Hospitals that fall short of what you expect

[labelle777]

Certain hospitals are hailed as great hospitals, have good reputations but then when you get there you wonder what the hype is all about, because the hospital falls short of what you expected. Take for example NYU Medical Center, they have Magnet status and a good reputation. I can only speak of my experience, but I've done a 3 month internship at NYU and on the unit I was on, I found that the nurses were very rude to patients, a few PCA's and RN's would sleep on the shift while they were supposed to be working(It was night shift), practically no nurses washed their hands prior to patient care and so on....

I had a similar experience as an extern at Lenox Hill Hospital, nurses not washing hands prior to patient care on a consistent basis, staff purposely ignoring the pt call bell, being rude to patients and their families. Also leaving pts soaken wet and soiled for hours. Just a lot of pt neglect. Then a lot of the equipment is either not in stock or not working. Anyone else experienced this at a hospital or facility where the facility did not live up to what you expected?

[silentRN]

Well, usually the reputation of good hospitals comes from the physicians and their specialties and procedures they do, not the nursing staff.

[labelle777]

Yeah, but as far as Magnet Status, that is supposed to be a distinction in the field of nursing

[gettingbsn2msn, MSN, RN]

magnet status is marketing hype for the hospital.

[meandragonbrett]

Magnet status may as well be the GoodHousekeeping Seal of Approval.

[tablefor9, RN]

Magnet hospital...you pays your money, you takes your chance. (Somehow, the accent doesn't translate as you type).

I've worked at a nameless university Medical Center which turned out to be the armpit of the obstetrical universe. And a sprawling tertiary care center that had the dreaded sleeper antenatal and postpartum nurses...

True story, on an Antenatal unit (hosp has level III NICU), it was my first time floating to ACU from L&D. The other nurse, after NSTs and hs meds, says to me, "Ok, my pts are tucked in, I'm going to room XYZ, wake me up at 4am and you can catch a couple hrs before dayshift gets here"

Are you kidding me?

[labelle777]

Magnet hospital...you pays your money, you takes your chance. (Somehow, the accent doesn't translate as you type).

I've worked at a nameless university Medical Center which turned out to be the armpit of the obstetrical universe. And a sprawling tertiary care center that had the dreaded sleeper antenatal and postpartum nurses...

True story, on an Antenatal unit (hosp has level III NICU), it was my first time floating to ACU from L&D. The other nurse, after NSTs and hs meds, says to me, "Ok, my pts are tucked in, I'm going to room XYZ, wake me up at 4am and you can catch a couple hrs before dayshift gets here"

Are you kidding me?

Wow, its crazy how some people come to work prepared to sleep, its not fair to the pts. I feel that many of us nurses voluntarily take on a heavier workload then we should, streching ourselves too thin and then later lacking the energy to be fully present.

A hospital that I've found that doesn't have magnet status but is very good, organized, and well-rounded as far as nursing care, is the Veteran Affairs Hospital system in NYC. But I've noticed that most of the hospitals that get recognized are the private institutions, I guess money talks...

[WindyhillBSN]

Magnet status may as well be the GoodHousekeeping Seal of Approval.

Or be approved by the Better Business Bureau........

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

If the hospital is pretty enough and modern enough the patients will go there. My old hospital went bankrupt because it was old, rather tatty on the outside (though scrupulously clean on the inside) and just didn't have all those "state of the art" toys for doctors to play with.

The hospitals that put us out of business were all new, had lovely things like fountains in the foyer, restaurants next to reception and beautiful gift shops; one has the reputation of having the rudest, most arrogant nursing staff in the region. Another has regular incidents of nosocomial infections. The doctors always complained about these places, but that didn't stop them taking the bulk of their patients there; their excuse was that the patients didn't want to come to our hospital because it was "too old"

The general public is ignorant about what constitutes quality care.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

My first employer was widely renowned for its Ortho. care. Supposedly, it was the unit more than any other that kept the hospital in the green.

The myth: Highly specialized to the point where the nurse assigned to you depended on what you had done. State of the art equipment. Staffed to the max and then some becaise they "took care of the little things." Big money patients flew from other countries to go there. There was even a room, far away from all the others that was set aside for high profile patients (sports stars, actors/actresses etc....).

Reality: The unit could not hold onto any staffing to save its life, most nurses were

That was my first lesson in the difference between myth and reality on a hospital basis. My entire first year of nursing was much of the same lesson.........seeing as how the medical field is just another business, not much different than the gas station down the road, with the same old problems every corporation faces (yes, I was one of those that thought the medical field would be above such issues as too much OT, short staffing and false bills).

[Spika RN]

Wow reading all this kinda makes me sad I myself work at a magnet hospital I guess we are exception or at least the two units o work on if anybody tried to sleep they were immediately repemaned and suspend for like a week , most of my fellow nurses I work with would die with a heart attack if they heard this, not all hospitals magnet status are like NYU, ticks me off to think some are this way glade I work at genisis in my city.

[njitalgirl]

oh my goodness - yes......i am a mid-life career change from accounting to nursing. something i've wanted to do for years but the accounting put the bread and butter on the table and the roof over our heads.

i was sure i'd work in a hospital. no way, no how. i found that on my clinical rotation with school which was two days a week for a year......the same as you mention. i have decided to work in ltc where i can establish a relationship with the residents and provide my version of outstanding nursing care. i will be quite concerned if at any point my family needs to go to the hospital. i will be there and in the chart like a fly on poop. so awful to know the real deal at this point