very touchy feely person but I will go the extra mile for patients, I have been there 12 hours after I was supposed to finish but I would not be holding my breathe for the most popular nurse title - but ask me if I'm bovvered!!??
cheshirecat
246 Posts
I know what would make more nurses compassionate towards their patients:
Decent nurse/patient ratios so proper nursing care could be given.
Decent amount of equipment so half the shift is not spent tracking things down.
Decent salary so nurses do not have to do agency/bank shifts and end up exhausted.
Why can't the government concentrate on the above instead of stupid scoring systems which I feel are an insult to nurses.
Maybe we should start a scoring system on "How useful is your Member of Parliament to Society"? Bet not one of them scores over 1 out of 100!!
Whisper
597 Posts
I can't believe that RCN is supporting this rubbish! I look at the ever increasing price of being in a union and i was feeling justified for my membership and they pull a stunt like this?!
Smiling at work is something we've been encouraged not do.... We have had families complain about nurses caring for their dying realtives daring to smile! so management have been firmto jump on board this outrages behaviour, and increase workload and decrease moral to enforce the new 'professional behaviour'... i think we'd fail this new scoring system.
It seems like a Mcjob code of behaviour,
I know what would make more nurses compassionate towards their patients:Decent nurse/patient ratios so proper nursing care could be given.Decent amount of equipment so half the shift is not spent tracking things down.Decent salary so nurses do not have to do agency/bank shifts and end up exhausted. Why can't the government concentrate on the above instead of stupid scoring systems which I feel are an insult to nurses.Maybe we should start a scoring system on "How useful is your Member of Parliament to Society"? Bet not one of them scores over 1 out of 100!!
:yeahthat: too