Hospital Cares More about HCAHPS than Nurses!

[CardiacRNLA, BSN]

I have only been a nurse for a little over a year. Already I think I am tired of it. I knew nursing was going to be tough but I am not sure how tough I thought it would be. I work for a hospital that is OBSESSED with HCAHPS scores (IMO to the detriment of nursing staff). We have to have a script, print information and waste paper on things that patients often throw away. However, I am shocked at the careless regard nursing administrators have towards their staff.

Over the past three weeks, I have been yelled at, screamed at, lunged at by a patient's family member, etc. I was told by a patient that I had an attitude when I dared to explain to her why I diluted her Dilaudid (since she was getting Benadryl and Phenergen at the same time!). Do I want my patients to have quality care and feel safe? Of course, I strive for that EVERY time I go in. However, I do not believe in losing my dignity to please unreasonable expectations. Patients should not feel the have the right verbally abuse nurses, make unreasonable demands and have administration give in to them for a score.

It is no wonder that this hospital has very few veteran nurses. Most are only 2-3 years out of school. Maybe I am whining, but I KNOW I try my best and give my all every shift. I am just tired of being every patient's whipping boy and administration stands by and does nothing.

Sorry for the rant

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

Do you work at my old hospital? LOL.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

Welcome to nursing!

If you find an area that's better, please report back and let us know about it. I would love to work somewhere that this isn't the reality.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

Oh come now OP, you CAN help them!! You HAVE the TIME!!

Posts like these make me do a happy dance that I got out of acute care before things got from bad to worse.

I am now in a facility that is uber fancy, people spend a lot to be there.....and they STILL are not at the level of demanding foolishness that is encouraged and rewarded as the norm in acute care.

12 hours, that is it, 12 hours. Then you can go back to your life. If people are yelling at you, use your resources...your charge nurse to help you.

At the end of the day your administrators are not nurses...they are business people. And their business is the bottom line.

[elkpark]

I'm always surprised that anyone in nursing is surprised that employers care more about client satisfaction (or most anything else) than the nursing staff. There are a limited number of potential clients out there, and healthcare facilities are competing for them and value their business. On the other hand, nursing has made sure that there is a surplus of available nurses and significantly lowered our value to employers. If you're not happy with your job, there is, literally, a long line of nurses who would be happy to take it. Employers don't care about us because they don't have to care about us. We are, as far as they are concerned, for the most part, interchangeable and disposable. This is a situation that the larger US nursing community has brought upon itself, in its eagerness to make it possible for (nearly) anyone in the US who wants to become a nurse to be able to do that.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

If someone lunged at you, that is assault. It's against the law, survey or no survey. At the very least, get security to accompany you into the room. I'd think risk mgmt/HR would be concerned about this hostile work environment, even if your NM is being a donkey.

But really, no patient, no survey is worth your personal safety. Protect yourself--up to and including involving law enforcement if necessary. I mean that IS who are involved, when someone chooses to assault someone else in our society. Hospitals are where people get medical and nursing care -- NOT where they are free to assault people.

[AuDDoc]

You don't work in a VA by any chance, because you described my current employer perfectly!

Seriously though, $%# their scores! As I've told our director here before I didn't go to school as long as I did to be verbally or physically abused. I have literally walked out of the room on patients before and told them to have a nice day. I routinely send people to our disruptive behavioral committee. I routinely call the police on people. I will not tolerate such BS from people. Neither should you.

If someone lunged at you you need to file a complaint against them with the police. Not with your hospital. Most hospital won't do anything to protect you.

[CardiacRNLA, BSN]

I'm always surprised that anyone in nursing is surprised that employers care more about client satisfaction (or most anything else) than the nursing staff. There are a limited number of potential clients out there, and healthcare facilities are competing for them and value their business. On the other hand, nursing has made sure that there is a surplus of available nurses and significantly lowered our value to employers. If you're not happy with your job, there is, literally, a long line of nurses who would be happy to take it. Employers don't care about us because they don't have to care about us. We are, as far as they are concerned, for the most part, interchangeable and disposable. This is a situation that the larger US nursing community has brought upon itself, in its eagerness to make it possible for (nearly) anyone in the US who wants to become a nurse to be able to do that.

Well, I am not totally surprised. But I will say back in NY, nurses were more respected by administrators and had more say. I am not sure if union protection had anything to do with it. Here in the South there is no union and no employment protection. I am very conservative politically and was anti-union before I became a nurse. Now I am rethinking that position. Where I do agree, it is possible for anyone to become a nurse and that hospitals are a business. But many businesses (Google, LinkedIn, etc) are realizing that employee happiness is actually creating better workers. I don't think business or client satisfaction and employee contentment are mutually exclusive. I think if expectations are set between patients and staff from the jump, that could help. But my facility and many others foster an unreasonable sense of entitlement amongst patients and families.

[CardiacRNLA, BSN]

Oh come now OP, you CAN help them!! You HAVE the TIME!!

LOL! Believe it or not, we HAVE to say what you JUST posted almost literally word for word! Also since the HCAHPS surveys include "always" with every question, we have been told to pepper our rounding with the word ALWAYS with every interaction. "I want to control your pain ALWAYS." "I ALWAYS want to make it a point to visit you hourly." I am NOT lying. I was told this. It took so much to NOT roll my eyes.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Nurses, as a "cost" to the hospital are the LAST people these institutions care about. No shock there, unless you are new to nursing. And sooner or later, we all learn this. We are not assets, we are "cost". We don't bring business to hospitals; doctors do, in their thinking.

[wanderlust99]

It's always about $$$$. Nothing more!

[canigraduate]

It differs from facility to facility and system to system.

The South is traditionally pro-business and anti-worker. I lived in Gastonia NC for a while, which (before Fred Durst, SMH) was most famous for killing unionizers.

There are a few good systems to work for, you just have to dig to find them.

I know CHS and CaroMont in NC are good to work for (or at least were while I was there).

Novant, not so much.

It pays to do your research and ask at the local nursing schools who the best employers are. The students often keep in touch after graduation and relate their experiences.