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?
Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
When my hospital was striving for Magnet Status, my co-workers and I just looked at each other and laughed. We call it Maggot Status. It is all a dog and pony show, and I have yet to see what the hype is about.
When my hospital was striving for Magnet Status, my co-workers and I just looked at each other and laughed. We call it Maggot Status. It is all a dog and pony show, and I have yet to see what the hype is about.
When I was travel nursing, I did go to one hospital that was OBSESSED with obtaining magnet status. I mean, this place played donkey and carrot for the title to the point of losing all focus whatsoever.
They were actually very close to being granted the status. It was a big black eye to them not to, for they considered themselves the only "real healthcare delivery facility" in the area. Not obtaining the title sorta stole the pedestal from under their feet and they wanted it. "Documentation deficits" were the cited areas needing improvement before they would. How did they respond? Oh yes, typical hospital admin. fashion, chase the carrot to the point of forgetting the original purpose/goal of medical treatment (getting pt's better).
The place was staffed to the the hilt like no other I've ever worked at since. Our pt. ratios were wonderful, I never once felt overwhelmed or spread too thin like I do at other places. And, rightfully so, they wanted the level of care to reflect the staffing. It did too, but maybe not in the way they thought it should.
I got my meds passed quickly and did education on the medications as I passed them (documented said education). No more coumadin pt's telling me they don't want their coumadin at 1800 cause they'll be up peeing all night (said pt. also on lasix). I spent much time with family answering questions, helping to anticipate discharge need/concerns and again performing much needed education on such things as dressing changes and why lantus/R insulin are given in different areas. My documentation was informative but not a bunch of fluff, I never left a half completed admit for the next shift and there was enough time to perform ADLs for the less able pt's. The PG scores reflected the care.
Management though was not concerned at all about this. What they were concerned about was if "Box A or B was checked on form 112" or if "The pt. belongings form included the magazine in the pt. room, cause it really came from the ER"...........that btw is a literal example. The hospital leadership were so rabid about dotting "i's" and crossing "t's" that they completely lacked common sense. The manager of my own unit got turned in by family because of an incident involving me. She pulled me out the room of a fresh post-op pt. who had complained of SOB during the transfer from PACU to the unit. I was checking her saturation, hooking up her oxygen to the wall (from the tank on the stretcher which was almost empty) and looking at her orders for any breathing treatments all at the same time when she pocked her head in the room to tell me "There is something else that needs your attention, this can wait."
I went out to see what was so important as to merit pulling me away from a pt WITH FAMILY PRESENT that could not breath. Did a pt fall and sustain heavy injuries (all my pt's were steady on their feet)? Did someone complain of chest pain? Is there a confused/agitated pt about to harm themselves or others?
"What's wrong" I asked her.
"I'm concerned about some of the admits done by night shift last night. All the (I can't even remember which form) blah blah forms were completed, but most of them don't have a Time/date stamp on them. Get the time/date stamp and mark them all for whatever time they were admitted."
"But.........ummm.........my..........uh............pt..........is having trouble breathing right now. I'll take care of that and then stamp the forms." Meanwhile I'm thinking to myself "Its been awhile since we wore the nurse's hat:nurse:, hasn't is been?"
"Don't worry about that, it'll resolve itself. Gotta remember what we learned in school (insert my first name), privatization is a part of nursing and right now these forms are needing stamped."
I might have acted a bit unprofessionally at that point in time, but, AS I LEARNED IN SCHOOL, mediating for what is best for the pt is also a part of nursing, and that is the role I decided to take at that time. Rose my hands in the air, became very loud and pronounced ":jester:Where is the camera? Where'd you guys hide the camera? I can't believe I'm on candid camera.......this is the funniest moment of my life. OMG HA HA HA HA..........walk away from a pt who can't breath to push the papers faster. OMG this is a new one for the "Jackass" movies. FUNNY STUFF".
The family at this point was very annoyed with the manager and started to confront her, and my manager had no response to my reaction so I was set free to attend to the pt. Turns out, it was a good thing I disconnected the oxygen tank and placed the pt on the wall oxygen. That was the problem........the tank was empty but continued to read 1/4 full. Ten minutes on oxygen and a breathing treatment later, she was fine. The family on the other hand, seeing how their mother's well being was second in line to impressing the "Magnet Status" suits with paperwork perfection, was not. They reported my manager, I was on thin ice the rest of my 13 week contract there.
My review from that place was odd. Scored me very high in all the performance rankings, but took jabs at me for being too "Alpha personality" and "driven by individual goals at the expense of the team" jabs too. Eh...............if I were to have received a good report from a facility with such misconstrued priorities I'd have wondered about my care.
Specializes in Pediatrics, Rural, L&D, Postpartum.
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.
ABSOLUTELY! I worked at an inner city county hospital... but it has the biggest, most advanced burn center west of the Rockies. We used to laugh at the people from the "good" side of town who would walk around INSIDE the hospital as if they might get mugged just walking around the unit!
Many people would have preferred some of the "nicer" hospitals in town... but the quality of the staff was top notch at our "ugly, old" hospital... because we weren't working there for the prestige. We were working there for the love of the work!
did education on the medications as I passed them (documented said education). No more coumadin pt's telling me they don't want their coumadin at 1800 cause they'll be up peeing all night (said pt. also on lasix). I spent much time with family answering questions, helping to anticipate discharge need/concerns and again performing much needed education on such things as dressing changes and why lantus/R insulin are given in different areas. My documentation was informative but not a bunch of fluff, I never left a half completed admit for the next shift and there was enough time to perform ADLs for the less able pt's. The PG scores reflected the care.
canesdukegirl, BSN, RN
1 Article; 2,543 Posts
When my hospital was striving for Magnet Status, my co-workers and I just looked at each other and laughed. We call it Maggot Status. It is all a dog and pony show, and I have yet to see what the hype is about.