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.
This has happened to me about 2 times already. I always stand by my team if the patient is obviously creating an unnecessary scene to get his/her way for absolutely trivial things. Twice I've talked to them calmly at first to find out what was wrong, only to have them escorted to a room for them to calm down first or else go home.
Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
i don't think you can entirely blame management for this situation either. they're simply reacting to the political realities of the health care business. this is, as i've said before, one very tough business.
Now honestly, how sad is the state of affairs in our workplace that we must not only deliver exceptional (and error free) care to patients and families, and then must cowtow to an insignificant complaint like OJ not coming fast enough for a patient? It has been many years since I worked on the floor (I am in the OR) and I do not miss this aspect of nursing. Granted, families are generally freaking out because a loved one is admitted to the hospital, it is a disruptive and scary time in their lives, and I understand the fact that they are staring at 4 walls all day, waiting for the docs to do rounds. It is enough to drive anyone crazy. It seems to me that the nurses have to take the bullet for the culmination of anxiety from the families. I also understand that management is only looking at numbers, and Press Gainey reports, but daggum, it would be nice to have management understand that we are dealing with stressed out people here...they should be more supportive. This isn't "drive thru" medicine. Numbers matter, but so do the people that make the hospital exist...the employees.
Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
This has happened to me about 2 times already. I always stand by my team if the patient is obviously creating an unnecessary scene to get his/her way for absolutely trivial things. Twice I've talked to them calmly at first to find out what was wrong, only to have them escorted to a room for them to calm down first or else go home.
I had a patient a number of years ago who was in Stage IV ovarian. She was ranting and raving one morning during rounds about not getting an extra pillow. She went on to say that her brother was on the board at Sloan Kettering, and she had no hesitation to pick up the phone and tell him how horribly she was being treated. Something seemed "off" to me, and after I calmed her down for a minute, I got the pulse ox. Sure enough, her sats were in the low 80s and after I put her on 2L NC, she came around. I charted METICULOUSLY. I even had the chief resident sign a note behind mine stating in detail the events that occurred. You just never know what will happen with patients, and I strongly believe that had I not done this, my butt would have been in a sling.
I love it. Apparently Medicare and Medical will both now be looking at 'patient satisfaction " surveys to decide whether or not a stay will be paid for. In other words, if the patient liked thier care; that will weigh heavily on reimbursment value.
Ok, so the junkie that did not get his Dilaudid every 2 hours on the dot, (yeah, BAAD nurse, ignoring my pain);
the looney tunes that got p.o.'d because you could not predict when the doctor would make his rounds to give her YET ANOTHER RX FOR HER ANXIETY;or the family that felt the nurse was substandard because the ice chips were allowed to melt in Mother's cup, ALL get equal share in deciding which hospital gets the best reimbursements, depending on the post-stay interviews.
Well, nuts to that. I had planned on working 8 more years. If my managers come around with THIS nonsense, they can kiss my dust.
The NM shouldn't stand for behaviour like that from family members. All complaints should be dealt with in private and professionally. If I was that aide, I would state that I would not be standing there putting up with such abuse (and it is abuse), then I would got to HR and get the NM to deal with it in a formal meeting.
Some patient's families are just so rude and unbelievably obnoxious. I certainly wouldn't stand for it personally. How humiliating for that poor aide.
dang, even w/the shabbiest cna's i've seen, i haven't seen this...yet.
that would be downright scary.
but changing bed linens q 12h?
if a pt has uncontrollable vomiting or incontinence, i could see where frequent changing is a given.
but if pts are getting changed q4h or a/o, linens shouldn't be getting soiled.
sometimes all is needed is a fresh draw/transfer sheet...or even pillowcases will suffice.
but expecting a bid linen change just for the sake of what he got at home, humbug!
the nurse needs to step up to the plate and do some limit setting...
it just should have never gotten to this point.
and if this cna has such a golden reputation, that damn it, stand up for her...until she's proven otherwise.
just as w/good nurses who get shafted, so do good cna's.
and boy, does it burn my britches.
again, shame on whoever didn't intervene in a timely manner...or didn't intervene at all.
leslie
:yeah::yeah::redbeathe:redbeathe:redbeathe:yeah::yeah: Thankyou for your support! To many CNA's get shafted because of ludicrous requests by family members that Admin authorizes, yet they offer no help to the CNA with the extra work duty, but yet the CNA gets chastised for doing the best she/he can..Such a viscous never ending circle.
:yeah:
kayern
240 Posts
I agree it should have been handled behind closed doors. What in the world could that poor aide have done to warrant such treatment?