LOW patient satisfaction scores...

[MalgaBSN]

On our unit our patient satisfaction scores usually come back very low (press-ganey surveys). What are others experiences with patient satisfaction scores? My manager always ask why we think this is the case and it seems that no one has a response-- my only suggestion is that we are always staffed minimally (in my opinion) so if one labor patient walks through the door and stays we have to shift around all the staff or try to call someone in. I'm sure that patients "feel" that we are busy. Also, on postpartum I feel like a run my butt off and don't really have time to spend with the patients. I also think that a lot of the nurses are really damn lazy and do the minimal work (I just started doing PP and I get statements from patients like "I wish you were our nurse the whole time, we never saw our last nurse" etc)

Thoughts?

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

My son had to read the Disney book for an internship and I started to read it with much skepticism. It is written by a hospital exec (and he might have been a nurse to start his career) who trained with Disney and adapted lessons learned for the hospital setting.

It really was intriguing, especially the part about being a team.

He gives examples of how distructive it is to blame other members of the team ( example the bathroom isn't cleaned and you "blame" the housekeeper.

I highly recommend it.

That's a huge pet peeve of mine, when people blame another employee in the hospital for something. Very bad, in my opinion. It undermines the confidence and trust of the patient I think.

[queenjean]

As much as I HATE those surveys, I do think they bring some good points to light.

We have something different besides PG now. I can't remember what it iscalled (It was Jackson, but now it's changed names). Instead of pts filling out and returning surveys, every other or every third pt is called by the survey company. This gives a little better insight as the happy people give input, too.

The questions asked aren't as bad as they could be, I mean, they actually seem like they were written by people who know about health care. One thing that I like is that they differentiate between the care the physician provided and the care the nursing staff provides. We've noticed that our satisfaction scores in general have gone up because the "satisfied with the care your physician provided" and "did you feel your physician worked well with other members of your health care team" no longer count toward the floor score. He he.

There is also a question "Do you feel like your nurse had time to take care of you appropriately?" Hello, thank you for a question that directly relates to the pt's perception of staffing. That's incredibly helpful, I think, and it also makes the pt think, "Hmm, what about my stay was under my nurse's control and what wasn't?"

Anyhow, I read those surveys with a grain of salt, but I don't dismiss them outright, either. As perfect as we think we all are, when I see surveys that make specific comments like "Could hear nurses using foul language at the nurses station" or "Nurse never asked about my allergies" or "Nurse never introduced herself" these are small reminders to me to make sure I am not guilty of these things. While I highly doubt that most pts are able to assess my skill level, I do think they can still provide insight into some of my nursing actions,and I'll take whatever constructive criticism I can get.

[NITEOBRN]

I Have To Say I Attended A Seminar By Fred Lee And Read The Book If Disney Ran Your Hospital All Very Good Stuff.sometimes We All Run Short Staffed But I Doubt That Is The Only Reason Patients Are Unsatisfied. Look At The Questions On The Press Ganey That Reflect Nursing Care This Is Were You Should Focus. For Example Did The Staff Respect Your Privacy? Well Of Course We All Pull The Curtain And Close Blinds Before Vag Exams But The Patient Only Remembers Three Strangers Looking Between Her Legs At Delivery. So When You Pull The Curtain Tell Your Patients Let Me Close This To Protect Your Privacy. These People Are More Likely To Say The Staff Respected Their Privacy Than Another Patient Who's Curtain Was Also Closed But Didn't Hear Why And Probably Didn't Even Take Notice. These Simple Changes In What You Say To Your Patients But Not Really Changing Your Care Of Your Patients Can Make Big Impact. This Is Just One Thing I Got Out Of The Book. Definately Worth Reading

[twentyyears]

Our hospital used to have press gainey do our surveys, we have since changed to (PRC) Professional Research Consultants. Since the change our scores seem to reflect better the care we give. The OB dept that I work in has won an award for the highest satisfaction scores that PRC surveys, in the 90%. Members of our team will be going to Baltimore to recieve the award

[NurseNora, BSN, RN]

:lol2:I just went to Amazon to look for the Disney book mentioned above. In light of the comments about how there are some people who are just impossible to please, there were several reader reviews of the book--one person hated it and gave it only 1 star saying she would give zero if she could; all the other reviews gave 5 stars. Hope I don't ever get that one reviewer as my patient.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

:lol2:I just went to Amazon to look for the Disney book mentioned above. In light of the comments about how there are some people who are just impossible to please, there were several reader reviews of the book--one person hated it and gave it only 1 star saying she would give zero if she could; all the other reviews gave 5 stars. Hope I don't ever get that one reviewer as my patient.

But you know you probably will, and she'll write the hospital AND fill out the dang survery! That's my luck, anyway!

[magz53]

I have used the suggestion from NITEOBRN since I read it........while pulling the curtain, shutting the door, using a drape etc. etc. I always say now " Let me protect your privacy" It is kind of a self-defense move really. I am also better about introducing myself. I have always said, Hi.My name is...... Now I say, "Let me introduce myself" hoping something will click when they see the survey. But like I said before, some people look for things to complain about. So many past threads show this. I recently had one girl ( yes GIRL...I can't call her a woman ) and she was beyond miserable with the F word being her favorite. Didn't like anything or anyone. One exchange went like this. Me: " Can I get you something to drink ? " Her : " You can take the F---ing water out of here ! " I so wanted to say .......in a sweet voice of course.........." Now that really wasn't an answer to my question now, was it ?? Shall we try again ? " Grrrrrrrrrrrrr The majority of the time these miserable people have miserable lives..........but then again, I am still working beyond the age I thought I could retire because I have to.......and they are NOT working !!!!! But that is another thread............and I vent again. :-)