I'm fine with the hourly rounding thing. Actually think it is a good idea and honestly has saved me from annoyance a few times from pts that had said I hadn't been in the room. All my manager had to do was look at the rounding sheet and see my initials and times I had been in the room.
What really is bugging me is how far the hospital has taken this. Every nurse in the hospital has been tested, with actual pts and management watching us. We have a script we have to follow and and have to hit every point... such as when introducing ourselves we have to "build ourselves up" ..."I have been a nurse for __ yrs, I am a certified tele nurse", etc and build up our co-workers or other departments... "Jane is your PCT today...she is excellent!" We also have to ask EVERY time if they need to use the washroom. No exceptions. Even if the pt is independent. The list goes on.
Mgmt is actually asking the pts if we are going through the whole stupid script everytime we go in the room, and we are getting written up if the pt says no. It takes about 5 min to go through it properly and that is if the pt doesn't ask for anything.
I really didn't need this to ensure I see my pts... I am sick of feeling like I am being baby-sat or that they don't trust us to do our freakin job. There are so many other things that mgmt need to spend their time on that could actually make some difference to their staff and pts. An Rn or PCT was already in each room hourly (at very least) without this craziness. They think it is going to cut down on call-lights, but fail to realize that most call-lights are from pts that are overly needy, confused or the few that are just plain jerks and like to make us run around. Mgmt also thinks this will raise our scores... and have gone overboard with this instead of fixing the actual problems.
I am sorry this is so long. I am just so annoyed with the stupidity of mgmt in the hospitals.
Specializes in LTC/SNF, Psychiatric, Pharmaceutical.
Yup... that is exactly what we are to use.
Just drives me crazy. Where is a facility that actually have mgmt/ceo that come up with any improvement on their own, or that see the root cause of real issues???? What do they pay for this, umm....stuff, anyway?? I'm sure I could come up with more productive ways to spend it.
:anpom: I feel like they want cheerleaders :anpom:instead of :nurse: !!
Yet, they can't get adequate nursing staff in these places to do things, like, I don't know... get medications passed on time? PM care? Infection control?
Here's my own personal opinion on "5-star hotel service" and canned customer service phrases in hotel settings (they didn't even have me say stuff like that when I worked in fast food!)
Specializes in med-surg, teaching, cardiac, priv. duty.
What really is bugging me is how far the hospital has taken this. Every nurse in the hospital has been tested, with actual pts and management watching us. We have a script we have to follow and and have to hit every point... such as when introducing ourselves we have to "build ourselves up" ..."I have been a nurse for __ yrs, I am a certified tele nurse", etc and build up our co-workers or other departments... "Jane is your PCT today...she is excellent!" We also have to ask EVERY time if they need to use the washroom. No exceptions. Even if the pt is independent. The list goes on...
... I am just so annoyed with the stupidity of mgmt in the hospitals.
I've been a nurse 17 years. I left the hospital setting almost 4 years ago now. Ridiculous stuff like this reinforces that I made the right decision!! In another thread, some hospitals are making nurses write thank you notes to their patients: "Thanks for giving us the privilege of caring for you." ?!?!?!?!?!!!! I'm struck speechless by this stuff!! It is demeaning!
And what about the brand new grad - how will this scripting help her/him? "Hi! I have been a nurse for 1 week. You are my 3rd patient!" That really instills confidence!
And what if you are honest and don't want to lie to patients about a PCT being excellent? I worked with some excellent PCTs but I also worked with some not-so- excellent ones. "Jane is your PCT today. I am so sorry, but she is slow, lazy, and forgetful." haha...
I'm amazed how many non-nursing "people" and "Consulting Groups" are able to tell us how we should do our jobs! I have been a pt and agree lights don't get answered like they should but WHY? I think each institution needs to look at what's happening in their own Hospital. I work in Peds in a Trauma Hospital. I also work 12 hr shifts, 7-7. I flatly refuse to wake pts in order to ask if they need to use the bathroom or want a snack. I always let them know I will be checking in on them and if they need me, I'll be there. I always introduce myself at the beginning of the shift, monitor for pain needs and safety, and ask if there is anything else I can get for them before I leave the room. Our CEO is a bean counter and wants all staff to be the same kind of bean--look alike, talk alike, think alike and do as you are told. I picture the "goose-stepping Communist Armies" of the newsreels- but in scrubs!!!
The patients are the ones sending their complaints to management, about the nurse never coming in the door.
I personally don't think most management is that far removed --although a lot are!
I completely disagree.
It's been my experience that the patients who complain the loudest (and write letters) about their "lack" of care are the same ones who are demanding and unrealistic about the entire hospitalization experience, and what it is that their nurse is there to do.
As far as management goes, most old nurses like me KNOW they're very distant from the bedside nurses that actually perform care. Why else would they insist on us doing the stupid stuff we are being told to do?
It's all just a disgrace, and even more ridiculous. Script, indeed. Pththttht.
I'm amazed how many non-nursing "people" and "Consulting Groups" are able to tell us how we should do our jobs! I have been a pt and agree lights don't get answered like they should but WHY? I think each institution needs to look at what's happening in their own Hospital. I work in Peds in a Trauma Hospital. I also work 12 hr shifts, 7-7. I flatly refuse to wake pts in order to ask if they need to use the bathroom or want a snack. I always let them know I will be checking in on them and if they need me, I'll be there. I always introduce myself at the beginning of the shift, monitor for pain needs and safety, and ask if there is anything else I can get for them before I leave the room. Our CEO is a bean counter and wants all staff to be the same kind of bean--look alike, talk alike, think alike and do as you are told. I picture the "goose-stepping Communist Armies" of the newsreels- but in scrubs!!!
They actually spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for these consulting groups that employ non-nurses to tell them how to tell us to do our jobs. Frankly way too much money gets spent so the upper echelon can continue to keep their heads buried in the sand about what the real problems are.
The patients are the ones sending their complaints to management, about the nurse never coming in the door.
I personally don't think most management is that far removed --although a lot are!
The patients that I have seen that complained the loudest and most venomously about the nurses not being in the room have been the ones who have constantly had them in their room absorbing and monopolizing a disproportionate amount of time from the nurses at the expense of every patient on the floor. They also tended to treat the staff pretty badly.
What I've always noted as interesting is that the ones that had legitimate complaints that I've dealt with have not been unreasonable and tend to want to discuss the situation in a productive manner. The ones that are raising HECK tend to be raising it over nonsense and seem to only be interested in seeing if they can break the sound barrier with their ranting. I've seen bigger productions and displays over meaningless minutiae than I have over understable and legitimate concerns.
I've been a nurse 17 years. I left the hospital setting almost 4 years ago now. Ridiculous stuff like this reinforces that I made the right decision!! In another thread, some hospitals are making nurses write thank you notes to their patients: "Thanks for giving us the privilege of caring for you." ?!?!?!?!?!!!! I'm struck speechless by this stuff!! It is demeaning!
And what about the brand new grad - how will this scripting help her/him? "Hi! I have been a nurse for 1 week. You are my 3rd patient!" That really instills confidence!
And what if you are honest and don't want to lie to patients about a PCT being excellent? I worked with some excellent PCTs but I also worked with some not-so- excellent ones. "Jane is your PCT today. I am so sorry, but she is slow, lazy, and forgetful." haha...
Um...It would be hard to find nice things to say about some of my co-workers. I hate to lie.
Beleive it or not, I actually do part of this. I work LTC so for the most part, residents and families don't change much and the ones that are LTC...they forget me. I look youngish (or so they tell me) and often times I get that "you can't possibly be the nurse" stare...that was another thread. Sooo... I end up telling them I've been a nurse for xyz years and have worked here for zxy years, but now I'm PRN and work for fun and enjoy coming to work. Yeah...more stares, but they kinda get a sense that I will actually help them out.
Now.....If I was told I needed to do this...:banghead:
I personally feel that being friendly goes a long way...after 10-11PM, unless I need to give someone some meds or wake them, I just stick my head in to make sure their breathing and not on the floor. I also introduce myself at the start of shift "Hi, I'm lorenzo, RN, and I'll be your nurse today. Your PCT is "whoever"....half the time, I don't know til later. When I come back around, usually the amount of time I've been a RN (CNA for 2.5 years, new grad RN-9 weeks) comes up in conversation.
You have to be able to use judgement, some people don't want you to talk their ear off when you first answer them....and what about those who just don't remember your name or if you used a script? Half my patients don't remember their CNAs name from shift to shift....
I think if all the money that hospitals spent on paying Press Gainey and the other customer service groups, and the money the hospitals spent on the suits to make sure staff is doing this crap, well if they put that money into nursing staff, and just let the nurses be nurses, the complaints would go down all around.
Have to give it to Press Gainey and Studer, they created a fake "need" and are there to fill that need. Imagine, if my hospital didn't pay good money to send out PG surveys, then they wouldn't have to pay good money to people in the meetings reading the survey results, and they wouldn't have to pay good money on people to teach us how to get better scores on them. Not to mention, PG has made a survey that's impossible to maintain good scores on. It's an amazing scam they have going, (as does Joint Commission.) I'm very impressed, somebody learned a lot in business school! (Too bad they didn't spend some time in nursing school too.)
I have to admit, working nights as I do, that I tell my patients at the beginning of the shift "I'm supposed to wake you up every hour to ensure that your needs are being met, but I suspect that you'd rather I just make sure you're sleeping okay. Is it alright if I just tiptoe in here to check on you and let keep on sleeping, unless it's time for me to assess you or give you meds?" I usually get a "you're supposed to wake me up HOW OFTEN?" response. I just smile and tell them it's a management initiative to improve patient satisfaction, but I think they'd be more satisfied if I let them sleep as much as I'm able to, since I have to wake them up often enough as is. I have had lots of patients say that they would tell management how ridiculous the idea of waking them every hour is when they round. I think in part thanks to my "campaigning", we no longer are required to wake patients hourly.
You must work at the same place I do. I'm sick of it too. This is all stuff we have been doing for years and not getting recognized for. Now the hospital wants to turn it into a circus and a pr prank. I think it's bad for business. But, I value my job and am executing the same line of bs that I have been assigned to regurgitate. But I feel like it's not valued as much as before. Seems insincere for sure.
I think the surveys hospitals send out are a bunch of baloney. Most don't send them for a few weeks and it has been proven that most people only respond if they have had a negative experience. You rarely hear from folks that were satisfied with their care. Most people, myself included, don't take the time to even complete these surveys.
At any rate, I think if they asked people on discharge what their experience was, they would get more positivie replies.
I would be clawing to get out of the hospital if everyone who came in repeated the same scripted speech. Just give good, compassionate, kind care. Management needs to spend time on the floor watching how things are really done. I honestly believe most patients have good experiences and most nurses provide excellent, compassionate care. Paying companies tens of thousands of dollars to institute such ridiculous practices is a crime and believing that made up spiels are going to increase satisfaction is laughable.
:banghead:
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Yet, they can't get adequate nursing staff in these places to do things, like, I don't know... get medications passed on time? PM care? Infection control?
Here's my own personal opinion on "5-star hotel service" and canned customer service phrases in hotel settings (they didn't even have me say stuff like that when I worked in fast food!)