Funniest Complaint on Press Ganey Scores

cloister · Oct 26, 2007

Our scores circle toidy, also, according to my recent eval. Thank goodness our pay raises aren't predicated on how well we do on Press Ganey!

Until recently, charge nurses in my unit were expected to round on each pt. and do the script thing - "What do you consider very good care?" - despite the fact that many of them are gorked on a vent. (The patients, not the charge nurses!) "Thank you for choosing -------- Hospital", is another one that galls me, since most of them "chose" to call 911 and get hauled in here, and that was pretty much the extent of their decision making. We're also expected to fill out the white boards in each room with the date, name of nurse, and completion of the following sentence: "Very good care to me is__________________________. That, despite the fact that fully 1/4 of them are located behind the pt's bed.

The floors have it worse. Management has come up with the four P's of pt. rounding: Pain, Potty, Placement, and Position. That, and managing up everyone on the planet, from the doc on down. ("Beth will be your nurse today. She's been here 5 years and she is EXCELLENT! You will love her! Are you having pain? May I take you to the bathroom? Fluff your pillow? Rearrange the feng shui of your room?") Ughhhhh..................

We did have a brief, humorous foray into the demographics of the population we chiefly serve at one of our meetings and how that might be affecting our scores. Like the 300 lb pt. we received recently who was screaming her head off about itching - the tape on her incisional dressing was bothering her. She had been admitted before, and spent much time on the call light asking nurses to come in and "scratch my booty". I'm predicting less than stellar scores from this individual.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Oct 26, 2007

Thank you, Cloister, for the brevity. A real break for me.

I have been a patient at my own facility 3 times. Each time I was surveyed by phone afterwards. I have 3 college degrees and consider myself somewhat educated (though not altogether intelligent). I had difficulty understanding what the questions were "really" asking and how to repond. No wonder our patient's responses seem other-worldly. What a waste of time and money!

truern · Oct 27, 2007

I've asked a couple of times at work just HOW those pillows are cleaned, and never gotten more than a shrug. I really WANT to know, as I have seen what goes ON them (held a saturated one by the corner on fingertips to deposit in the dirty utility room) and can't imagine ever letting one near my face.
Anyone know?

Our unit uses disposable pillows....of course it takes several of them to feel like one standard pillow.

I've had the "pleasure" of running across one of those plastic covered pillows. Yikes!! did it ever stink

I can't imagine what they'd use to get those things clean?!

confused101 · Oct 27, 2007

Well gang, I agree with everything about Press Ganey on this threat. That piece of paper can go you know where! I am on a floor that lives and breathes on this stuff. I got a little reminder in my box from a pt. who stated that I started an IV on them even though the ER said it could stay in. The pt. had it put in by a medic at an urgent care. Policy states squad start=new iv at time of admission. Another facility= 24 hours till change. Well, I tried and no go. So, I was "tattled on" from a pt. with press ganey. This absolutley unnerves me. So, now I don't touch the things. You would think that it didn't matter if their arm fell off as long as I don't start their iv. Days of our lives! :)

Marvie · Oct 28, 2007

Why doesn't Gainey just hire NON-liscenced personell to do the pillow fluffing and leave the real medical work to the RN's and Docs?

elizabells, BSN, RN · Jun 14, 2008

I know this thread is a million years old in internet-time, but we just got a great one. Our PG results are posted in the breakroom with each response broken up into Positive, Mixed, and Negative. My favorite Negative:

We couldn't wait to go home.

Of COURSE they couldn't wait to go home, morons! Their child was in the ICU! The rest of that response was all about how they understood that there was a lot of teaching they needed about homecare stuff, and how wonderful everyone was about making sure they knew how to pass an NGT, do chest PT, etc. But no. They couldn't wait to go home. Bad nurses! Bad! No cookie!

Cheezits, people.

nrsang97, BSN, RN · Jun 14, 2008

I was working at a hospital that once had the following script:

"Hello, My name is Jane RN, I will be your nurse today. Your diagnosis is community acquired pneumonia." "Your expected stay will be 3-4 days."

This is no joke. We turned it into this on our badge cards (we didn't say it in front of patients either way.)

"My name is Jane RN, I will be your robot nurse today." "Your diagnosis is commnuity acquired pneumonia." "Your stay will be 3-4 days."

Really I went to my NAM and told her there was no way I would say this. I have no control how long someone stays in the hospital. I don't need a pt mad because I told them they would be here 3 days and it turned out to be 2 weeks due to complications. The staff revolted and refused as well. I think that was setting us up for failure.

I really hate press gainey, they are EVIL.

Time to time I get them from the doctor office and I never filled them out. He is tempted to fill it out and tell them the survey is dumb.

Since we have changed PCP's due to mine moving out of state, and his quitting, we have both gotten them. I refuse to fill them out. I read them and they seem so silly. Staff has no control over how I perceive comfort in the waiting area. My opinion of comfort, and theirs are probably slightly different.

My all time favorite complaint was that "The nurses were uncaring. I didn't get my meds because they couldn't get a IV in me. I had to go for a central line and the doc who put it forced me to have it. I didn't want it." Well why did she sign the consent? Man oh man she was a handful.

I know we don't use the scores for our raises, but we sometimes get bonuses from them. I think for the most part the ones who are happy with the care we receive, just don't waste the time to fill out the survey, but instead send a thank you card.

The thank you cards mean so much more to me than those stupid comments on a survey.

MrsMommaRN · Jun 14, 2008

"i couldn't get any sleep, they kept checking on me"

rph3664 · Jun 14, 2008

We got one last month that said:
Get some doctors and nurses that speak English!!!!
We do have ALOT of foreign nurses, and some of them have VERY thick accents.

Some of the overnight nurses speak so little English, it could potentially compromise patient care. We would be better off having no nurses than those people.

That, IMHO, was a legitimate complaint.

squeakykitty · Jun 16, 2008

................I really hate press gainey, they are EVIL.
Time to time I get them from the doctor office and I never filled them out. He is tempted to fill it out and tell them the survey is dumb.
Since we have changed PCP's due to mine moving out of state, and his quitting, we have both gotten them. I refuse to fill them out. I read them and they seem so silly. Staff has no control over how I perceive comfort in the waiting area. My opinion of comfort, and theirs are probably slightly different.
.............

If I ever got one, I would fill it out. (No swearing, of course.) I would fill it out in such a way that it would really get their attention, and I would comment on any section that thanks me for choosing that hospital, since it wouldn't be a choice on my part anyway.

jessiern, BSN, RN · Jun 16, 2008

ICU pateint: "***** nurse turned my pastor away"

Turns our, "***** nurse" was my mom. Pastor was visting at 0715, during report. Also had approx. 15 "guests" with him, that he demanded be allowed back into the ICU to see patient, so they could sing to him. All the while, a pt in DT's in the next room, with restraints on, and the rest of the dept full to capacity. Visiting hours are 8:00-8:45 in the am, and are strictly enforced.

rph3664 · Jun 16, 2008

If I ever got one, I would fill it out. (No swearing, of course.) I would fill it out in such a way that it would really get their attention, and I would comment on any section that thanks me for choosing that hospital, since it wouldn't be a choice on my part anyway.

Would you fill it out the way my friends and I used to fill out restaurant service cards when we were teenagers?

:lol_hitti