My former, now thankfully Per Diem job, is requiring each ER nurse to do customer satisfaction callbacks.
Who does them where you work? What do you think?
I personally think they tend to feed the unrealistic entitlement mentality. The clientele at that hospital belongs on the Walmart customer page, frankly. Sorry if I sound bad with that comment, but many of these people need major realty checks, not further encouragement in their unhealthy approaches to life.
Ah this is my gripe with healthcare in general. The H is changing from hospital to hotel and the people pushing for this change have never been in the trenches. Idiotic if you ask me.
My go to line when someone asks me about customer service surveys; "a patient leaving the hospital alive is the best customer service we can provide"
I am all about giving top notch care, but sorry it should not be a provider's job to fluff your pillows, get your ice water, talk about your non medical problems, get you valet parking, have your food reheated, etc..
I can't imagine being so sick I have to stay in a hospital, then being asked later on in a phone survey if I was happy with my service? "Oh yeah, I just love being IDDM and having to have my foot amputated, can't wait to come and visit you again!"
Hospitals are hectic, noisy, places, 24/7, full of sick patients, not Hiltons! You'd have to be crazy to have loved your stay no matter how excellent your care was!
We do make post op calls where I work. But I work out patient surgery, comparing outpatient surgery to acute care hospitals is like apples and oranges. We have basically healthy patients for relatively minor surgeries going home the same day. Of course the whole procedure/visit is easier for patients (and staff)! It is rare to have more than 2 patients at a time, we have good staffing, and even volunteers to help out.
When I make the post op call that has 6 - 8 questions I don't ask all the questions. They say they feel fine, I check no to post op pain or post op nausea. There is some question about "was there anyone you'd like to recognize for giving good care?" Usually I don't even ask, or if they happen to volunteer that "everyone was so nice," I just put "everyone" by that question. I ask if they understand their discharge instructions/or have any questions they say no, I say thanks goodbye. All patients get a stamped addressed envelope with a survey with their discharge instructions.
We can get through a lot of calls in a short time. I have heard it is "mandatory" that we make these calls? I don't know who or what organization makes it mandatory? I don't know if it is mandatory for ER's and acute care facilities. If it is, it is stupid!
I have no idea what happened if they said they weren't satisfied.
At my old place of employment, if this happened, you ended up apologizing (usually profusely) for every doctor/PA/nurse/tech/housekeeper/food service staff member/valet/RT/living creature who ever annoyed the patient, as if it was your fault and your problem to fix their thin skin.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
My former, now thankfully Per Diem job, is requiring each ER nurse to do customer satisfaction callbacks.
Who does them where you work? What do you think?
I personally think they tend to feed the unrealistic entitlement mentality. The clientele at that hospital belongs on the Walmart customer page, frankly. Sorry if I sound bad with that comment, but many of these people need major realty checks, not further encouragement in their unhealthy approaches to life.
Speaking as a patient, I hate getting those callbacks.
After my knee replacement -- my second in 7 weeks -- I was discharged a day early and my husband had to go back to work. There I was at home, with my walker and I'd left the phone across the room. (Yes, I had a bag on my walker just for that purpose -- what can I say? I forgot.) The phone rang. I started moving toward it. It stopped ringing. I scooped it up and dropped it in the bag anyway. Then I finally was able to fall asleep . . . and the phone starts ringing again. The caller wanted to make sure I was doing well at home after my discharge.
Total waste of time and taxpayer's money. We don't have to call just once, but 2 attempts! Spoiled people making petty complaints about coffee, the chairs in the waiting room, and the "How dare you make me wait!" mentality. Maybe Americans would like to get their care in a third world country instead?? Complaining about the staff really gets to me. If someone is unsafe that's one thing, but other complaints about a nurse personality... are unwarranted. I still say that if people were accountable, starting with their wallet, we wouldn't have half the problems with healthcare waste and abuse. People need to take responsibility for themselves. Amen.
At my old place of employment, if this happened, you ended up apologizing (usually profusely) for every doctor/PA/nurse/tech/housekeeper/food service staff member/valet/RT/living creature who ever annoyed the patient, as if it was your fault and your problem to fix their thin skin.
Total waste of time and taxpayer's money. We don't have to call just once, but 2 attempts! Spoiled people making petty complaints about coffee, the chairs in the waiting room, and the "How dare you make me wait!" mentality. Maybe Americans would like to get their care in a third world country instead?? Complaining about the staff really gets to me. If someone is unsafe that's one thing, but other complaints about a nurse personality... are unwarranted. I still say that if people were accountable, starting with their wallet, we wouldn't have half the problems with healthcare waste and abuse. People need to take responsibility for themselves. Amen.
My favorites are the ones who show up hours late for their appointments and then are worked back into the schedule but have to wait and then they give bad surveys because they had to wait to be seen and they often make some remark such as, I had to wait 4 hours after my appointment time to be seen!â€.
You should be kissing the butt of the person who worked you back into the schedule because you couldn't make it to your appointment even close to the time it was scheduled for!
I agree if everyone had to pay something for their care they would be more invested in it and actually probably give a crap! I know I don't go to the ER unless it's really an emergency because of the high co-pay and high deductible. The wallet is a powerful motivator and unfortunately in this country a certain segment of the population pays nothing for care, waits no extra time for care, and does nothing but complain about the quality of their free care!
I'm not sure if my hospital just doesn't do these, or if we just don't them in the ICU because patients never are discharged directly home from the ICU. Either way, I hadn't heard of them before this thread. Ridiculous.
I like the idea of follow up... have you been taking your antibx, are your sx improving, were you able to get a follow up appt. If there was a multidisciplinary team of RN, SW and even an NP or PA, there could be less repeat offenders. I've seen things like this work. However, as a PP stated, so much of this is aimed at reimbursement and on pts rating us as 'excellent.' Has anyone READ HCAHPS complaints??? "The visitors chair was not comfortable." "My room was too hot/cold." "My coffee was not served hot." Are you kidding???
I like the idea of follow up... have you been taking your antibx, are your sx improving, were you able to get a follow up appt. If there was a multidisciplinary team of RN, SW and even an NP or PA, there could be less repeat offenders. I've seen things like this work. However, as a PP stated, so much of this is aimed at reimbursement and on pts rating us as 'excellent.' Has anyone READ HCAHPS complaints??? "The visitors chair was not comfortable." "My room was too hot/cold." "My coffee was not served hot." Are you kidding???
Yeah its a great idea for OTHER people to do. I don't have time during my shift to make blind calls that will probably end up pissing me off.
AuDDoc
102 Posts
Ah this is my gripe with healthcare in general. The H is changing from hospital to hotel and the people pushing for this change have never been in the trenches. Idiotic if you ask me.
My go to line when someone asks me about customer service surveys; "a patient leaving the hospital alive is the best customer service we can provide"
I am all about giving top notch care, but sorry it should not be a provider's job to fluff your pillows, get your ice water, talk about your non medical problems, get you valet parking, have your food reheated, etc..