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.
As long as there is SBONs and state legislation that continues to put nurses between a rock and a hard place, health care facilities will continue to pay big bucks to follow the folly and doctrine of groups like Studor and Press-Ganey. They will never be named in a lawsuit involving a bad pt outcome. Only recently have health care facilities been recognized and named in lawsuits for their staffing practices that lead to bad pt outcomes, as a rule it has always been as long as the nurse "accepts" an assignment the nurse is held accountable.
The only type of lawsuit I see coming for any groups like Press-Ganey or Studor would be a suit brought about by nurses naming them as contributors towards creating a hostile work environment. Rewarding outrageous and bad behavior is so common in the health care industry that people now know they can manipulate any facility they walk into and intimidate/threaten any staff (usually nurses) they encounter because a facility wants to retain them as "customers." That's why we get insane write-ups or reprimands for not giving family members a coke in the middle of a code. That's why management will threaten people, like in Southernbee's situation, without ascertaining the validity of the complaint, they've been convinced by these groups that all complaints are valid and have merit.
I would truly love to see a whole lot of lawsuits from a whole lot of nurses. Then maybe people would get the idea. I have also thought about a letter to the editor, but I think to be really noticable, the letters should be written on the same day by as many nurses possible to as many newspapers possible.
Specializes in telemetry, med-surg, home health, psych.
"National Nurses Write-In Day" sounds good to me.....but the trouble is, at the moment, I have nothing to complain about !! But wait, give me a week and I am sure something will come up....
"National Nurses Write-In Day" sounds good to me.....but the trouble is, at the moment, I have nothing to complain about !! But wait, give me a week and I am sure something will come up....
I'm thinking that reading the various threads here about family members, customer service, and hospital=Hilton threads will probably generate some ideas on what to write. I saw a newspaper article today that talked about how, even with the job market the way it is, places still have trouble finding nurses to work, even with hiring perks.
Specializes in Day Surgery, Agency, Cath Lab, LTC/Psych.
can you honestly believe that BS?
i swear i looked around to see if i was being punk'd, lol
Yes I believe it. Your administrator is so out of touch he believes everything he hears. When the family says you are the devil than you are the devil. When they say you are Mother Theresa than you are Mother Theresa. Did he actually graduate from an accredited college? Is this how he makes all of his hiring and firing decisions? Based upon what crazed and fanatical family members tell him?
Unlike other posters, I can actually picture myself doing similar actions to what you did that day--even though it might have made me want to throw up in the process. You were not just experiencing pressure from the family (which you handled very well the first time) you were experiencing extreme pressure from your boss. As a reliable employee and supervisor yourself you were trying to make the situation right by being forced to do the wrong thing. It saddens me to think that this is just a small picture of how messed up our consumer driven healthcare system is.
Specializes in telemetry, med-surg, home health, psych.
I'm thinking that reading the various threads here about family members, customer service, and hospital=Hilton threads will probably generate some ideas on what to write. I saw a newspaper article today that talked about how, even with the job market the way it is, places still have trouble finding nurses to work, even with hiring perks.
I agree, due to the fact that so many nurses just do not want to work !!! I have seen so many come and go because it was too hard and they had to get off their orifices once in a while !!!
I agree, due to the fact that so many nurses just do not want to work !!! I have seen so many come and go because it was too hard and they had to get off their orifices once in a while !!!
that is why it is hard to find good nurses....
You know I've had that same thought. Lately, some of the nursing care on my unit has been less than stellar. For instance I had a patient who suffered a stroke, was trached after a long intubation. I came on at 7pm went into the room and found his dinner tray sitting on his table and it had not been touched. He was a clear liquid diet and all of his italian ice was melted like it had been sitting there for two hours. I know he would not have refused dinner because he was always begging for something to eat or drink. Secondly, every morning when his nurse comes in after our unit report, she sits at the front desk for 20 minutes and texts on her cellphone. This same nurse took care of a patient I had last night and I had many complaints about her from the family, like not changing a soiled pad under the patient and not making sure all meds were administered. Then the patient's family says "her nurse said she refused her dinner, I highly doubt that because she begged to be able to eat all day yesterday, the tray was not within her reach to begin with and the nurse shrugged us off by saying she refused to eat".
Anyhow, I brought it up to my manager since I told the patient's family to speak with her. This same nurse had a patient last week with four hours of documented low urine output and failed to notifiy the resident until an hour before our shift started so the patient had received one bolus by the time we came in and the night nurse had a heck of a time correcting all of her mistakes. Sorry had to vent.
It's just the laziness of some of my co-workers that boggle my mind. I come in and my rooms are a mess my patients look disheveled. I go out of my way to make sure my rooms are neat and clean and my patients are clean and have fresh gowns.
Sad thing is if you allow patients and their families to abuse you many will do so. If they know management doesn't back their staff it will get even worse. Mnay are looking for a free ride.
Set appropriate boundaries and respect yourself. They can smell blood when a nurse is scared ot them and they go in for the kill. Think more of yourself than to allow that to happen.
If someone physically hits you call the police and have them arrested. If someone verbally abuses you tell them you will be back when they are able to speak to you in a respectful manner and walk away. Let them know you are there to provide nursing care but abuse isn't part of the deal.
If management doesn't back you it's time to get a new job. Life is too short to put up with abuse from all sides.
Isn't it silly the things that some can come up with??
Wooh was reprimanded because somehow (telepathy, astral projection, global warming??) she gave the impression she wasn't there to a family member that wasn't there, despite the facts to the contrary (use of interpreters, charting, presence of other family members). I just don't get how any manager can summon up any sort of justifiable conviction within themselves to even contemplate reprimanding another person for this kind of nonsense.
I just don't get how any manager can summon up any sort of justifiable conviction within themselves to even contemplate reprimanding another person for this kind of nonsense.
Maybe because the "customer" is always right....even when they're wrong?!?
I wish whomever came up with customer service in the healthcare field had to deal with ALL the crazy families, patients, etc that cry "foul" at the most ridiculous things!! "She didn't fluff my pillow just right!" "He wouldn't get me my third Coke just because I'm diabetic and my blood sugar is over 400!" "She didn't leave the water running for mother when I TOLD her mother just can't sleep with the sound of a trickling brook!" Oh, and my personal favorite from a frequent flyer dialysis patient, "You can't be my nurse anymore because when I told you that even though my nephrologist and the GI doc AGREED on my bowel prep, I refused the prep therefore requiring enemas until clear, but that was ok because my doctor told me I'd be sedated for the whole procedure so I'm SURE he meant the enemas would be AFTER my sedation and YOU GIGGLED!" Yep, true story!!
Maybe because the "customer" is always right....even when they're wrong?!?
Nursing took a down turn when "patients" became "customers." Nursing and health care is not like a regular business and I wish administrators would stop treating it as such. Just because it's 7am doesn't mean my shift is over and I get to clock out and just leave. No, the families aren't always right and staff should be supported. Unfortunately, families take advantage of us because administration does as well.
Nothing new,has been in the bag of tricks for ages, and often didn't take much either.
Nursing staff has been subjected to the above for any and everything from patient (or a family member's) complaints, to the attending wishing to get shot of you.
Doctor's wife telephoned the unit and you didn't give him the message or better yet drop whatever you were doing and go find him.
Doctor's wife on the floor as a patient, and complained the "nurse" didn't do "X", "Y" or "Z".
Patient refused AM care because they were watching their "story" on television and didn't want to be bothered, but wants it *now*...
And so on and so forth.
You now know why so many nurses leave bedside care and thus the "shortage".
Never really was such athing, but more to the point nurses and UAP's willing to put up with the BS.
) she gave the impression she wasn't there to a family member that wasn't there, despite the facts to the contrary (use of interpreters, charting, presence of other family members). I just don't get how any manager can summon up any sort of justifiable conviction within themselves to even contemplate reprimanding another person for this kind of nonsense.
squeakykitty
934 Posts
I would truly love to see a whole lot of lawsuits from a whole lot of nurses. Then maybe people would get the idea. I have also thought about a letter to the editor, but I think to be really noticable, the letters should be written on the same day by as many nurses possible to as many newspapers possible.