Family member complaints

Blackcat99 · May 21, 2006

I have found the best solution for avoiding family member complaints. I only accept night shift jobs. Most of the time, there are few visitors at night. I love night shift!!!!!!!! And less politics too. :lol2:

DusktilDawn · May 21, 2006

What is this Press-Ganey nonsense? We worry about patient safety, getting everything done, our physical safety, protecting our licenses, now it's a popularity contest? Really, I've been lucky, I guess, not to come across Press-Ganey. Who advocates for us?

Basically it's a survey hospitals send out to have the patients rate the "service" under different areas (ie: room, meals, nurses, physicians, housekeeping, admitting, etc), thus demonstrating where WE (of course us) the nurses need to improve.

What administrators call it is "customer service," although at our facility we're putting up with a lot more crap than any other service related industry would from their customers.

Unfortunately nurses have to advocate for themselves. "Customer is king" attitude gets taken far too literally by administrators.

king of codes · May 21, 2006

but isn't this what press gainey is all about? the hell with the quality of care the patients recieve, as long as you kiss butt, act as a glorified waitress, act endearing, have 'em singing your praises down to the survey; to hell with meds being two hours late and basic care not done (just be sure to chart it for jcaho), just make the coustomer believe they're getting 5 star treatment and all will be well.

don't mean to be negative here but quality service starts with good staffing ratios, quality care and time to teach patients and family, while having the support staff to delegate the other tasks to get the job done..... call me crazy, i think it's much easier to just do it then pretend to and have... service recovery teams.... yep, you just had a near lethal med error, but we're going to give you the grand prize of a dinner for 2 at outback steakhouse, if you ever survive this setback.

op, it's not you, as many comedians say "it's all in the delivery...." i'll add comic relief and coustomer service rep. to my job description.

not angry, just poking at our current crazy state of "care" don't be so down on yourself, just re-eval your interactions, if you feel good after, you've done a good job.

geez!!!! we should all just wear crisp white, spotless dresses, spotless gleaming white shoes, caps, lots of lipstick, all be pretty like lucille ball, and have smiles plastered on our faces at all times. ahhhh, the nurse of the 1950's!

:gandalf:

Furoffire · May 21, 2006

your writing made my tail flare! for years it's not just the patient care and reams of paperwork that is the challenge but "the family." some are helpful and kind but most drive me nuts because they deal with thier stresses on me, look for my short comings and all. and than there are the "gold diggers" coming down the hall, you can spot them a mile ago, suddenly they are so concerned and caring and critical about everything. upon my return to the world of nursing (have over 15 actual acute care under my pelt) i will do the best i can do but i will hope to never put myself down due to the lack of time, staffing, or get caught in the web of family dyamics unless there is a real need and i can help in some constructive way. no more critiquing from "the family." fuffly :trout:

king of codes · May 21, 2006

your writing made my tail flare! for years it's not just the patient care and reams of paperwork that is the challenge but "the family." some are helpful and kind but most drive me nuts because they deal with thier stresses on me, look for my short comings and all. and than there are the "gold diggers" coming down the hall, you can spot them a mile ago, suddenly they are so concerned and caring and critical about everything. upon my return to the world of nursing (have over 15 actual acute care under my pelt) i will do the best i can do but i will hope to never put myself down due to the lack of time, staffing, or get caught in the web of family dyamics unless there is a real need and i can help in some constructive way. no more critiquing from "the family." fuffly :trout:

not to add lighter fluid to your tail, but just imagine your press gainey scores, come on now, management will post them and use good letters to increase your rate of pay, your bonusus to your unit as a whole... you must provide service recovery... give 'em a meal ticket quick and make it better...... if the unit scores low, then low evaluation incentives (yearly increases) wll reflect your low scores... so down that apron of yours and go out and smile for us...."

it's sick isn't it?

rn, ie, coustomer service recorery expert, aide, environmental disposal, corporate complaince charter, back rubber, butt wiper, waitress, receiver of both managerial, patient and family complaints while charting for jcaho that it's all done and good. oh, did i forget to mention, a nurse?

don't get me wrong, i love how i nurse and nurse how i love, they can't take that away, but they sure as heck can shorten the honeymoon period.

MultipurposeRN · May 21, 2006

Our facility is using Press Ganey to continge our bonuses. Of course, departments like ER aren't ever going to score high. I don't understand why OUR pay has to depend on what patients and families think of us on a survey. I could understand if we had a high infection rate, fall rate, med error rate, etc why bonuses might depend on THOSE kinds of numbers. Something you can actually impact.

The 2 complaints I had about me in my career were both from pts/family whom I had done everything but paint their house for them...in and out of the rooms, getting them everything they wanted, back rubbing, being prompt to answer their calls, etc. All that and then to be told I had an 'uncaring' attitude. THis after being smiling and positive all night long. Sheesh.

StNeotser, ASN, RN · May 21, 2006

Speaking of Press Ganey:
This is a quote from a patient, who no doubt meant it sincerely: "The nurses were very nice even though they were very busy."
No doubt the author's intent was to compliment the staff, yet at the same time drop a hint that we are overworked. Any guesses as to what area this scored under? It was filed under the NEGATIVE column. It was considered a negative strike because we are not to even appear busy, it's a big no-no under our "Service Excellent" nonsense.:angryfire :angryfire
Heck we can please the patient and still catch crap.:trout:

That's terrible. I work on a sub acute unit. We had an admit one night who obviously hadn't got sufficient pain medication and it took me about three hours to get an order for stronger meds. At the end of it all after his pain was under control he thanked me and asked "How many other patients do you have?" I replied that I had 15 others. He must have written some sort of summary about that conversation and I was told not to mention how many other patients I had.

How does one get around not mentioning how busy the unit is when being asked such a direct question? Just lie? Tell the patient it's none of his business?

This man was also a satisfied "customer" in the end.

CseMgr1, ASN, RN · May 21, 2006

Our facility is using Press Ganey to continge our bonuses. Of course, departments like ER aren't ever going to score high. I don't understand why OUR pay has to depend on what patients and families think of us on a survey. I could understand if we had a high infection rate, fall rate, med error rate, etc why bonuses might depend on THOSE kinds of numbers. Something you can actually impact.
The 2 complaints I had about me in my career were both from pts/family whom I had done everything but paint their house for them...in and out of the rooms, getting them everything they wanted, back rubbing, being prompt to answer their calls, etc. All that and then to be told I had an 'uncaring' attitude. THis after being smiling and positive all night long. Sheesh.

Good timing for this thread, for we just had a meeting on Friday about this same subject, that our salaries are also going to be based on customer satisfaction in the very near future. How unfair can this be, since the two complaints you state above have NOTHING to do with the excellent care that you provided and were based on subjective observations by people who obviously felt like writing down whatever they wanted to, at the time they were asked to take the survey?

My word to Press Ganey is this: you don't live in OUR kitchens. :angryfire

Ruby Vee, BSN · May 21, 2006

complaints like that make you wish you had said what you were thinking, if they were going to complain anyway.

exactly!

elthia · May 21, 2006

Quick question...lately, it seems I've had patients whose families are extremly discontent with everything. Including me! My question is; am I the only one out there who is being complained about? The issues are I attempted pt teaching about medications and pt felt I was calling him stupid because I said "I encourage everyone to know what meds they're taking" and today because I wouldn't give patient information to family members without pt's consent (pt is alert, oriented and competent). I guess it's my 'delivery' but sometimes, I just want to ask "who's defending me and my practice?" Just once I'd like to hear someone say "she's a good nurse, doing a difficult job and we're lucky to have her". I guess the lesson learned is happy pt's/families keep their mouths shut and unhappy one's never shut their mouths.

Been there, done that, took the write up for it. My favorite is "but I have POA for healthcare." Yeah, well in my book so long as the pt is considered competent, I'm not telling you anything without his/her consent. The POA is for the times when the pt is not competent or nonresponsive.

Frankly, you can't please everyone...and I understand that families are under tremendous strain when their loved one is ill and hospitalized, but it's my license and livelihood at stake here. I actually have found at times that if I "play dumb" and say "it's because the MD has deemed this critical to the care of the pt" instead of saying "we are doing this because the pt presented with low XXX and this is a critical elyte for YYY and it needs to be replaced to prevent ZZZ", or state "I'm not really sure if I can give you that info, let me confer with my supervisor." I actually have less complaints about my "attitude". :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire And what's really scary is I worked for a place where my immediate supervisor's encouraged the floor nurses to use phrases like" it's because the doctor ordered it." BS, I think its important for the pt and those making the healthcare decisions to know some of the rationale behind our actions. It's called pt education, and it's part of my job.

ICURN_NC · May 21, 2006

have any of y'all actually seen this press-gainey survery? it's longer than the sat!! i recieve them all the time (after going to the ed, taking my son to the ped, etc) and i've never filled them out. it would take too much time. the only people who'd fill them out are the people who are so thrilled with their care they want to sing it from the rooftops or those so angry that they can't keep it inside.

it's completely subjective and seems biased- despite our huge hispanic pt population, i've never seen a spanish language version. (although they may exist, but how would they know which pt's to send that one to?) i doubt our poorer pts will have the time or energy to fill this out since they probably had to return to work like 24 hrs after d/c to make ends meet. errr. this survey bugs me.

picture this: we are actually supplied with laminated copies of our version of the survery and we are supposed to review it with the pt upon admission and encourage them to give us high scores. it's like having your car serviced and then you get that letter: "if you can't give us a 5 on everything, call us and we'll kiss your butt until it's all better."

of course, the majority of my icu admissions are all intubated/sedated/oh, critically ill and i've had 0% interest in our press-gainey survery discussion. duh!!!

:wakeneo: the matrix has you. and it's run by press-gainey!

Nurse1966 · May 22, 2006

Thanks everyone for your replies! I'm glad to know I'm not the only one out there suffering family interactions. The deal yesterday was the guy was a r/o TB (with risk factors, cavitations on CT, etc) and was on airborne precautions. The family didn't want to hear about N95's or washing their hands (also MRSA+), I said that's fine, you've spent time with him, you've already been exposed. It's your choice. I then put on MY N95 and gloves and went into the room and asked the patient if he wanted me to talk to his family. He said sure, and I turned and asked them what questions they had. Their first question was "why is it so d+++ cold in here?" I said, sorry, I've been running all day and hadn't even noticed. I was in that pt's room so much in 12 hours, I went through an entire box of N95's. And yet, I was 'nasty'. Sorry folks, I know I have more of a risk of catching TB riding a bus in the city, but it's not a chance I want to take. I don't ride the bus, either. Guess I'll just wait and see if the family complains...by the way, the pt LOVED me, kept calling me honey and sweetheart, and apologizing for his family.