OK, here's a good one: Same psych hospital I mentioned in the "called on the carpet" thread allows discharged patients to fill out a "satisfaction survey" before they leave. Now, in all fairness, some of these patients were more than complimentary, and we would get a little note in our mailbox if they mentioned us in a positive way. On he flip side, if someone said something negative, we would get a reprimand. Remember, now, these are certified PSYCH patients, and the management would take these things seriously! I had more than a few talkings to because (GASP!) I would not give 4 Lorcets to a patient at a time because "that's the way I take them at home!"
The crowning indignity was this one woman who put on her paper that I "made faces" at her through her admission and that I "called her names". The faces I made were at her 2 year old that she BROUGHT WITH HER while she was being admitted, and the name? She overheard another nurse and I discussing music, and later put on her d/c papers that I called her an "All American Reject".
This case was very interesting, simply because, during an admission, the first question you asked was "Why are you here?" She replied "I just found out I have HIV." I asked when she was diagnosed, and she said, "Oh, my family and friends told me I have it." No doctor visit, not bloodwork, nothing. And management took these people seriously.
So, my question is: does your facility have anything in place like this? I'd be interested to hear about it. Thanks for reading.
Me too! I grew up in CA, now work in NYC with a population that has a lot of Spanish speakers. I'm vaguely embarassed that I don't speak Spanish.
I've seen some audio language courses made specifically for medical professionals that are supposed to get you up and running in a couple of weeks. I'm going to buy one and listen on the way to work.
What's totally embarassing is pantomiming having a bowel movement in an attempt to assess your Spanish-only patient's gastrointestinal function.
I work on a psychiatric unit too, and we also those "nifty" little grievance reports and we now have an interim manager that has no psychiatric experience. So now we keep getting called in to her office for complaints like "Mrs. P says you poisoned her food with bleach" or "Mr. X said that he was denied water for 2 weeks during his stay". The real kicker was when she suggested I write a letter of apology to a women that claimed I stole her un-born baby. Get real lady, they are called DELUSIONS. Fortunately the DON agreed with me, but for God's sakes, how can anyone take that seriously?
This is the funniest thing I've read in a long time!!!!:rotfl::roll
my hospital has ask all nurses to say something positive about the patient and their day when giving eachother report. Here's mine( Patient is alive and Iam going home)
Exactly! Any foreign language speaking patient who decides to move to the USA to live and work, should make learning the language of their adopted home.....priority number one.
I'm also sick of the patient satisfaction phase as well! Some of the dumbest ideas include: hourly rounding on patients, have patients grade the nurse on a scale of 1-5, and "what is the most important thing that I can do for you today?"
We are supposed to lie to our patients "What can I do for you, because I have the time"
Maslow's hierarchy of needs apparently doesn't apply anymore. It is now more important to have a pianist in the lobby and the smell of baking bread in the unit than have enough staff to provide the patients with basics, like a bath.
I'm not sure what that's supposed to be about. I was born in the US and I'm a native English speaker. As a writer and a former editor with over 15 years of professional experience, I consider myself something of an expert on the English language.
As a nurse working in Southern California, I think it's time that I learned Spanish, actually.
Please.
It'd be wonderful for you to learn Spanish, but you shouldn't HAVE to learn Spanish to do your job.
Requiring nurses to do their job in English hardly seems like a stretch to me.
Nurses arent allowed to draw labs. We start IV's, do ABG's....but if lab is taking a year for those stat labs, we aren't allowed to draw them. I've had a Dr who had to in the middle of the night because we couldn't get a phlebotomist up to do it.
:rotfl::roll
firstyearstudent
853 Posts
I've seen some audio language courses made specifically for medical professionals that are supposed to get you up and running in a couple of weeks. I'm going to buy one and listen on the way to work.
What's totally embarassing is pantomiming having a bowel movement in an attempt to assess your Spanish-only patient's gastrointestinal function.