Funniest Complaint on Press Ganey Scores

bethin · Mar 13, 2007

I work med surg and we had two frequent fliers come in at the same time. To cut down on energy consumed going to their rooms (they were selfs, but on the light q10mins) we put them in the same room. One pt rec'd dilaudid, the other morphine. I would go into the room to answer the light and the pt would ask for dilaudid. The other pt, upon hearing their roommate is going to receive some good narcs said "I guess I'll have what she's having"!!!! It's not a restaurant! And you guess? Take pain meds when you need them, not when you want them. We ended up splitting them up because they each are very loud in their own right but ended up complaining to us that the other was too loud!
I'm continually amazed at how entitled patients feel. We receive our pg scores at the end of the month. We usually score very well but you always get a few that complain that the pillows were to flat or the phones rang.

Gromit · 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.

WHAT?? You didn't get your genuine "harry potter" issue magic wand? Better complain to management!

This entire "customer" crap has always ticked me off. My (late) grandpa said it best: "If you're well enough to complain, you're well enough to go home". He wasn't well educated, but he was definately wise!

Have actually had a patient who became upset when I refused to spoon-feed her (she just wanted to open her mouth, have me put the food in, and let her eat that way -keep in mind that this woman had full use of her hands, and was more than able to eat the constant flow of snacks she kept demanding between meals). When I refused she told me that it was part of my job to feed her. I told her it was part of my job to help her get better -and this was to be considdered physical therapy -feed yourself.

da#$ cow. I have absolutely NO use for people like that. None. They wouldn't even make decent fertilizer.

banditrn · Mar 13, 2007

WHAT?? You didn't get your genuine "harry potter" issue magic wand? Better complain to management!
This entire "customer" crap has always ticked me off. My (late) grandpa said it best: "If you're well enough to complain, you're well enough to go home". He wasn't well educated, but he was definately wise!
Have actually had a patient who became upset when I refused to spoon-feed her (she just wanted to open her mouth, have me put the food in, and let her eat that way -keep in mind that this woman had full use of her hands, and was more than able to eat the constant flow of snacks she kept demanding between meals). When I refused she told me that it was part of my job to feed her. I told her it was part of my job to help her get better -and this was to be considdered physical therapy -feed yourself.
da#$ cow. I have absolutely NO use for people like that. None. They wouldn't even make decent fertilizer.

:lol2: :lol2: Gromit - was she actually willing to move her own jaw to chew, or did she want you to do that, too?

Gromit · Mar 13, 2007

What grinds my gut is that she had been doing this (the RN who relieved me in the morning had been fooled into feeding her for two days! -she said she didn't realize that the lady had been eating her own snacks -thought that the aids had been feeding her! -of course, days are fully staffed with techs and such, so I guess it was possible).

totally blew my mind.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Mar 13, 2007

What grinds my gut is that she had been doing this (the RN who relieved me in the morning had been fooled into feeding her for two days! -she said she didn't realize that the lady had been eating her own snacks -thought that the aids had been feeding her! -of course, days are fully staffed with techs and such, so I guess it was possible).
totally blew my mind.

ROFL! I have a hard time picturing this, but then again, I met a similar patient last week: nothing wrong with her limbs except she was quite overweight and I guess MOVING was inconvenient. She preferred to lay mostly flat. So when I brought her a pain pill she whined and tossed and said she couldn't sit up to take it, "could you put it in my mouth for me?" Me: "how do you propose to drink down the water?" Her: "you can lift my head"! Me: I'm sorry, but if you're capable of sitting up and holding the cup, you need to do that. It's recommended that you do as much for yourself as you are able, and you ARE able to hold the pill AND the cup". Argh. She did it, by the way, when it looked like I just might leave with that pill

P_RN, ADN, RN · Mar 13, 2007

I've gotten 2 in the last 6 months. They're worded kind of like have you quit beating your wife?

The first was at a Magnet Hosp. with a great surgeon, anesthesia........

filthy room,halls, bathrooms and their response was we are building a new hospital it will be better there. So in that instance I had a connundrum....ding the doc by dinging the facility? Or not submit it at all. I didn't submit it.

Second PG was just a few weeks ago. I wish I had a box of little gold stars to fill it out with. I cannot think of any need that was not met. That one I filled out and followed up with a letter to the NM, Director and Hospital President.

miko014 · Mar 14, 2007

Yeah, I have had many pts who wanted me to do things for them when they were perfectly capable. Like bathe them when there was no reaon they couldn't get up and do it themselves. And one time back when I was a tech, I had a lady yelling at me becasue I was handing her washcloths and telling her what to do (okay, do your face. Good, here's another one, do your arms, etc). Anyway, she was yelling so loud that my ANM heard her and came into the room. The pt said "Who are you??". My ANM told her. The pt said, "I'm so glad you're here! This girl is torturing me!" My ANM asked for an explanation. "She won't wash me!" My ANM asked if she was able to wash herself. She said yes. My ANM said, "Good, then she shouldn't wash you, you should do it yourself. Who's going to wash you when you get home?" That shut her up, lol!

But even though management claims to know what we're going through, they still put up signs that say, "take the time to fluff a pillow!", etc. That makes me so mad I just want to scream! I already do as much as I can for my pts, and I'll have you know that on most days, I fluff everyone's pillow at least once, 'cause it makes them feel better. I don't need someone who sits in an office and has no idea how to tell a pt from a hole in the wall telling me how to do my job! What I could use is some support. Tell them that the hospital employees are not slaves here to do their bidding! And that they are not the only pt! Bottom line, PT'S ARE NOT CUSTOMERS! They should be happy they left the hospital alive! I'm not saying they don't deserve the best possible treatment and I'm not saying that they should just lay there and do whatever we say and be ignored. But come on! They are ill for goodness' sake, not on vacation!!!!!

Gromit · Mar 14, 2007

Fluff a pillow? Fluff this! I've never fluffed a pillow... but I DO take the time to do proper trach care, wound care, drain care and management, turn 'em all every two hours and rotate their boots from one foot to the other, redo all of the paperwork every night (since its night shift that has to recopy every bloody thing over and over) etc etc.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Mar 14, 2007

Fluff a pillow? Fluff this! I've never fluffed a pillow... but I DO take the time to do proper trach care, wound care, drain care and management, turn 'em all every two hours and rotate their boots from one foot to the other, redo all of the paperwork every night (since its night shift that has to recopy every bloody thing over and over) etc etc.

I love when I get the request to fluff the pillow...and I fluff it (yes, it happens from time to time)....and they still don't like it, lol! So I tell them I don't sew the things, I just make sure there's one or two on each bed!

My latest way to combat stupid stuff I can't do anything about? I sweetly smile and suggest they fill out a card for the suggestion box before they leave, then leave the room. They always nod that they're going to do that, but....there IS no "suggestion box card", although technically there is a suggestion box in the lobby, one that they'll never notice in a million years on their way out of the hospital!

So when I hear that they don't like the snacks we have on hand in the pantry at two am.....or that the pillows aren't nice enough.....or that the blankets aren't thick enough....it's time to smile that sweet smile, let them know that I totally agree, and they should "fill out the suggestion box card"

Gromit · Mar 14, 2007

I LIKE that!! Suggestion box... hehehehe.

Yeah, had a diabetic grousing that we didn't have dietetic (sp) snacks in our pantry. The snacks we DO have in there are quite old -not even the nurses will eat 'em. I tried explaining (at 2am) that with rare exception, our patients are fed by a tube and do not as a rule EAT their food -but if she wanted a can of diabetasource, I was sure I could rustle one up for her

This patient continued to be pissed all night -oh well. Kept asking when breakfast would come (to which I finally started answering 'the same time I told you half an hour ago' ) -to say the least, I was not her favorite nurse. When she told me to give her something that wasn't on the diet, I told her it was not my job to giver her foods she could not have -and that I wasn't going to be spending time in the morning explaining the uncharacteristically high BG results by saying "well, she wanted it". Next shift she was gone. No loss there. Hope she does well wherever she went.

While it is true that as a rule only one or two out of 18 (on our floor) can actually eat food as opposed to having it ooze through a tube, we really SHOULD have the usual pantry stock - and we have complained about this to deaf ears.

dekatn · Mar 14, 2007

Hey Gromit, I think your pt. must have migrated north to my hospital here in KY!!!! As a matter of fact, your floor sounds just like mine!!!

Gromit · Mar 14, 2007

Hehehehe. Its always an adventure, ain't it??