When I'm a patient, nothing makes me feel more like I, the patient, am on an assembly line, than when my nurse comes across as an Autobot.
You know, you send a portal message to the office nurse, and the reply sounds like it's composed of drop down box choices. "I'm so sorry that you are having this problem, the doctor will be back in the office on Thursday to address your concerns". "We care about our patients, your pain is important to us". They may as well label the message 'donotreply'.
You're an inpatient and Autobot RN enters the room with a fake smile with a scripted speech "What can I do for you, I have the time. On a scale from 1-10, 1 being barely any pain, and 10 being the worst pain imaginable, how would you rate your pain?".
At least try to be a little real, genuine, creative, HUMAN! Our modern approach to medicine, and many other fields, has taken the human touch out of so many of our interactions. No wonder we often feel empty and uncared for.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
As a patient, I've never been the recipient of insincere/artificial scripting. Didn't know it was a "thing."
It's a thing. I find it insulting, as a nurse, to be given an artificial script to use. As a patient, I find it insulting to be fed these scripted phrases by someone who is clearly just parroting what they have been told to say. Why not let everyone use their own words and their own style and skip the artificial platitudes. If I can see you running ragged through my doorway, I know you don't "have the time" to get me a sixth diet soda so please don't insult me by saying "I have the time."
It's a thing. I find it insulting, as a nurse, to be given an artificial script to use. As a patient, I find it insulting to be fed these scripted phrases by someone who is clearly just parroting what they have been told to say. Why not let everyone use their own words and their own style and skip the artificial platitudes. If I can see you running ragged through my doorway, I know you don't "have the time" to get me a sixth diet soda so please don't insult me by saying "I have the time."
I couldn't agree more. While I always say 'I'm not perfect either', I think something I'm good at is rapport with patients (which I judge by both their reactions, family members, and even co-workers) ... so I don't need some desk jockey coming up with how I should speak to patients.
It's not quite the same, but ChikFilA started responding to "thank you" with "my pleasure." The first time the girl said that, I thought hmm, that's a little strange but ok, whatever. Then after the next cashier, and the next, and the next, all said "my pleasure" I figured out that it's something that was being required by management. I was annoyed enough that I wrote to corporate and complained. I told them I'd rather have a pleasant "you're welcome" than a forced "my pleasure" muttered by some kid that hated saying it so bad that they could barely even look at me. I was told that the founder decided that "my pleasure" would reassure their customers that they were appreciated. What a crock of chicken poo! It's insulting even at the chicken place where I get out for under $8. I don't want to be insulted at the hospital where I'm paying $1200/day.
It's not quite the same, but ChikFilA started responding to "thank you" with "my pleasure." The first time the girl said that, I thought hmm, that's a little strange but ok, whatever. Then after the next cashier, and the next, and the next, all said "my pleasure" I figured out that it's something that was being required by management. I was annoyed enough that I wrote to corporate and complained. I told them I'd rather have a pleasant "you're welcome" than a forced "my pleasure" muttered by some kid that hated saying it so bad that they could barely even look at me. I was told that the founder decided that "my pleasure" would reassure their customers that they were appreciated. What a crock of chicken poo! It's insulting even at the chicken place where I get out for under $8. I don't want to be insulted at the hospital where I'm paying $1200/day.
Dear Chik-Fil-A
Everytime I patronize your restaurant, the cashiers and servers all respond with the same expression, "my pleasure". Every single one of them every time. You've obviously forced them to say the same thing with no individuality, which means it has nothing to do with appreciating me the customer and only your bottom line. I don't like to be played.
It just sounds like they are too busy to care, this is the problem with under funded health services these days, unless you go private at which point you might get a better reply. I'm totally with you on this one it's not a nice feeling and doesn't connect with the patients, they might as well send in a robot!
It's a shame nursing has dissolved into pathetic efforts to capture as much money from the government as possible.
At this point, I just give patients whatever they want within safe limits. Clinical care means nothing, hospitality management is everything.
"Yes sir, I'll be right back with your turkey sandwich and Coke"
"I'm sorry about the wait in the ER ma'am, can I get you anything to eat or drink?"
"I'm sorry we do not have cranberry juice, may I offer you apple juice instead?"
"I'm sorry the doctor prescribed you morphine instead of "dilautin," I understand that is the only medication that works. I will contact your doctor right away to change that. Can I get you a beverage or snack in the meantime?"
While I have mixed feelings about scripting, using prompts can be beneficial in standardizing care. I have seen some nurses who have literally been called "nurse ratchet" by patients come around and become very talented and service oriented nurses after focusing on their bedside manner and focusing on use of key words during rounding. While I dont think every interaction needs to be scripted, I also seriously doubt we are seeing a lot of this nationwide. And as for how it "makes management look" that has little to do with it, its about scoring on HCAHPS. The hospitals that score badly and fall in certain percentiles actually lose money on medicare/medicaid payouts, and if they do exceptionally well then they get a bonus 2%. These scores mean real money for hospitals, and unless you work in a unit that is a high earner already, then try and get used to it because its here to stay.
It's not quite the same, but ChikFilA started responding to "thank you" with "my pleasure." The first time the girl said that, I thought hmm, that's a little strange but ok, whatever. Then after the next cashier, and the next, and the next, all said "my pleasure" I figured out that it's something that was being required by management. I was annoyed enough that I wrote to corporate and complained. I told them I'd rather have a pleasant "you're welcome" than a forced "my pleasure" muttered by some kid that hated saying it so bad that they could barely even look at me. I was told that the founder decided that "my pleasure" would reassure their customers that they were appreciated. What a crock of chicken poo! It's insulting even at the chicken place where I get out for under $8. I don't want to be insulted at the hospital where I'm paying $1200/day.
The Ritz Carlton chain has been using the "it's my pleasure" thing for years.
ETA:
Annnnnd here it is:
The My Pleasure†PrincipleThere's a reason why Chick-fil-A uses my pleasure†to respond to its customers. To convey delight. Chick-fil-A founder, Truett Cathy, was inspired to institute the phrase after a visit to the Ritz Carlton. When Cathy said thank you†to the front desk representative, the response was my pleasure.†And even though his business served fast food, Cathy felt it would be important to reply to his customers as if they were at a luxury establishment.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
While I have mixed feelings about scripting, using prompts can be beneficial in standardizing care. I have seen some nurses who have literally been called "nurse ratchet" by patients come around and become very talented and service oriented nurses after focusing on their bedside manner and focusing on use of key words during rounding. While I dont think every interaction needs to be scripted, I also seriously doubt we are seeing a lot of this nationwide. And as for how it "makes management look" that has little to do with it, its about scoring on HCAHPS. The hospitals that score badly and fall in certain percentiles actually lose money on medicare/medicaid payouts, and if they do exceptionally well then they get a bonus 2%. These scores mean real money for hospitals, and unless you work in a unit that is a high earner already, then try and get used to it because its here to stay.
It's all about the bottom line and the enormous bonuses that management takes home.
I think we're going to see the pendulum swing back the other way. Which is good. Patient safety is a far better metric than patient satisfaction.
Ruby Vee, BSN
17 Articles; 14,051 Posts
It's a thing. I find it insulting, as a nurse, to be given an artificial script to use. As a patient, I find it insulting to be fed these scripted phrases by someone who is clearly just parroting what they have been told to say. Why not let everyone use their own words and their own style and skip the artificial platitudes. If I can see you running ragged through my doorway, I know you don't "have the time" to get me a sixth diet soda so please don't insult me by saying "I have the time."