Improving Patient Satisfaction

[MrsMommaRN]

i am in my second week of classroom orientation as a new rn at my local hospital. they are trying to implement a new system or way to improve patient satisfaction. the two things that keep popping up are we are to say:

1. before we leave the patients room: "is there anything else i can do or get for you, i have the time."

2. when they are leaving or being discharged: "thank you for choosing xxx"

i have no problem with number one i do it anyway not the exact phrasing. the second one bugs me. like i am an airline stewardess or something. "thank you for choosing xxx we hope you enjoyed your stay buh bye.":uhoh3:

what are some of the things your institution would like you to implement to improve patient satisfaction?

[EmmaG, RN]

Oh my God. Unbelievable.

This has gone from merely irritating to outright ridiculous.

God, I wish my nursing career had ended pre-Press-Ganey... Nursing caps and giving up your seat for the docs? Big freakin' deal. I'd take that any day over this crappola.

[NursingAgainstdaOdds]

Ah, that sounds precisely like the BS our CEO espouses on a regular basis. I really do not understand the mindset which makes these things seem like a good idea.

[deeDawntee, RN]

We had an inservice on this crap at our hospital, it met with such extreme resistance, nurses were walking out of the class really irked. That is one major advantage of a strong union, administration cannot shove anything down our throats that we aren't willing to swallow. The class was pulled. I'm telling you, I was very leery of what being in union was going to mean for my job, but it can be soooo empowering at times. But that's another discussion......

[leslie :-D]

We had an inservice on this crap at our hospital, it met with such extreme resistance, nurses were walking out of the class really irked. That is one major advantage of a strong union, administration cannot shove anything down our throats that we aren't willing to swallow. The class was pulled. I'm telling you, I was very leery of what being in union was going to mean for my job, but it can be soooo empowering at times. But that's another discussion......

i agree with you dee.

it would be most empowering to have a strong union behind us.

it's really getting out of hand, and nurses are losing on so many levels.

leslie

[Atl_John]

Good Lord......!!!!!!!! After reading these things I feel like I'm back in the business world. I got into nursing to escape this sort of crap !!!! Jeeze if I wanted someone to give me scripts I would have stayed in Retail management.

THIS is what you get when you have CEO's and Admin who either A are NOT health care workers, never have been and never will, OR B are worried about ONE thing and ONE thing only......their bottom line ie. their bonus at the end of the quarter/year. Makes me wanna vomit, what makes these people think that taking the personal experience out of this is going to make patient satisfaction go up. I would find it extremely condescending if a nurse did that to me.

Try making a doctor say that stuff to a patient.....good luck.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

LOL, you've got to be kidding! Hospitals are making nurses follow a script now?

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

Another nurse I know was confronted by her manager and asked if she'd followed the script when introducing herself to her patients one morning. She admitted she hadn't, so the manager took her back to the patients' rooms and had her go in and state the script verbatim. Now, keep in mind she had already met all of her patients, done her assessment, etc. So the first patient is a young guy, A/O, and when she starts introducing herself a second time, he stares for a moment and then roars in laughter. She gets the giggles because he is laughing at the absurdity of it all. The manager sent her home without pay, because she felt this nurse "didn't take it seriously".

So. A floor that already had a high patient to nurse ratio sent home an RN leaving the other 3 nurses to split her 6 patients.

Yeah. I'm sure that helped increase "patient satisfaction".

What part of the country is this in? It sounds totally ridiculous! It's bad enough that the supermarkets are doing this. I just got back from Safeway and a young man in the aisles interupted my thoughts with some scripted offers for help. I told him that if I want help I'll ask. He had a bright orange vest on and was stocking the shelves and was 2 feet away from me, I think I'm intelligent enough to notice him.

[leslie :-D]

you know, for the big $$ that are spent in improving pt satisfaction, all it would take is to add another nurse to the staff.

fewer pts = more time/pt = better nsg care = satisfied pt and nurse.

these mentalities are scary and worrisome.

leslie

[Christie RN2006]

In my hospital they are trying to get us to use the word "excellent" with our patients to try to get more "excellent" ratings and in our staff meeting the NM asked one of the guys if he tells his patients that he is going to give them excellent care... his response made us all roar with laughter... he, in a very serious voice said "oh, I say it all the time... to my patients that are vented and sedated!"

[EmmaG, RN]

We consistently have the highest incidence of workplace violence (verbal and physical assault)

[The Department of Justice National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) for the years 1993 through 1999 found, on average, 1.7 million episodes of victimization at work per year (Duhart, 2001). The health care sector continues to lead all other industry sectors in incidence of nonfatal workplace assaults. In 2000, 48% of all nonfatal injuries from violent acts against workers occurred in the health care sector (BLS, 2001). Nurses, nurse's aides and orderlies suffer the highest proportion of these injuries.]

From what I've read, the incidence of such are actually believed to be higher, because of a lack of reporting by both the victims and the facilities. And IMO, it is MUCH more prevalent than it was back when I started in nursing. Back then, it was the exception. Today, it's the damned rule.

Many nurses I know are physically and emotionally exhausted, and in spite of the ever-higher turnover/burnout rate, hospitals continue to expect us to do more work with less staff for more patients. Sure, I took care of more patients back when, but I was also not bogged down with all this repetitive and trivial BS. Gee, my bedridden patients used to get an evening backrub every night. I am becoming more and more removed from what I went into this field to do--- patient care.

I can look back to the early 80's, and our staffing was stable; when someone was hired for our unit, they stayed at least several years. Yet especially in the past 10 years or so, I've watched nurses (new grads and experienced) come and go like it was through a revolving door. Quite a few left nursing altogether.

It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together and see where all this "patient satisfaction" crap fits into the picture. Beyond simply receiving good nursing care, patients and visitors have begun to feel entitled. They behave in a hospital as you'd never see them act out in any other public place. Hospitals have decided it's all about the bottom line. They would prefer to hang their nursing staff out to dry rather than risk a "bad" survey response from a "customer". No way in hell are these spa/resort wannabes going to stand up for their employees. No way in hell are they going to prosecute those who try to intimidate or outright threaten their staff. That would tarnish their "reputation".

Remember, it flows downhill, and as far as TPTB are concerned, we're at the bottom.

[/rant off]

:angryfire

[EmmaG, RN]

you know, for the big $$ that are spent in improving pt satisfaction, all it would take is to add another nurse to the staff.

fewer pts = more time/pt = better nsg care = satisfied pt and nurse.

these mentalities are scary and worrisome.

leslie

Exactly.

Roll the money spent on JCAHO, Press-Ganey, and other idiot organizations back into their employees.

But no. That would make sense.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

I would never succumb to adhering to scripted conversations with patients. It's dehumanizing. I'm not a robot. I don't like this trend in retailing at all. I try to shop at stores that don't practise it like Trader Joe's and Fred Meyer.