Patient Satisfaction: Where Does it Start?

Nurses General Nursing

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I say it starts with whoever is giving care to that patient, and those are RNs. But, what happens if those RNs are not "satisfied" and I use that in a broad sense. It could be the unsatisfaction of the administration, patient workload, the fact that you still have to document with paper and pen when all other hospitals are using computers! Thoughts?

Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

It starts at the front door!!!

Last week a pt told me to go and F myself when I asked him if I could listen to his lungs. When I asked him not to swear he used the word repeatedly. I told my CN that I wasnt prepared to look after this pt as he was verbally rude and aggresive, I also stated that pts can fire RN'S so why cant RN's fire pts????

The reply was well who shoulD I give him too he is only going to be the same with any other RN!!!!!!!So we condone this behavour and enable it to carry on.

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Specializes in Med Surg, ER, OR.
It starts at the front door!!!

Last week a pt told me to go and F myself when I asked him if I could listen to his lungs. When I asked him not to swear he used the word repeatedly. I told my CN that I wasnt prepared to look after this pt as he was verbally rude and aggresive, I also stated that pts can fire RN'S so why cant RN's fire pts????

The reply was well who shoulD I give him too he is only going to be the same with any other RN!!!!!!!So we condone this behavour and enable it to carry on.

This ticks me off too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Specializes in Med-Surg Tele.

i read all the posts and thanks by the way, but i worked at fast food for 3 long years and you know what i figured out? we (the nurses) are glorified waiters. i hit on it when i was running from a patients room to the medroom when another patient called for me and i said the very words: "Wait for a moment." THAT very second, i was transported back to highschool, wearing a Johnny Rockets hat and uniform, yes I worked at johnny Rockets, its so degrading when they make you dance...blah.... think about it: patients' rooms are customers' tables, meds are their food, pharmacy is the kitchen, and the accudose is the register lol....anyway, thats what i arrived to... and i havent even worked a year, isn't that scary?

but anyway i agree to most of you that said patient satisfaction isn't all about the RNs, but management comes down to us the hardest, like how waiters get the shouted at if the food is late when they dont realize the cook COOKS the food not the waiters, so yelling at the waiters is not gonna make the food come faster... sounds familiar? patients yelling at you because their meds are not on time, but they dont realize it takes the pharmacy SOME time to get it out.

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It starts at the front door!!!

Last week a pt told me to go and F myself when I asked him if I could listen to his lungs. When I asked him not to swear he used the word repeatedly. I told my CN that I wasnt prepared to look after this pt as he was verbally rude and aggresive, I also stated that pts can fire RN'S so why cant RN's fire pts????

The reply was well who shoulD I give him too he is only going to be the same with any other RN!!!!!!!So we condone this behavour and enable it to carry on.

I just had a patient who complained about every other caregiver they had and then began to make very personal attacks on me but not before refusing to take all of their meds and screaming and crying. I went through this for two days before the patient told the CN they refused to let me nurse them. I am pretty new and was wondering the best way to handle this. The experience impacted me the whole day and I sure was glad when it was night and time to go. I remained compassionate attributing his mean spiritedness to his condition but the attacks continued. The person was oriented X3 and just very mean so I would appreciate any suggestion as I never ever had this happen before.

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I would "suggest" to the patient that they can request another nurse if their unhappy.

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Personally, I just don't get the importance of it. It's not like we have an endless number of hospitals from which they can choose. I mean -- if they're dissatisfied, perhaps they could learn to do surgery on themselves or what have you.

They COULD all go to the "best" hospital -- but what about when the "best" hospital is overrun? There is not room at just a few great hospitals. I just dont' get this patient "choice" thing and how they are entitled to so many choices.

At any rate, they should choose the place with the smartest doctors and most SKILLED nurses, if they are truly concerned about HEALTH at all. Why does it matter if I'm in the room constantly getting them coffee and sodas? Aren't they there to get better -- to get in and get OUT as soon as possible?

It feels at times like the inmates are running the assylum. I have NEVER seen a corporate type on the floors. Perhaps they communicate THROUGH our managers. But I've never seen one yet.

How on earth can they manage us when they have never experienced what we do? It's mind boggling.

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Specializes in Emergency.
We had a person from corporate once say at the podium that our patient customer service aught to be more up beat like Disneyland's or The Seattle Fish Mart. Ex: "Halibut on the fly, I got it Joe!" Hosp Ex: "Patient off restraints! Catch her before she falls, Myrtle!"

(to include required smile)

Disneyland, the happiest place on earth. Hospital, ignore the pain and suffering, enjoy the ride.

My hospital is making all employees go through "Customer Satisfaction Training". 4 hours of my life I'll never get back but at least it was paid time.

Anyway, the foundation of the presentation was yes, Disney and the cornerstone of the Disney foundation was letting the customer know exactly how long their wait was going to be so they have options. I asked the presenter "So, how do we figure this out in the ER as we really can't predict how long it's going to be before the doctor comes in, especially if it's for something minor?" He umm'ed and urr'd but had no real response.

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My hospital is making all employees go through "Customer Satisfaction Training". 4 hours of my life I'll never get back but at least it was paid time.

Anyway, the foundation of the presentation was yes, Disney and the cornerstone of the Disney foundation was letting the customer know exactly how long their wait was going to be so they have options. I asked the presenter "So, how do we figure this out in the ER as we really can't predict how long it's going to be before the doctor comes in, especially if it's for something minor?" He umm'ed and urr'd but had no real response.

Yes, it would be nice if we could make people face reality and say "This is a hospital. Bad stuff happens here. It's not like the line in McDonalds, HERE, if the person standing in line after you is about to die and you're here for 6 months plus back pain and want vicodin, you're going to wait longer than the dying person."

Disney indeed.

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We had a person from corporate once say at the podium that our patient customer service aught to be more up beat like Disneyland's or The Seattle Fish Mart. Ex: "Halibut on the fly, I got it Joe!" Hosp Ex: "Patient off restraints! Catch her before she falls, Myrtle!"

(to include required smile)

Disneyland, the happiest place on earth. Hospital, ignore the pain and suffering, enjoy the ride.

There's a book about running hospitals like Disneyland. One key thing that jumped out at me was "Disney never sends out customer satisfaction surveys."

Now that, I can get on board with.

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