Does your hospital have a "Thanks to my Nurse" form?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hey guys! I am working on a project here at my hospital on a way for our patients to send a thank you for good care given. Currently they have to use their TV on their discharge and type how their stay went. My idea was to have preprinted papers that came with their admission papers and they could just jot a note on it thanking a specific nurse or tech for something they did special for them.

We're really trying to raise our Patient Satisfaction on our unit. Anyone have any good ideas?

CHATSDALE

4,177 Posts

hospitals in our area sent out post-discharge letters in which patients and family members are given a forum to state what they liked or disliked during their hospital stay

if you have a complaint you are asked the name or title and the day of your stay that the offense occurred

all of this is anonymous of course unless they chose otherwise

dekatn

307 Posts

At our hospital, they ask all of us nurses to sign a card to send to the pt. after discharge, thanking them!!!!

TheCommuter, BSN, RN

102 Articles; 27,612 Posts

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Nope, my facility does not have any type of "Thanks to my Nurse" form for patients to complete.

However, they leave each patient with a phone list of managers and administrators in case they wish to voice a complaint. Management, patients, visitors, family members, doctors, and others are always focusing so intently on the negative occurrences at my workplace. In other words, commendations and compliments for a "job well done" are virtually nonexistent.

Specializes in ER/EHR Trainer.

All patients receive a survey after discharge with the standard 1-5 scale of satisfaction. Each area they may have encountered during their stay is discussed, each area also has a comments section to record good or bad about their visit. One section is dedicated to nursing and gives the patient an opportunity to name their nurse along with comments.

Hope this helps.

Maisy;)

ZootRN

388 Posts

At our hospital, they ask all of us nurses to sign a card to send to the pt. after discharge, thanking them!!!!

This is crazy. Why don't they ask physicians send them flowers and sweet notes? Something like "I enjoyed taking out your gullbladder so much, thank you for the pleasure to serve your every need!"

Geez.

krisjazzer13

69 Posts

Specializes in CRNA.

The hospital I work for is part of a 3-hospital system (w/clinics), and all sites have forms that patients or family members can fill out to thank their nurse, nursing assistant, radiology tech, etc....basically anyone! Depending on the number of these that you receive, you get a pin to put on your badge (these pins come in different colors depending on the amount of awards given). It's a very nice touch, and you also receive the written form so you can see the nice things that your patients have said!

elkpark

14,633 Posts

My facility has a "Star card" program in which either clients/families or co-workers can fill out a "Thanks for being a Star" card (with an area to describe what, exactly, the person did to be a star). The cards are available in little holders on the walls all over the hospital, so anyone can pick one up anytime, with posters that explain what the cards are for, and boxes to deposit the filled-out cards.

The thing I like about this program (as opposed to similar programs in other places I've worked) is that is actually ends up being of value to the nurse/employee -- in addition to the compliments being noted in your personnel record, when you accumulate enough cards, you can turn them in for gift cards to local stores (Target or Wal-Mart) -- I think it's 15 cards = a $15 gift card.

Blackcat99

2,836 Posts

Our local hospital here does not have any Thanks to the Nurse form. They only have a sign in it telling the patient to please ask the nurse if she washed her hands or not.:o

dianacs

431 Posts

Do any of you think that these types of things tend to emphasize and reward the touchy-feely stuff? It seems to be the aspect of nursing that is most visible to the public. Think about it--would a patient ever write a note saying, "Thanks for making sure I TCDB'd every hour so I didn't get pneumonia"..."Thanks for bringing that critical H&H to the physician's attention"...etc. Is being a hand-holding, brow-wiping people person what is valued in nursing? Is this what we are subconsciously teaching the public--and ourselves--to value?

madwife2002, BSN, RN

26 Articles; 4,777 Posts

Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

Yes my hospital does and if you get given one, you get a $5 for every one you recieve.

Tait, MSN, RN

2,140 Posts

Specializes in Acute Care Cardiac, Education, Prof Practice.

We are a Catholic hospital so we have "Angel Cards" which can be filled out by anyone, for anyone. If you get 5 in a year you get 10 "Angel Bucks" of which you can spend anywhere in the hospital. I have gotten two so far since I started (about 5 months) and I keep a copy of them in my work binder and in my portfolio at home to remind me of the reason I do what I do :

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