emergency room patient education campaign

Trauma Columnist · Jan 19, 2004

Yes - we too have the Pres-Ganey surveys. We have handouts, posters, brochures - stuff like that.

MAGIK GIRL · Jan 20, 2004

i guess my question is how does management expect educating a person for the amount of time that they are in the waiting room to improve press ganey scores?

the subject matter is patient satisfaction. unfortunetley, the majority of people who frequent an er cannot be satisfied. they may tell you to your face that they are and then turn around and write a nasty letter. the major type of people the i have encountered are the ones who don't get "nuturing" at home so they come to the er to get it. they may not be the problem. it may be their family members who come and want to save face and suddenly want to become involved so anything we as the care givers do, will not be good enough.

again, this "education" has to come from with in each family. no management can fix this problem unless they hand out money and door prizes. we are a lawsuit, something for nothing society, sadly (befor i get slammed, think of how many "prelitigation physicals" you have done in the past). that is what makes people happy.

now there are the occasional nice families. i wish they were the majority.

i hope your efforts work. if so, please share your secret. one of the places i worked the rn manager and the director or er docs got canned because of the press ganey scores.

there is no quick fix here. just like the dilema of the teachers in school. should they be responsible for teaching the children manners and morals as well as educational stuff too? well i guess they are when it is not done in the home.

Medic946RN · Jan 20, 2004

We try to educate pt's in the triage process to have a realistic expectation of their ER experience.

"No the doctor isn't going to give you an antibiotic for your virus."

"No, we can't pull your tooth here, You'll have to actually see a dentist."

"A Fever of 100.1 isn't life threatening."

"The antibiotic treatment your own doc gave you for your strep throat is the proper course for that ailment and it takes more than three hours to make you feel better."

So far it just seems to p*ss people off, when the find out the POWERFUL and ALMIGHTY EMERGENCY ROOM can't do much more for them than their family doc. (Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!)

marcicatherine · Jan 21, 2004

We currently have pamphlets at triage and in other areas of the waiting room entitled "What to expect during your visit to the ER" They seem to be pretty imformative, (if people take the time to listen) We also have magnets in the shape of hands that say "Give me 5" We give them to patients upon discharge, explaining that if they receive a survey in the mail, we would like them to take 5 minutes to fill it out. I don't know if it has helped our scores but it can't hurt. I can mail you a copy of the pamplet if you would like. Just PM or email me.

harry Krishna · Jan 21, 2004

Originally posted by marcicatherine
We currently have pamphlets at triage and in other areas of the waiting room entitled "What to expect during your visit to the ER" They seem to be pretty imformative, (if people take the time to listen) We also have magnets in the shape of hands that say "Give me 5" We give them to patients upon discharge, explaining that if they receive a survey in the mail, we would like them to take 5 minutes to fill it out. I don't know if it has helped our scores but it can't hurt. I can mail you a copy of the pamplet if you would like. Just PM or email me.

this is all stuff that the poor housekeepers have to pick up off the floors after the patients leave. this is the typical out of touch move that management does.

Magik girl was correct in her post. You could give people all they could ever want, and they still want more.

I work in a place that has posters in each cubicle which describe the process of the ER stay. It is soooo funny to read the comments people scribble onto the posters. Makes my shift a little more bearable.

My wife worked in a place that was heavy into Press Gainey and they pushed tens of thousands of dollars into a campaign to improve their scores. They came up with an advertisement saying that if you were unhappy with the services rendered unto you, you would receive either a bouquet of flowers, a $25 gift certificate to a local mall, AND you would not be billed for the services......Duh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What do you think happened?????? Their scores dropped to all time lows!!! And no one wanted the flowers, everyone opted for the cash!!!!

Just another day in paradise..

Press Gainey....two of the most evil words ever spoken

MAGIK GIRL · Jan 21, 2004

Originally posted by harry Krishna
this is all stuff that the poor housekeepers have to pick up off the floors after the patients leave. this is the typical out of touch move that management does.
Magik girl was correct in her post. You could give people all they could ever want, and they still want more.
I work in a place that has posters in each cubicle which describe the process of the ER stay. It is soooo funny to read the comments people scribble onto the posters. Makes my shift a little more bearable.
My wife worked in a place that was heavy into Press Gainey and they pushed tens of thousands of dollars into a campaign to improve their scores. They came up with an advertisement saying that if you were unhappy with the services rendered unto you, you would receive either a bouquet of flowers, a $25 gift certificate to a local mall, AND you would not be billed for the services......Duh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What do you think happened?????? Their scores dropped to all time lows!!! And no one wanted the flowers, everyone opted for the cash!!!!

Just another day in paradise..

Press Gainey....two of the most evil words ever spoken

thank you harry,

pookey :chuckle