E-mail I got today....

[flightnurse2b, LPN]

i thought everyone might enjoy this. a friend of mine e-mailed it to me and i think it's definately worth sharing and/or printing out and sticking next to the elevator by the patient satisfaction score cards :)

"I'm not sure who this was written by....

"Patients aren't always satisfied with how well nurses communicate,

a recent Medicare survey revealed. Well, nurses had no trouble communicating with me after I defended them (last) Sunday.

Nurses from recovery rooms, coronary care, pediatrics, geriatrics,

ER and Trauma units e-mailed me across the country.

Here's what they had to say:

Come walk in our shoes for a 12-hour shift. Come see the joy,

the tragedy, the comedy, the 100 ways we are pulled and pushed,

then rate my "pleasant greeting", "answers call light in timely fashion", "states name of patient."

Use the bathroom now, because you might not get the chance again

until your shift ends. Wear comfortable shoes. Don't worry if they're

clean. They'll end up with blood and vomit on them.

We are the patient's advocate, the doctors' eyes and ears, and

everyone's scapegoat. We can page your doctor but we can't make

that doctor magically appear. We check your stitches, wipe your

blood, drain your pus and empty your bedpan.

Nursing is a tough job, but we're tougher. We've been yelled at by administrators,

supervisors and doctors. We've been kicked, slapped, punched, spat on,

and sexually harassed by patients in various states of delirium, mental illness,

arrogance, and intoxication. We've even had chairs and food trays thrown at us.

We work mandatory overtime, weekends and holidays. We eat Thanksgiving and

Christmas dinners with coworkers.

We deal with families who ignore visiting hours, bring food to

patients on restricted diets, and insist on staying the night even

though it's not a private room. We deal with the Florida son who

orders us around to show a parent he's neglected for years that he

cares. We cannot be at your side every waking minute. We have

10 other patients. We cannot answer 5 call lights at once. We

can't stop doing CPR on a patient because you ran out of tissues.

We are not maids, beauticians, or cocktail waitresses.

We are professionals with college degrees.

We hate that we can't spend more bedside time with you.

Swearing at us will not make us move faster. Taking better care

of your health would help. Quit smoking. Lose weight. Start

exercising. Stop drinking.

How do we survive? We ignore the nasty comments, the

demanding relatives, the crazy staffing grids. We count to 10

before speaking. We pray every morning for strength and

wisdom, patience and empathy. We drive home tired and

frustrated, telling ourselves over and over , "I'm not the nurse I

want to be, but I'm the best nurse the hospital staffing allows me

to be." We fall asleep praying for the ones who won't survive the

night.

There is no finish line, ever. Nursing is demanding, fulfilling, and

we can't imagine doing anything else. Nothing beats washing blood

and glass off a car crash survivor , stabilizing a broken neck,

saving a diabetic's leg, keeping a cancer patient in remission.

The day we send a patient home we relish the unbelievable

resilience of the human body and spirit.

We did not become nurses for the hours, the salary, or the

glamour of it all. We became nurses to make a difference.

We don't ask for much. One sincere Thank You makes all the

thankless hours worth it."

[ohmeowzer RN, RN]

yes i am going to copy and share this. people have no idea what nurses do or how hard we work. thank you for this thread.

[Sue Damonas, BSN]

Thanks for sharing that!!!!

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

Bump up

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

People get rated on "answers the call light in a timely fashion?" What kind of rating is that? That's like saying you don't want me to prioritize, you want me to drop what I'm doing- be it an EKG on someone with chest pain, drawing blood on someone with new multi-focal PVCs to get chemistries, or pushing D50 on someone who's bg was just 34 to answer the call light on someone who wants fresh water or their 8th dose of dilaudid for the night. Is that really what administration wants?

[Cejai]

Thank you for sharing that. :)

[mama_d, BSN, RN]

People get rated on "answers the call light in a timely fashion?" What kind of rating is that? That's like saying you don't want me to prioritize, you want me to drop what I'm doing- be it an EKG on someone with chest pain, drawing blood on someone with new multi-focal PVCs to get chemistries, or pushing D50 on someone who's bg was just 34 to answer the call light on someone who wants fresh water or their 8th dose of dilaudid for the night. Is that really what administration wants?

Well, considering the fact that the pt w/a bg of 34 will probably be too confused to recall if you reacted in a timely manner when it comes time to fill out the PG bubbles, of course you should stop pushing that D50 and go get that water! It's nurses like you who drop our PG scores!

All kidding aside, I do wish that I could make many copies and leave them around to be found.

[flightnurse2b, LPN]

People get rated on "answers the call light in a timely fashion?" What kind of rating is that? That's like saying you don't want me to prioritize, you want me to drop what I'm doing- be it an EKG on someone with chest pain, drawing blood on someone with new multi-focal PVCs to get chemistries, or pushing D50 on someone who's bg was just 34 to answer the call light on someone who wants fresh water or their 8th dose of dilaudid for the night. Is that really what administration wants?

apparently.

at my new job, the sqawk box (the call light system) that rings at the desk has a timer that administation can track. they can tell what room hit the call light, the exact time they hit the call light, how long it took before the call light was answered at the desk and also how long it took for a person to hit the button in the room that the light was answered.

i will never forget getting called in the office on day because a patient family member said i was "short" with them when they came to the door of another patient's room that we were rapid responsing and yelled about me bringing them more water. i just looked @ my NM and said... seriously?

customer service is everything! soon they will change the name of patients to "guests".

[PICNICRN, BSN, RN]

apparently.

at my new job, the sqawk box (the call light system) that rings at the desk has a timer that administation can track. they can tell what room hit the call light, the exact time they hit the call light, how long it took before the call light was answered at the desk and also how long it took for a person to hit the button in the room that the light was answered.

i will never forget getting called in the office on day because a patient family member said i was "short" with them when they came to the door of another patient's room that we were rapid responsing and yelled about me bringing them more water. i just looked @ my NM and said... seriously?

customer service is everything! soon they will change the name of patients to "guests".

Where I work, they have already changed the term Patient to "customer".

[abbaking]

apparently.

at my new job, the sqawk box (the call light system) that rings at the desk has a timer that administation can track. they can tell what room hit the call light, the exact time they hit the call light, how long it took before the call light was answered at the desk and also how long it took for a person to hit the button in the room that the light was answered.

i will never forget getting called in the office on day because a patient family member said i was "short" with them when they came to the door of another patient's room that we were rapid responsing and yelled about me bringing them more water. i just looked @ my NM and said... seriously?

customer service is everything! soon they will change the name of patients to "guests".

You have GOT to be kidding me....all this customer service crap is getting way outta line!

[mama_d, BSN, RN]

Last week I got pulled to a different floor. I went to my floor to see if there was anyone available to take a short break with when they ended up calling a code. I ended up being down there for a while. One of the patients I had cared for the previous night (one of our semi-frequent flyers) needed something, and her daughter came out to the desk. She took one look at the flashing lights, code cart, and controlled chaos and looked right at me and said "We can wait!"

As things started to get more under control, I left the code to go and see what the other patient needed. Her daughter's primary concern was that she was not interrupting what was going on with the code. I sincerely thanked her for her willingness to wait, and she said "Honey, what's going on in there is more important. Some people may not realize that, but we do, we've been here often enough and heard and seen enough to know how rough you guys have it sometimes!" I could have kissed her.

So there are patients and family members who appreciate what we go through. It made my night :)

[texastaz]

We don't ask for much. One sincere Thank You makes all the

thankless hours worth it."

That does sum it up :heartbeat