It's a Hospital, Not a Hotel (Gripe)

Published

I am always gracious and try to accomodate reasonable patient/family requests, but my name tag yesterday must have read 'Handmaid' instead of RN. I was instructed (not asked) by several different patients/family members the following:

"Go get us about eight or ten chairs so everybody can sit down in here."

"The baby's father hasn't had anything to eat today, can you make him something?" (This was 1930 and FOB who missed the 0915 delivery had just shown up).

"Can't you get the kids sandwiches?" (I was happy to bring graham crackers and juice, but was met with "Well, that's not enough for dinner.")

"I can't use a taxi voucher because that way I have to go right home. Don't you have a petty cash fund? I need to stop at my friend's house and the store first."

"My boyfriend wants a set of the baby's footprints, a copy of the baby's picture, and that test to make sure he's the father."

This, of course, all in addition to the usual "The baby's diaper needs to be changed," "Bring me another Percocet. Somebody here (a visitor, not the patient) has a headache," "Take his (another visitor's) blood pressure," and "He needs some scrubs to wear."

Sorry for the rant. Yesterday was a long 14-hour day and I just needed to get it out. :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.
this is incredible. number one, the ud who dressed you down about your appearance is playing dangerous games with harassment. number two, the other ud was very unprofessional in yelling at the charge nurse in front of god and everybody, and should have been fired, along with her incompetent aide, who does not even give the appearance of meeting minimum standards for skills for cna's as defined by our state.

the actions of these ud's goes far beyond that of stupidity. they are actions of gross professional misconduct, and both of them need to brought in front of the board! :angryfire

couldn't agree more !!! this thread is making me absolutely want to kotz_5.gif.

the more i read, the angrier i get ! 1106.gif

this problem is further exacerbated when our immediate supervisors buy into this routine. their attitude seems to be "it would have only taken a second" to see to their needs. the reality is that it rarely takes a second, and that when you add all this "people pleasing" up, countless hours are wasted by staff. hauling staff in and raking them over the coals because a visitor was too warm, despite the fact that the real issue was the patient's comfort is ludicrous!! where is the rationality and sanity?? how about telling the visitor that the patient is the priority when it comes to comfort.

now i don't have a problem if a visitor makes a request for something such as a glass of water, i don't mind providing one. however there is a problem when a hugh chunk of time is spent dealing with pleasing everyone in the name of customer service at the expense of the patients well-being. this time wasted endangers the health and well-being of patients by diverting the staff's attention & focus towards "customer service" instead of gearing attention & focus properly towards our patients.

a nurse's number one priority is to provide care and ensure the well-being of the patients. as far as i'm concerned this overrides "pleasing" in the name of customer service.

bravo !!!

and the bit about being made (no way, folks.. nobody "makes" this kid do or say anything!!! ) agr.gif to say "is there anything else i can help you with" is total bs. that leaves it wide open to any assinine request.

we (they.. admin) have gone way over the edge, folks. way over.

i could not.. would not work at any such place. no way, no how. what on earth have we allowed nursing become??? what have we allowed them to do to us ??? where is the outrage besiedes right here? why aren't we crashing through the doors of the hospital administrators, giving them an ultimatum? standing united and strong and refusing to back down? heck, there's not one nurse who "enjoys" this... so let all those who are upset about it let their voices be heard, and if they don't like it, tell them you'll persue your career in other than a hospital setting, then do so !!! call a meeting with the suits and have every nurse attend who is not working at that time, and absolutely refuse to play this game any longer. that your time is far too valuable to waste on such nonsense, that your priority is patient care and that is final.

i don't work in a "hospital".., ( oh thank you, god , thank you !!!) :rolleyes: ...so i have not been exposed to such absurdity. i can almost not believe what i'm reading here. and the bit about having the patients ask us if we have washed our hands is beyond ludicrous ! cussing.gif

and we continue to allow ourselves to be treated like this??? :uhoh3: :confused:

no way. are we that intimidated by those who employ us? whatever happened to that good ol' american spirit of "take this job and shove it " ?

or the good ol' "kiss my a**" ??????????????????????????????????

i can feel my pressure going up.. i'd better stay away from this thread awhile.

:uhoh3: :confused:

Perfect example of what happens when the monkeys are allowed to run the circus.

:chuckle :chuckle :chuckle :rotfl: :rotfl: :chuckle :chuckle I have to remember that one!!

I just found out that all staff have been scheduled for mandatory meetings concerning (huge, great, big sigh):CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

I'm thinking I'm going to have a few things to say at this meeting:D :D :D

Specializes in Home care, assisted living.

You'd think that listening to some of these visitors, they are clueless and helpless. Parents expecting the nurse to make their kids sandwiches? Um, there's a thing called a hospital cafeteria, and Mickey D's is open all night. The FOB who expected the nurse to get his clothes cleaned for him??? Bubba, there are laundromats for that sort of thing. :doh:

Oh well, my experience has been a little different. In my case, family members are amazed at how well we nursing assistants can lift people. "Wow...look at them, they're just pros at this. We wouldn't know where to start with moving him." I have to smile when family members say this. It's flattering that they admire our skills, but after five years of doing it, well, I SHOULD be good at it! :roll

Specializes in Home care, assisted living.
I just found out that all staff have been scheduled for mandatory meetings concerning (huge, great, big sigh):CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Oooooooooooh, fun!!!! We just had a mandatory meeting at our ALF concerning "First Impressions". The new company even has a "30-second commercial" that we're supposed to memorize. In other words, we have to say to every visitor/family member, "Welcome to _________ (name of facility), my name is ____________ and I've been working here for X number of years." (I can't remember the rest. It's a bunch of goobledygook about how we'll help the person in any way we can and stuff like that.) Um, this is the South, where hospitality and politeness are the norm. Friendliness comes naturally. If I wanted to recite a script, I would have chosen a job in telemarketing, where I'd using them all day.

The manager who told her employee that she "looked prettier with make-up and more professional" is skating on thin ice! :nono: She better watch it or

she could be charged with harassment. Make-up is not an essential part of the job - you can do the job w/o make-up! What if the employee had allergies to foundation? Wow, I wonder if you could call in a lawyer who would respond that this is a violation of the American's with Disabiliites Act if the employee has allergies to foundation! After all, you can do the essential job of nursing without wearing make-up. Perfect ADA example. ;) OK, I am kidding for the most part here.

I can't even begin to tell you how often that happens by me. I work on an orthopedic/ neuro/ med surg floor. I can't figure out which is worse half the time, the patients or their families. Due to the fact that my patients usually need a lot of help, I don't mind tending to the needs of those that truly need it. I believe for the most part that they try to take advantage of a situation. It doesn't help that the frequent fliers have the number to the kitchen. They seem to just call to change their meals or request snacks. I don't remember ever seeing a sign for room service.

People also believe they should have a personal housekeeper for the rooms. The housekeepers are on the floor till 230p and do a darn good job. These people think that they should come clean their rooms again at 5p. The families claim the rooms were never clean. Maybe if your family wasn't a packrat or slob the room would look better. Why do they need to save packets of sugar and numerous drinks, jellos, crackers, etc at the bedside for days.

The one thing that also drives me nuts is that some of these patients are capable of walking and maybe need minor assistance to get to the bathroom because of the IV pole.....why can't the families ever help them walk. Wait let me drop everything to unplug a cord.

Even more aggravating is when you are in a room and another pt's family member either walks into the room you are in or stares at you/ calls you while you are tending to another pt. They always seem to do that when I am with a critcal patient or in isolation and gowned.

See people are clueless snobs whereever you are. It's not bad enough people think they are in hotels... my hospital is now renovating all nurses stations. Now it looks like a hotel. I think we should get tips everytime we wipe their loved ones behind, change a dressing and help feed them. Don't you agree. After all bellhops get tips all the time. The transporter should also. Instead of caring luggage they get stuck pushing these people all over the hospital.

Well, some things will never change. People will always be ignorant and inconsiderate. :rotfl:

Dearest DaisyBaby,

I agree w/you wholeheartedly and saw this coming back in the '80's

when everyone who could started spending more on new lobbies,

curtains, wallpaper, fancy visitors lounges.....etc.

It is disgusting.

Over 75% of the time a patient is hospitalized due to a decision they made or lifestyle they led......

So now they think their illnesses rate as a "Vacation Handicapped Style"

and constantly complain about the lousy food, beds, service.....

I hate it.

Yet I do still love Nursing/teaching/guiding

so I hang in there.....

klee:crying2:

the hospitals today are getting into all this "service" problems, i have had family say to me that they will keep me busy, patient can't here on the phone and they keep calling to talk to her, or a similar case where the patient has speech aphasia. our hospital has started the nursing staff to wear pins saying "ask if i washed my hands". i have had families with little children climbing on the floor, and playing with their bottle or eating food off the biohazard bin. in other countries families do the care, we have had a wife the slept under her husbands bed and would not leave because that is how it was done in there country. start looking at other countries and you will find the loved one did not get fed or taken care of unless the family was there and did it.

couldn't agree more !!! this thread is making me absolutely want to kotz_5.gif.

the more i read, the angrier i get ! 1106.gif

this problem is further exacerbated when our immediate supervisors buy into this routine. their attitude seems to be "it would have only taken a second" to see to their needs. the reality is that it rarely takes a second, and that when you add all this "people pleasing" up, countless hours are wasted by staff. hauling staff in and raking them over the coals because a visitor was too warm, despite the fact that the real issue was the patient's comfort is ludicrous!! where is the rationality and sanity?? how about telling the visitor that the patient is the priority when it comes to comfort.

now i don't have a problem if a visitor makes a request for something such as a glass of water, i don't mind providing one. however there is a problem when a hugh chunk of time is spent dealing with pleasing everyone in the name of customer service at the expense of the patients well-being. this time wasted endangers the health and well-being of patients by diverting the staff's attention & focus towards "customer service" instead of gearing attention & focus properly towards our patients.

a nurse's number one priority is to provide care and ensure the well-being of the patients. as far as i'm concerned this overrides "pleasing" in the name of customer service.

bravo !!!

and the bit about being made (no way, folks.. nobody "makes" this kid do or say anything!!! ) agr.gif to say "is there anything else i can help you with" is total bs. that leaves it wide open to any assinine request.

we (they.. admin) have gone way over the edge, folks. way over.

i could not.. would not work at any such place. no way, no how. what on earth have we allowed nursing become??? what have we allowed them to do to us ??? where is the outrage besiedes right here? why aren't we crashing through the doors of the hospital administrators, giving them an ultimatum? standing united and strong and refusing to back down? heck, there's not one nurse who "enjoys" this... so let all those who are upset about it let their voices be heard, and if they don't like it, tell them you'll persue your career in other than a hospital setting, then do so !!! call a meeting with the suits and have every nurse attend who is not working at that time, and absolutely refuse to play this game any longer. that your time is far too valuable to waste on such nonsense, that your priority is patient care and that is final.

i don't work in a "hospital".., ( oh thank you, god , thank you !!!) :rolleyes: ...so i have not been exposed to such absurdity. i can almost not believe what i'm reading here. and the bit about having the patients ask us if we have washed our hands is beyond ludicrous ! cussing.gif

and we continue to allow ourselves to be treated like this??? :uhoh3: :confused:

no way. are we that intimidated by those who employ us? whatever happened to that good ol' american spirit of "take this job and shove it " ?

or the good ol' "kiss my a**" ??????????????????????????????????

i can feel my pressure going up.. i'd better stay away from this thread awhile.

:uhoh3: :confused:

Is it just me or does it seem that there's a direct correlation between a patient/family's socioeconomic status and the perceived degree of entitlement to "services"?

I've decided to try to work within the system in regards to visitors by reminding supervisors that we may not be in compliance with HIPPA regulations when we allow 15 visitors in a room and they are within earshot of Nurse to Nurse or MD conversations.

Is it just me or does it seem that there's a direct correlation between a patient/family's socioeconomic status and the perceived degree of entitlement to "services"?

I've decided to try to work within the system in regards to visitors by reminding supervisors that we may not be in compliance with HIPPA regulations when we allow 15 visitors in a room and they are within earshot of Nurse to Nurse or MD conversations.

Rich or poor, they all seem to act like jerks at times. It seems as though people forgotten their manners.

I like the HIPPA violations idea.

And people wonder why there is a nursing shortage??

I am always gracious and try to accomodate reasonable patient/family requests, but my name tag yesterday must have read 'Handmaid' instead of RN. I was instructed (not asked) by several different patients/family members the following:

"Go get us about eight or ten chairs so everybody can sit down in here."

"The baby's father hasn't had anything to eat today, can you make him something?" (This was 1930 and FOB who missed the 0915 delivery had just shown up).

"Can't you get the kids sandwiches?" (I was happy to bring graham crackers and juice, but was met with "Well, that's not enough for dinner.")

"I can't use a taxi voucher because that way I have to go right home. Don't you have a petty cash fund? I need to stop at my friend's house and the store first."

"My boyfriend wants a set of the baby's footprints, a copy of the baby's picture, and that test to make sure he's the father."

This, of course, all in addition to the usual "The baby's diaper needs to be changed," "Bring me another Percocet. Somebody here (a visitor, not the patient) has a headache," "Take his (another visitor's) blood pressure," and "He needs some scrubs to wear."

Sorry for the rant. Yesterday was a long 14-hour day and I just needed to get it out. :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

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