I will admit that have been remiss on keeping up on what nurses at AllNurses have to say on the hourly rounding mandate. But my hospital seems to be going over the top and literally forcing nurses to script their interaction with patients.
We have hourly rounding quarterly validations and over 75 percent of the RNS failed recently (though we have been doing it for 2 plus years).
The nurses failed to use the works: "hourly visit" but may have phrased it as hourly rounding
Also not stating: "What is the most important thing I can do for you today?"
But the icing on the cake is that they are requiring us to state, "I have the time."
The funniest part is that the patients are continually commenting on how ridiculously busy all the RNS are and the phone rings 5 times the minute we enter a room.
One patient's husband stated to me: "I have never witnessed one of you nurses walking casually or slowly, you are always hurriedly going somewhere with intention."
We obviously do not have the time! We have no time.
One patient recently refused to have a foley placed because the RN kept receiving phone calls. Mind you that she did not answer the phone but the patient became upset and said he thought he deserved at least 5 minutes of uninterrupted time with his caregiver.
Is this common in other facilities or is my place of employment just unique?
The only time I ever say "I have time" is when my least needy pt acts reluctant to ask for anything & says they don't want to be a bother. That's the only circumstance when I will say "No problem...I'm here now, I have time".
We will also be getting individual phones soon. Most of the staff have said they will not answer if they are in a pt room. Maybe somebody will figure out a way to link the tracking system with the phone & make it so any calls are blocked when the phone/staff are in a pt's room.
Today I completed the pt satisfaction survey for my four-day stay:sneaky: I hope I did good by all of you. Of course, I said all the nurses were fantastic, which they were. As a matter of fact, my stay was really nice . . . everyone was so nice. I did say that I thought the nurses stating "I have the time" was ludicrous as it was evident when I walked the halls, they did NOT have the time. It also was so very transparent that the nurses were forced to say this. I said I didn't like someone coming into the room every hour (even though they actually did not per my request) as I am a light sleeper, and this would always awaken me, setting off another coughing attack which usually took twenty minutes to get over. I basically got no rest in four days. I wrote, too, that I felt the phones should be left outside the room when the RN was in with me because it left me feeling unimportant as the nurse answered call after call. There is a call bell at bedside that could be used instead of the phones.
Not that this will do anything, but who knows? Maybe other patients also picked up on these things. I hope so! Of course, I've written admin (not the unit charge) the name of every RN I had along with something very positive about that RN that made my stay more bearable. (There were no CNAs or I would have included them.)
We run around every other week completing a new survey or audit. Staffing is at a minimum and these audits continue. One of the physicians remarked, "I see the nurses either sitting at a computer charting something or there's another audit."
The care declines but that's ok because on paper, everything looks great.
I don't know if this is the place, but my ears are still smoking after last night.
My CNA and I spent 10 minutes in a patient's room propping body parts with pillows. Folding and straightening. Clicking the thermometer up one degree at a time. Inching the head of the bed up and down. Placing items on the bedside table in specific order over and over.
The patient was able to do most of this themselves.
The CNA left, and the patient asked me to do one more thing. Rub her feet. We looked at each other and she knew, that I knew, I had no choice. I rubbed her feet because I'm not allowed to say I don't have the time.
I still feel humiliated. Not because rubbing feet is below me, but because the patient was controlling me just because she could.
I don't know if this is the place, but my ears are still smoking after last night.
My CNA and I spent 10 minutes in a patient's room propping body parts with pillows. Folding and straightening. Clicking the thermometer up one degree at a time. Inching the head of the bed up and down. Placing items on the bedside table in specific order over and over.
The patient was able to do most of this themselves.
The CNA left, and the patient asked me to do one more thing. Rub her feet. We looked at each other and she knew, that I knew, I had no choice. I rubbed her feet because I'm not allowed to say I don't have the time.
I still feel humiliated. Not because rubbing feet is below me, but because the patient was controlling me just because she could.
Today I absolutely hate being a nurse.
Sounds like a bad situation all around. Not allowed to say you don't have time??? I can't even... We have some frequent flyer chronic trach vented patients in my MICU who can be controlling like that, and when they're yours, it's gonna be one hell of a long shift.
... and the patient asked me to do one more thing. Rub her feet. We looked at each other and she knew, that I knew, I had no choice. I rubbed her feet because I'm not allowed to say I don't have the time. I still feel humiliated. Not because rubbing feet is below me, but because the patient was controlling me just because she could. Today I absolutely hate being a nurse.
Had a patient in my former hospital who was notoriously demanding for the 30 days she was on our unit. She was so emotionally draining that nurses had to be assigned to her for one shift at a time unless the nurse was masochistic enough to endure more shifts with her. Had this pt one night and after a rough 6 hours of her ranting and multiple demands, she finally goes to bed and requests that her feet be rubbed. I vehemently refused. Other nurses had apparently obliged but I was not going to do it and I flat out told her that. I could not care less about HCAPS or Press Gainey at that point either. I closed the door on her, happy to know I didn't cave in. She's in the hospital, not the Waldorf-freaking-Astoria! I was bold enough to even tell her that if she hated the care there so much, why doesn't she go to another hospital? All she could answer is 'because I'm here.' There was something really wrong with her mentally.
By this time she had already made multiple threats to sue the hospital on different grounds, and anyone who knows my pre-nursing background knows I've been laughing about that all along. Everyone knew she was psychotic, and she had run ins with everyone. So her complaining about me was the least of my worries. I still had a job at the end of the day until I left on my own accord, lol.
After her discharge, I heard she started friend requesting on Facebook every nurse she met on the unit. I ran to my account and blocked her profile. Besides, I don't use my last name on there anyway which is probably why my request was 'delayed' lol.
For the record however, if you're a nice patient and you complain of foot pain, I will consider the massage. Treat me like a slave however, and you'll get backlash.
So boo hoo, rub-my-stank-feet lady ... you didn't get your way with this nurse!
We have tracers that log us into the room when we enter and show how long we stay. And there is a chart filled out everyday stating how many hours we spent total in the rooms of our patients.
Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
We have tracers that log us into the room when we enter and show how long we stay. And there is a chart filled out everyday stating how many hours we spent total in the rooms of our patients.
SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!
No way, no way in heck I would ever work someplace that did that. I simply don't want to be a nurse bad enough.
I don't know if this is the place, but my ears are still smoking after last night.
My CNA and I spent 10 minutes in a patient's room propping body parts with pillows. Folding and straightening. Clicking the thermometer up one degree at a time. Inching the head of the bed up and down. Placing items on the bedside table in specific order over and over.
The patient was able to do most of this themselves.
The CNA left, and the patient asked me to do one more thing. Rub her feet. We looked at each other and she knew, that I knew, I had no choice. I rubbed her feet because I'm not allowed to say I don't have the time.
I still feel humiliated. Not because rubbing feet is below me, but because the patient was controlling me just because she could.
Today I absolutely hate being a nurse.
How degrading and I am so so sorry that you have to deal with this. I would not have been able to contain myself. That's what you ask your spouse to do, not your nurse!
This creepy woman has NO boundaries!
Medicaid/ medicare does not pay for foot massages and pedicures! It is not reimbursable.
You are not running a pedicure business. This isn't Better Call Saul and we're not in Albequerque. You are not running a spa. There is no tip jar.
It is not in your job description.
I would have told this person - with a straight face - to dial the operator ( here they call it the concierge) and ask for dayspa and massage services. I would have let her know that their fees start at $ 200/ hr and they only take Visa and Mastercard.
Maybe the management can figure out how to make a profit on that because it is ​not your job to rub anyones feet!
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RainMom
1,117 Posts
The only time I ever say "I have time" is when my least needy pt acts reluctant to ask for anything & says they don't want to be a bother. That's the only circumstance when I will say "No problem...I'm here now, I have time".
We will also be getting individual phones soon. Most of the staff have said they will not answer if they are in a pt room. Maybe somebody will figure out a way to link the tracking system with the phone & make it so any calls are blocked when the phone/staff are in a pt's room.