Improve the care I give.

[puckrj]

Please help! I am an RN of 2 years now and a frequent problem I am having is being dismissed by patients on my med/surg unit. More than 90% of my patients are very happy with the care I provide, however about 5% will dismiss me at some point. Things I have tried to prevent this from occurring are:

Good eye contact

Attentive listining

Backing off when Pt is not ready to hear what I have to say/educ them on

as well as safe nursing practice.

Can anyone help me with any tips to prevent this from happening so often?

[Zyprexa]

Most patients are whiny and entitled, they take no responsibility for their own health and expect to be treated like honored guests in a 5 star hotel, and if they don't get their way...well then we have HCAHPS and reimbursement to worry about. Why don't we just give everyone PCA pumps with their choice of narcotic, benzos in a little bowl mixed in with M&Ms, and let patients smoke and drink alcohol in their rooms? After all, "the patient is always right!"

Can you tell I'm a little bitter?

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

Sadly, the HCAP or whatever type of surveys that hospitals now employ in order to receive money from the gov is widespread. OP won't escape this type of mentality at any other hospital, they are driven by these patient scores. And when OP is getting more than a few dismissals it's tellig management that she's the problem, not the patients. We all know patients aren't always right, but the surveys are the bottom line nowadays and hospitals have to be smart about it.

And while I do sympathize with OP's predicament, Lovinglife123's post pretty much nailed it on the head. While the pt was clearly difficult, I see some gaps in OP's care of the pt that could've used some improvements that Lovinglife123 noted. So it's telling me that, at least in this case, it's not completely the pt that is the problem.

Oh, I meant find another job, either outside of a "hospital" or outside of nursing altogether.

I mean if we are going to be treated as waitstaff and concierges, might as well do that, and not have to worry about having a license to uphold.