How do you get patients to give you a "very good?"

live4today, RN · Mar 3, 2004

Perhaps if nurses stayed at each patient's bedside giving one on one care while bending over backwards for them, smiling all the while.......perhaps...just maybe...a very good eval would come of it. :nurse:

As long as you know you've given your patients the very best of yourself, don't worry about the rest. All we can give is our best for we have nothing more to give. :kiss

hmccartn · Mar 3, 2004

is it common for hospitals in the states to send out surveys to patients?

to my knowledge this doesnt happen in canada.

live4today, RN · Mar 3, 2004

is it common for hospitals in the states to send out surveys to patients?
to my knowledge this doesnt happen in canada.

from my nursing experience it is very common. :nurse:

cannoli · Mar 3, 2004

I don't know but I've been on the patient end filling out those things, and I haven't always given a very good or excellent either. It seems to me that some nurses give out the excellent way too freely anyway, (to other nurses for inservices, etc.) no one is perfect and I think a lot are over rated.

What defines it anyway, everything is subjective.

Carotid · Mar 3, 2004

could be related to the apgar score, there's not a neonate that gets a perfect 10 upon birth, although my 4 year-old should've. what's less than your "very good" score. perhaps if you healed that URI upon arrival, removed the gonorrhea, extracted the e. coli from the urinary tract, you'd get a "very good". perception of care is entirely opinionated from the surveys i've seen in my ed.

Carotid

mtnmom · Mar 3, 2004

on my Mother-Baby unit patients are given a comment sheet to rate their care when on the unit and encouraged to name the nurses that provided exemplary care (or the reverse should that be the case, God forbid).

The comment sheet is included with a packet of literature they get when they are admitted to the floor - we go over that packet as a part of their patient admission teaching. I usually just show them the form and encourage them to "tell us how we are doing." I do encourage them to name nurses by name but don't dwell on it - I think at that stage they have way more important things to be concerned with, like resting after a delivery or caring for their newborn (and that, consequently, is the main focus of my teaching.)

however, I know of at least one nurse on my unit who has been heard telling patients, "are you happy with the care you have gotten...here is how you spell my name..." Sad but true.

Guess who has tons of patient positive comments in her file and who doesn't?

Like others have said, I give my best possible care and I can go home feeling good about the day -

rollingstone · Mar 3, 2004

All any of us can do is our best and let the chips fall where they may. I don't really care about the satisfaction surveys the hospitals send out, but if a patient has a positive or negative comment I tell them to "put it in writing."

pieWACKet · Mar 3, 2004

I'm not shy about this. When a patient comments on me, tells me how valuable I was to them, or how confident they felt in my hands, sometimes followed by an "i don't know how to thank you " or "I won't forget you", I'm really, really direct. Same thing stands true when they try to give, say a monetary token [happened more when I was in home care, doesn't happen in the hospital]. I refuse and I say "You know, I really appreciate your feedback and there is something you can do that would have SO much meaning to me. It involves a short letter to the director of my unit commenting on what you just told me. I'm sure you appreciate that people are quicker to complain in our business, than to commend. So, all us nurses hear about the people who are dissatisfied. Having your letter in my file will really, really help me. It will be reviewed at my annual survey....Would you mind doing that for me? I try to do it for service people who I feel gave exceptional service, but if I don't do it soon, I often neglect it. Will you write that letter this week? " When they say yes, I say " that is the best thank you I could get". Then I give them the address of the director, with the name of my supervisor, and my own and wish them the best.

Those letters are important, and people need to know they are.

Baby Catcher · Mar 3, 2004

On my unit we never see the positive pt. surveys but if a bad one shows up the negative comment is highlighted and hung up for all to see. In my hospital they send you a pt survey for every little thing even out pt. visits. I've heard of nurses filling them out saying what a wonderful nurse they are and sending them in as if it was from a pt. Sad huh?

nekhismom · Mar 3, 2004

well, thats one way to get a very good rating. *sigh*

MEL101 · Mar 3, 2004

I'm not shy about this. When a patient comments on me, tells me how valuable I was to them, or how confident they felt in my hands, sometimes followed by an "i don't know how to thank you " or "I won't forget you", I'm really, really direct. Same thing stands true when they try to give, say a monetary token [happened more when I was in home care, doesn't happen in the hospital]. I refuse and I say "You know, I really appreciate your feedback and there is something you can do that would have SO much meaning to me. It involves a short letter to the director of my unit commenting on what you just told me. I'm sure you appreciate that people are quicker to complain in our business, than to commend. So, all us nurses hear about the people who are dissatisfied. Having your letter in my file will really, really help me. It will be reviewed at my annual survey....Would you mind doing that for me? I try to do it for service people who I feel gave exceptional service, but if I don't do it soon, I often neglect it. Will you write that letter this week? " When they say yes, I say " that is the best thank you I could get". Then I give them the address of the director, with the name of my supervisor, and my own and wish them the best.
Those letters are important, and people need to know they are.

AGREE big time..what better way to have a "reference" from someone.

besides it makes you feel soooo good!!Its not discourteous to anyone and in the long run everyone feels good...allow yourself that pat on the back, you deserve it!!