Hospital Cares More about HCAHPS than Nurses!

[CardiacRNLA]

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

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

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.

.....and make sure that when you say "I ALWAYS want to make it a point to visit you hourly" you pepper in "because I want you to be DELIGHTED with your care!!"

My regulars wondered what "ailed" me with that kind of foolish talk. I thought I was a guide in some sort of theme park...

Oh, wait, they have that training too...it's a small world after all...

[AuDDoc]

Best quote I ever heard was "Happy employees make happy customers".

You can't have one without the other. After working in healthcare as long as I have I can walk into a facility and tell without a couple interactions with staff whether it is a good place to work. I've gotten so good at it that I can walk in for an interview and decide usually right after meeting the people on my interview board whether I am even interested in working for them.

Happy employees just have a way about them and it shows to those who interact with them. Even the worst employers have some employees who try and put on a good show, but you can usually pick up that they are unhappy after a few minutes of interaction.

I don't think anyone here is unreasonable or feels patients should be provided good quality healthcare, but unfortunately healthcare has went the way of the service industry where the patient experience is more important than the outcome. To me this is dangerous. We do nothing but reward bad behavior at our facility, then management is amazed when staff leave for other facilities because they are tired of being abused by patients and having management turn on them at every chance they get. Why would someone work somewhere that patients can be hostile and abusive and are never wrong and management always sides with the patient? I swear I think a requirement for management in several facilities is a full frontal lobotomy or mild autism or sociopathic tendencies.....

[AuDDoc]

Also, since Medicaid pays so poorly for services rendered and management is only concerned with the almighty dollar, perhaps Medicaid patients should not have their surveys counted?

[target98765]

It is easy to say $#&% their scores, but those SCORES effect MY raise!!

[target98765]

And FYI, law enforcement is allowed to press charges when assulted, nurses are not always allowed to press charges. How many of you have called 911? Usually you call security , they subdue and then after that "take care" of it. Heck, where I work they had security guards who could not touch the patients or visitors. Patient on nurse abuse was going on, security would come and stand there; over a year ago a nurse was assulted in a patient room, beat within an inch of her life, someone called security who stood there while every nurse on the floor got hit, pushed and punched tring to sundue the patient. Finally the supervisor called the cops. **** hit the fan the next day, administration was not amused. But the original nurse sued, and I don't blame her and THEN they hired gun carrying security guards who could put their hands on patients.

[Jensmom7, BSN, RN]

Until Nurses can bill for their services (or when hospitals can bill for Nursing-you know that at this time we're lumped in with the room charge, right?) and start making money for facilities, we will always be the last item on their minds.

I left the hospital 10 years ago, the script nonsense was just starting, and I've never regretted it. Seriously, if the only Nursing positions were in hospitals doing patient care on the floors, I would be a WalMart greeter.

[AuDDoc]

Trust me I know about patient surveys impacting your raise. I can score in upper 90 percentile in patient care surveys, but if 2 or more patients complain about me then I can be denied a raise.

Wow so I can see thousands of people a year and be rated high, but the couple jerks I see who are only mad because they didn't get everything they wanted for some reason can screw me? Nope don't think so. Part of the reason I left my previous job. I got tired of doing twice the work as most others in the department and never getting any of the perks they received.

I would change jobs. There are still facilities out there that look at the whole picture not just the outliers.

[AuDDoc]

Oh H to the NO! We've been told here that if a patient attacks us we are either to try and escape or curl up into a fetal position and protect our head and face and hope the police come and not defend ourselves. If we defend ourselves we can be fired.

Umm sorry if a patient lays their hands on me they will be on the floor and probably in an arm bar or choke hold until security arrives and I will be pressing charges even if it means calling the police myself. No one will assault me and no workplace will allow me to be assaulted or else by the time it's all said and done my name will be on the building and I will be receiving a large cash settlement.

[Horseshoe, 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.

I'm not the OP, but I work in a stand alone endo facility and also PRN at a plastic surgery OR. No nights, no weekends, no holidays, no doubles. A DON who supports the nurses, and doctors who are nice and don't do things which would really require her to advocate very hard for us anyway. No dementia in the patient population, no unruly family members (and admin ready and willing to call them on bad behavior if it were to happen).

I worked ICU at a hospital back in the day when we were SUPPORTED by both our unit managers and the hospital admins. I quit to be more plugged in with my family, and reading what it's like now at hospitals, I don't regret leaving.

The worst thing about my endo clinic is that we don't have chairs or stools, so we are on our feet the whole day. But overall, I have it pretty good.

[lovedizzle]

I know this is an old thread but i have to comment! It's so frustrating how hospitals prioritize customer service rather than patients health! Makes me wonder what the purpose of healthcare is all about nowadays. Also out of three countries I've worked as a nurse at US is the country that FEEDS the people's drug addiction by giving them more and more pain meds just to get a high score why? Because one of the question hcahps intelligently have on the survey is how their pain was handled. Every junkie in the world's dream. How frustrating

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

Umm sorry if a patient lays their hands on me they will be on the floor and probably in an arm bar or choke hold until security arrives and I will be pressing charges even if it means calling the police myself. No one will assault me and no workplace will allow me to be assaulted or else by the time it's all said and done my name will be on the building and I will be receiving a large cash settlement.

But you will be out of a job. And probably wont get a cent, not even unemployment

As long as there is a glut of nurses, these situations will continue.

No win situation

[malamud69, BSN, RN]

Staff??? Better add patients and anybody else not directly affected (bonus wise) by the profit margin...welcome to corporate America...like insurance companies...the last thing they care about is the health and well being of the patient...oh...I'm sorry...the customer