Funniest Complaint on Press Ganey Scores

santhony44, MSN, RN, NP · Mar 9, 2007

I never even knew before coming to this site that people were given food while waiting or that they could request meals for themselves or their families. Unless this is a medical necessity I think it's absurd.

:yeahthat:

Me either. Hydration fluids, crackers and juice for hypoglycemia; I can even see a meal tray for someone waiting to be admitted. But a "box lunch" just because?

It would never occur to me to ask for food in the ER. But then, ER visits for my family have been few and far between.

I'd never heard of Press Ganey before this site, either. Whatever happened to evaluating quality of care by outcomes??

General E. Speaking, RN, RN · Mar 9, 2007

We have Press Ganey pep rallies and they post the scores in the bathrooms. I guess they know they have a captured audience while we are on the toilet.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Mar 9, 2007

:yeahthat:
Me either. Hydration fluids, crackers and juice for hypoglycemia; I can even see a meal tray for someone waiting to be admitted. But a "box lunch" just because?
It would never occur to me to ask for food in the ER. But then, ER visits for my family have been few and far between.

Thankfully, my family's visits to the ED have also been few and far between. Last winter, before I was yet a nurse, my son managed to mangle himself on the sledding hill just before dinnertime and so off we went to the waiting room. By the time he was seen, x-rayed, cleaned and bandaged (and still awaiting results of x-rays) it was well after nine pm and he still hadn't eaten. I had no problem asking one of the staff if they could find him a sandwich and something to drink, given how late it was and that he was a child, and I wasn't about to leave him to search for something. I was apologetic since I knew they didn't have to provide dinner for him, but.....could they?

They were very nice, and someone brought him a wrapped coldcut sandwich and milk. Obviously I still remember that kindness! And no, I didn't ask for or expect them to bring ME anything; I'm always appalled at the notion that people who go to the ED ask for THEIR "guests" to get fed!

The hospital I now work in has vending machines with sandwiches, yogurts, veggies/dip, stuff like that in it. So no, no one gets catered to, they get pointed to the machines. UNLESS it's the patient themselves, and they've been worked on IN the ED so long that it would be reasonable to offer them something. There's a boxed meal for those occasions, but it isn't anything to write home about.

frenchfroggyAPRN, MSN, LPN, RN, APRN · Mar 10, 2007

I think it's Press Gainey, and I don't know exactly what that is. I've asked twice here. Is a pt survey tool?

Press Ganey (PG) is a survey tool that some hospitals use to see how well patient satisfaction is of our care while they were in our facility. As you can tell by most of the answers that the PG come up with they are a joke. I used to work at a large hospital that every month the PG scores came in it was a total hospital wide melt down. Luckily now I work at a small town hospital and don't have to deal with that crap. :lol2:

Barb101 · Mar 10, 2007

What is it with number crunchers that care more for surveys than evaluating a patient's health status. Gee wonder if the out come would change if a few PGs occured as a result of stress induced hypertension & the pt really did require medical assistance. But I guess that doesnt really enter the equation

AstrosFan · Mar 10, 2007

Who even thought of these rediculus surveys!!!
Where was the ANA when this all came about!!!

In My Opinion: 2 Theories. First, Administration doesn't give a rat's rectum what the ANA considers ridiculous, especially when it comes to the bottom line = $$$$. With competition being what it is, administration wants those patients back because they see them in the "business model" not the "Medical model" that we see the patients in. In my hospital, not one of our upper administration personnel has ever been employed in patient care areas. They have no clue regarding taking care of patients. Secondly, PG offers administration and directors a tool by which to keep an eye on personnel under them. They won't admit it, but I'll bet that is one way PG sells its product. I imagine a PG sales rep saying, "Our survey's allow you to be at the bedside with your nurses to see how they care for patients needs/desires/etc. without actually being there." "A sort of birds eye view, another way to keep your thumb on nurse behavior. Administration is hoping that your thinking constantly about the fact that this patient may be the one to put the nail in your coffin if you don't smile constantly, skip while carrying the bedpan down the hall, and stroke the hair of the moron who is throwing up because they drank 18 beers last night and can't figure out why their stomach is upset. Hmmmm?

Just my humble opinion.

maryloufu · Mar 10, 2007

this patient may be the one to put the nail in your coffin if you don't smile constantly, skip while carrying the bedpan down the hall, and stroke the hair of the moron who is throwing up because they drank 18 beers last night and can't figure out why their stomach is upset. Hmmmm?
Just my humble opinion.

:lol2:you are cracking me up! You know if I did actually act like Ms. Suzy Sunshine all day at work I don't think any of my coworkers would speak to me! I don't think that the patient would really enjoy this type of PG Stepford nurse either. I think they will like me best as someone who does care about their well being, who will use humor to break the ice, but will not back down from giving the important health information to help them live healthier lives- even if that info makes them feel uncomfortable. (No I will not get you a third box lunch, Supper is in an hour. You will know that the trays are on the hall when the PCA comes to get your blood sugar and I have to give you a ginormous dose of sliding scale insulin.)

miko014 · Mar 10, 2007

I hate the whole "business" part of healthcare. Yes, I understand that they have to make money in order to stay afloat, but it should not be like this. Okay, you are here, you are sick, we helped get you better. You're still alive because of what we did while you were here. Now send in a bad survey beacuse the food was gross or because you couldn't sleep very well at night because the nurses had to give you your meds, or because the heparin shot that Nurse XYZ gave you hurt. I can't stand the whole pt as customer mentality and it's the administrations' faults for perpetuating the way we are treated by pts/families. They are basically telling them - hey, it's okay to ask our nurses for whatever you want, they're your slaves. Oh, and even though we have given them each a caseload that they could not possibly handle alone, feel free to put the call light on every fifteen minutes for juice or kleenex. Grrr...I want to see some of our administrators come and take pts for a day and then see what they think about these d*** surveys!

Batman24 · Mar 10, 2007

It's a shame they just don't take the money from the surveys and hire more nurses, more aides, etc. If you want your patients to be happy trying having enough staff to see them in a timely manner. And if you want your medical personnel happy show them that you care enough to listen to their complaints about lack of staff. I bet the morale would improve greatly.

There seems to be a total lack of common sense where these surverys are concerned. As someone just entering nursing, but who has a finance background it astounds me. You will be more than happy to take care of colds, etc. but you are there to provide EMERGENT care. Meals, extra blankets, and the like are wants not needs. They come after chest pain, horrible car accidents, etc. No sense of priority whatsoever by some.

johnwaynehair, BSN, RN · Mar 13, 2007

Yesterday AM, after a 3 day night/weekender shift, our nure manger gave us our PG score for the month-- there was only 1 survey (we're an ICU, so we don't usually discharge), and nursing's rating was 99%; doctors' rating was 16%; food service was 18%.

I guess there's still room for improvement on the nursing side!

grammyr · Mar 13, 2007

I have had one complaint and that was by a moron who wasn't even a patient, but a part time first responder there to visit someone. He got upset because I asked him to step outside because the female patient he was visiting started yelling at him to leave. He wrote that I had embarassed him.

The parts of the survey that pi##es me off are the questions about things I have no control over(waiting room,lab,docs,etc). I have no control or a majic wand to make the waiting room any bigger,warmer or the tv play better.

Gromit · Mar 13, 2007

The problem with PG (besides all of the obvious BS) is that "very good" doesn't count. It HAS to be "excellent" to the point where they want to script the word "excellent" into every other sentence that falls our of our mouths, in order to put that word subconciously into the patient's head. Can't you just see this?
"Here is your very EXCELLENT oral contrast!"
"I've brought your EXCELLENT dilaudid!" (ok that one would work!)
"Waiting 3 hours for a CT is EXCELLENT. Usually, the wait is 6 hours!"
"The BP is now 60/30, that's EXCELLENT! What an improvement over that 58/29 we got 5 minutes ago!" (to the family because the patient isn't concious).
"I don't get off work until 11am! I'm privaledged to work this EXCELLENT mandatory overtime to fullfill your every whim!"
"I'm sorry you didn't get your EXCELLENT pillow, but the last 14 patients we discharged for sore throats stole them, along with 4 gowns, 17 sheets, and one used dibrillator pad."
Oh and with PG, no matter WHAT the complaint is, it is the nurses fault. Period. Bah.

HEHEHEHE.. Still laughing over this! Sounds like a bad "bill and ted" movie!