Is this bad customer service?

[emmafrancis]

I have two jobs. I love both jobs, but they are very different. In one job, I feel like patients are treated like gold. If they want it, the hospital makes it happen. In the other, we are preached at about going above and beyond to make it happen, and sometimes we are even recognized for it, but that means the nurses pay for the extra service. I've seen nurses buy canes for patients, I've seen them send someone to the store for a can of beans....you name it, we've done it out of our own pockets.

At the golden hospital, we have snacks. A patient can have any diet appropriate snack they want. If they cannot have a snack, we find something to help comfort them (like if they are NPO).

At the other hospital, we just got a notice that "customers" are now limited to 2 of each snack item per shift. So the patient can have 2 sodas or 2 packs of crackers then no more. UH?

So now I have to tell a patient they have used up their snack limit, and if they want more, I'd have to go buy it and give it to them. really?

I know this sounds bad, but instead of fighting my boss on this one, I am considering going out and buying a ton of snacks and a huge bin and sitting it on her desk.

What would you do? Do you feel this is bad customer service? Do you feel this discriminates against poor patients or patients without family to bring them snacks?

What would you offer instead?

I realize the bin is snarky, but I kinda feel she needs snarky sometimes.

[Sour Lemon]

The snack limit thing is not necessarily a bad idea. What I see happen, frequently, is that 2-3 patients eat everything ....then when a forth patient requests one small item, it's not available.

[Emergent, RN]

Why should people snack all day? I would never buy snacks for patients. Most Americans eat too many calories anyways. In fact, too many snacks is the cause for many of our First World diseases.

I'm there to give compassionate care and collect a paycheck every 2 weeks. If I want to help the hungry I give to an overseas mission where there is true deprivation.

[ottersloveoysters]

Hold on, it was hard for me to get past the part where you said nurses have bought CANES for people. Don't they know this is durable medical equipment that can be covered by insurance? I know they feel for the patients but why oh why would they spend their money like that? I might think to myself, "Oh man, I wish I could just buy my patient (the medication, the help at home, whatever)" but I know it is not my place to do that.

[Coffee Nurse, BSN, RN]

The "golden hospital" doesn't sound like a place to aspire to, IMO. I'd be darned if it were expected of me to pay out of pocket for nicey-nice things to make patients happy. First of all, that's not my job - I'm there to provide quality, professional nursing care, as WKShadow suggested. Second of all, it's not a sustainable solution. If a patient needs a cane, there should be appropriate resources to acquire him a cane, not just the expectation that some nurse will be able to buy it for him.

So yeah, while the two-snack limit seems strict, it also seems more reasonable to me than your other hospital. I also think you'd be opening up a can of worms by buying a bin of snacks yourself -- good luck on that not becoming something people expect you to keep stocked yourself.

(And finally, directing snark at bosses is not generally a great idea.)

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

I would rather the hospital spend money on equipment and supplies rather than snacks.

If pts are that hungry that they needs more than 2 snacks during the day, they can bring in their own supply from home.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

Oh HELL no. There is no way I am buying snacks for a patient. No flipping way...let alone durable medical equipment. It's not about poor customer service, it's about the fact that I am not willing to spend my hard-earned money to help the hospital offset its costs. If the hospital chooses a snack limit as a way to limit costs, they will stand behind that policy.

If patients are upset about it, they should put that on the survey and let the chips fall where they may.

Ya'll need to stop this, yesterday, and make sure the powers that be are aware.

If nothing else, it's a mass-crossed professional boundary that could mean trouble for them as well as their staff.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

And no, it's not discriminatory. Rich and poor pts alike have the same limitation. It's not our job to ensure economic equality for all patients; only equitable nursing care.

This practice of nurse-purchased snacks could make things inequitable though, if one nurse is unable or unwilling to buy snacks.

[whichone'spink, BSN, RN]

Stop enabling their crappy behavior and stop spending your own money on snacks! Especially for the diabetic patients.

[historylovinglpn]

The residents at my facility constantly ask for snacks. Heck once I put my latte down and the patient took it as soon as I set it down. No darn way am I buying snacks. We have a limit on shakes we give to the residents. They are like generic ensure but the residents LOVE them. When I first got to this facility many residents would refuse their meds if they also didn't get a shake. As our home has 99 residents and 23 shakes per shift that only go to residents with weight gain problems...no. Refuse and i will chart it. I am not going to give them shakes to bribe them into taking their meds. Plus many have weight problems. They can live without a snack. Heck during my shift I often times don't even get a lunch. Buying snacks for residents, no. no. no.

[Libby1987]

Why in the world are you purchasing inpatient items?

There's probaby a reason behind one hospital having more customer service resources than the other. One probably caters to lucrative procedures while the other serves the underserved/under insured.

Even if not, don't enable the lack of resources or even more than 2 sodas/day (seriously?). In home health we see a lot of needs, the answer isn't in the nurse covering here and there, the answer is in getting to the underlying problem which might be that the patient can't manage at home, sad but a reality that buying them a sandwich or paying for an item isn't going to change. If your patient doesn't have resources for DME, get social services/case mgmt involved immediately.

[brownbook]

I agree with all replies.

I wondered if this was a joke or troll? Or what country does emmafrancis live in?

I have been away from in patient hospital nursing a long time, but I can't figure out how or why these patients are sick enough to be in a hospital and be healthy enough to be snacking all day? Or is a long term care facility?

It reminds me of the not politically correct line I head a doctor say, when his patient's had PMS he knew it was time to discharge them....PMS....positive makeup signs.

If a patient is healthy enough, stable enough,to be snacking all day it seems they could go home?

I worked a county hospital that catered to Hispanic field workers. We did a lot of out patient pediatric dental procedures, we all bought small toys, bubbles, etc. to entertain and give to the children, but that is a whole other situation.