If I hear that one more time I swear I am going to stop wherever I am and scream. Literally. I will stand there and scream until The People come to take me away for evaluation. :uhoh21:
I haven't worked staff at a facility for a very long time so I haven't had to deal with this issue personally in eons but it still chaps my hide every time I hear it.
Today I was supposed to meet my sister for lunch. I arrived at her facility and waited in the car at the designated spot. She didn't come down after 15 min so I called up to the unit (I used to work there). The secretary told me she said to meet her on the unit and we could eat in the staff cafeteria instead. I didn't understand why but when I went up to the floor I saw a huge semi-circle around Nursing Station B comprised of nurses, aides, administrative big-wigs, and family members of a particular resident. Particular as in picky. I hear, from the ENTRANCE of the unit the man of the family (father, uncle, whatever?) yelling "I want her fired!" He is pointing at this poor aide slinked low against the nursing station half crying, half yelling something about new bed linens. The rest of the staff, my sister included, are trying to calm down the man and his female companion, meanwhile he is still yelling "I want her fired. If this is the type of trash you hire in this facility then you should be closed down and I'm going to call State."
:nono:Oh, no, not those words. That's a bad threat.
So now this poor girl may lose her job. I don't know for sure because obviously my sis didn't get a lunch, or rather, I had to leave before I even spoke to her, so I don't know if she got a lunch or not. But she missed OUR lunch date because some layman read somewhere or heard somewhere that if you threaten to call State you can get anything you want. That is an abuse of power and it peeves me to no end. Further, I feel it is highly improper and rude that a family member can dictate who is or isn't employed at a facility.
This is not to say that she didn't deserve to be reprimanded. I don't know what she did, but I highly doubt it is worthy of being fired and even if it IS, that should be at the discretion of the facility not a family member.
I can think of a way to fix this, but it's likely to cause employment issues when the manager is asked these questions.
"Don't nurses deserve to be treated like human beings?"
"Isn't anyone responsible and accountable for their own behavior anymore?"
"Which is more important--patients lives and safety or customer service?"
It does cause employment issues. I'm living proof. The reason, the manager's evaluations are based solely on customer service and budgets. Their bosses don't care a bit about patient safety unless it affects the bottom line.
I believe that everyone is responsible for their own actions.
When supervisors say "It must have been the way the nurse presented herself", that just puts the blame where it shouldn't go. It's like saying that victims of domestic violence brought it on themselves.
That is my absolute pet peeve. Why can it NEVER actually be the fault of someone other than the nurse?
this past weekend i had the husband of a pt trying to follow the nurse on the hall into another pt room to drag him out and get his wife somthing for nausea. i stopped him and told him as soon as the nurse was done in the room he was in he would be right to their room. he started yelling at me that his wife was nauseated and going to throw up. i told him i understood but the nurse was with a patient, in the patient's room and would be there as soon as he was finished with the pt he was with now. he kept trying to go in there so i finally told him, as nicely as i could muster, for him to go back to the room and the nurse would be there but i couldnt have him causing a scene in the hallway. he demanded my name..you know the usual.
so the next morning i walk in to all hell broken loose. this man came in at 7am demanding to take his wife AMA because of our bad care and because of me. he demanded to see the administrator. of course at 7am on a sunday morning there was no admin there so they called him at home. coworkers said he was on the phone for half an hour yelling about how rude i was and he wasnt keeping his wife there to be abused by me.
*sigh*
so i went straight to the room and apologized to the man. he sat there and told me "im going to get you fired. if i have to call the BBB, the home office and the newspapers...i'll have your job".
then the admin called me on the phone and was actually yelling at me "you fix this!!". when i tried to tell him what the man had been doing, the admin yelled at me "i dont want to hear one word you have to say. you fix this and you fix it now. you keep them from leaving!!". when i picked my mouth up off the floor i said "what if i cant?" and he said "then you are gone".
i spent the day literally waiting on them hand and foot. got him a bed to sleep in, made sure he got all his meals free and delivered to the room, took personal care of his wife all day...meds, tx, bath, fixed her supper tray myself when she asked for soup from the nausea..heck, i fixed the soup myself too. you name it, I did it. I honestly apologized to him numerous times. i played with their 18 mo old baby granddaughter and rode her around in the wheelchair everywhere. there wasnt one thing more i could have done.
i was in tears when i got home and told my husband about it and that i was probably going to get fired. he said "thank God!". lol
our facility was bought out by a large LTC company one year ago. since then they have cut staffing numbers, raised prices...heck, this past weekend we even ran out of food! no bread, no eggs, not even any chicken soup!, no milk, no ice cream...it's horrible. i feel like i've sold my soul.
this was it for me though. the admin yelled at me like he was my daddy, that pts husband refusing to accept my apology and thinks nothing about trying to drag a nurse from another room to tend to HIS wife and then the admin not even allowing me to say anything....
i'm resigning. i've been there for so long. it's breaking my heart to leave but i'm not staying there any more. as soon as i have another job, im turning in my resignation. that is unless they fire me tomorrow. wish me luck~
Until nurses band together, this type of action will continue. I'm not even in nursing yet (student) but you can bet your dollar I will be looking for a hospital that has a union. When nurses strike because of abuse, poor work conditions, understaffed, etc. management will sit up and listen!! It's hard to keep a hospital functioning without a full staff, and agency nurses are too expensive and not profitable.
Until nurses band together, this type of action will continue. I'm not even in nursing yet (student) but you can bet your dollar I will be looking for a hospital that has a union. When nurses strike because of abuse, poor work conditions, understaffed, etc. management will sit up and listen!! It's hard to keep a hospital functioning without a full staff, and agency nurses are too expensive and not profitable.
Enough said.
I do agree that nurses need to band together. Really, why do we continue to let this go on? Why do we continue to let ourselves be abused? In regards to working at a union hospital, I really don't think it would make much difference. I really don't want to give my money to a union that isn't going to have my interests or isn't going to back me up.
Certainly any manager, in any field, who fires someone based on the threat of one customer is going to quickly lose control of the unit.
Like anyone with a work history more than a few months, I have on occasion managed to irritate the hill out of someone. Sometimes I was at fault, more often not. The managers I respect are the ones who listen to the complaint, remain non-committal, investigate the facts, and then decide what to do. Even if I end up being reprimanded, I'll have a lot of loyalty for a manager that takes the time and effort to ascertain the facts, especially if there is pressure to make a snap decision.
The old saw about the customer always being right is a myth. They are often wrong, and not every customer is worth keeping.
A customer who drives away good staff is surely one who should be jettisoned asap. Not as easy to do in health care as in other fields, but there are ways.
What is critical is for managers to refrain from throwing their employees under the bus w/o good reason. The hospital has put a substantial investment in recruiting, hiring, and orienting this employee. Don't let some unreasonable loud mouth make that all for naught.
The social worker for the unit called it "patient abuse," and called security up to investigate. If the roommate had not spoken up, we could have been turned in to the state Board of Nursing for the "abuse."
That social worker should be reprimanded or something. A call-light out of reach equals patient abuse. He/She is out of their freakin' mind. I would have pulled her aside and laid right into her my thoughts of her alleging abuse because of a freakin' call light.
this past weekend i had the husband of a pt trying to follow the nurse on the hall into another pt room to drag him out and get his wife somthing for nausea. i stopped him and told him as soon as the nurse was done in the room he was in he would be right to their room. he started yelling at me that his wife was nauseated and going to throw up. i told him i understood but the nurse was with a patient, in the patient's room and would be there as soon as he was finished with the pt he was with now. he kept trying to go in there so i finally told him, as nicely as i could muster, for him to go back to the room and the nurse would be there but i couldnt have him causing a scene in the hallway. he demanded my name..you know the usual.
so the next morning i walk in to all hell broken loose. this man came in at 7am demanding to take his wife AMA because of our bad care and because of me. he demanded to see the administrator. of course at 7am on a sunday morning there was no admin there so they called him at home. coworkers said he was on the phone for half an hour yelling about how rude i was and he wasnt keeping his wife there to be abused by me.
*sigh*
so i went straight to the room and apologized to the man. he sat there and told me "im going to get you fired. if i have to call the BBB, the home office and the newspapers...i'll have your job".
then the admin called me on the phone and was actually yelling at me "you fix this!!". when i tried to tell him what the man had been doing, the admin yelled at me "i dont want to hear one word you have to say. you fix this and you fix it now. you keep them from leaving!!". when i picked my mouth up off the floor i said "what if i cant?" and he said "then you are gone".
i spent the day literally waiting on them hand and foot. got him a bed to sleep in, made sure he got all his meals free and delivered to the room, took personal care of his wife all day...meds, tx, bath, fixed her supper tray myself when she asked for soup from the nausea..heck, i fixed the soup myself too. you name it, I did it. I honestly apologized to him numerous times. i played with their 18 mo old baby granddaughter and rode her around in the wheelchair everywhere. there wasnt one thing more i could have done.
i was in tears when i got home and told my husband about it and that i was probably going to get fired. he said "thank God!". lol
our facility was bought out by a large LTC company one year ago. since then they have cut staffing numbers, raised prices...heck, this past weekend we even ran out of food! no bread, no eggs, not even any chicken soup!, no milk, no ice cream...it's horrible. i feel like i've sold my soul.
this was it for me though. the admin yelled at me like he was my daddy, that pts husband refusing to accept my apology and thinks nothing about trying to drag a nurse from another room to tend to HIS wife and then the admin not even allowing me to say anything....
i'm resigning. i've been there for so long. it's breaking my heart to leave but i'm not staying there any more. as soon as i have another job, im turning in my resignation. that is unless they fire me tomorrow. wish me luck~
You seriously DID all this??? Obviously the point is moot, since it's now history, but there's no way on G-d's green earth that I would have done ANYTHING more than say "I'm sorry you feel this way, perhaps I didn't come across as politely as I intended". END OF STORY!
They want to fire you, consider it a royal blessing. If they DON'T fire you, please resign! If that's the kind of support they give staff, it's absurd. Color me gone.
i spent the day literally waiting on them hand and foot. got him a bed to sleep in, made sure he got all his meals free and delivered to the room, took personal care of his wife all day...meds, tx, bath, fixed her supper tray myself when she asked for soup from the nausea..heck, i fixed the soup myself too. you name it, I did it. I honestly apologized to him numerous times. i played with their 18 mo old baby granddaughter and rode her around in the wheelchair everywhere. there wasnt one thing more i could have done.
Are you kidding me?? How could you even apologize? I mean what words could you even use to apologize to this pts husband as you did nothing wrong to apologize for?? and you wheeled thier grandkid around in a WC? What about your other pts that day? how could you care for them if you were busy butt kissing this other family?
My lord, just reading this post makes me sick. If your admin is not going to stand up for you at least stand up for your self!! You know what you did? You taught this family all they have to say are the key words " I will have you fired" and they will get the royal VIP treatment---Thanks.
Are you kidding me?? How could you even apologize? I mean what words could you even use to apologize to this pts husband as you did nothing wrong to apologize for?? and you wheeled thier grandkid around in a WC? What about your other pts that day? how could you care for them if you were busy butt kissing this other family?
My lord, just reading this post makes me sick. If your admin is not going to stand up for you at least stand up for your self!! You know what you did? You taught this family all they have to say are the key words " I will have you fired" and they will get the royal VIP treatment---Thanks.
I am dying to know what happend when southerbee went into work today---Did they fire her? Did she quit? Did she tell her Mgr to shove it where the sun dont---ya know the rest!!
I know this is an old thread, buy with the new feature of "new Post" I can see recent comments in older threads I hope we get an update!!
wooh, BSN, RN
1 Article; 4,383 Posts
It does cause employment issues. I'm living proof. The reason, the manager's evaluations are based solely on customer service and budgets. Their bosses don't care a bit about patient safety unless it affects the bottom line.