Magnet and the "Hilton Hospital" Mentality

[Tait]

***DISCLAIMER***

Please refrain from discussions on Magnet status. This is not a thread intended to discuss the value of Magnet or whether is it BS or not. I personally appreciate it more than I can say as our hospital takes great strides to utilize it, however I am aware that other hospitals simply use it as a PR point.

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There is another thread on "customer service" issues impeding patient care in some hospitals.

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/enough-is-enough-415217.html

My curiosity is if any of these hospitals have active Magnet governance. I work at one of the longest Magnet holding status hospitals in the southeast (12 years) and have never come across such blatant staff issues as I hear in some of these threads. We have our issues, don't get me wrong, but being forced into ridiculous customer service such as baked cookies and VIP rooms is not one of them.

Please answer the following two questions with simple answers so I might satisfy my curiosity!

1. Does your hospital have the "Hilton Hotel" mentality, if so please cite one example.

2. Is your hospital Magnet status?

Thank you in advance!!

Respectfully,

Tait

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

We're actively applying for magnet, and while we try and make things comfortable for the families, I wouldn't say we have a Hilton Hospital mentality. We let a family member sleep over, on a pull out chair. If a patient is hungry, they can order certain things between meals during the kitchen's hours. That sorta stuff.

[honeykrown, MSN, NP]

1. Yes, we are a Hilton Hospital at times. But for the most part it is not ridiculous. For example- admin uses the term "customer" instead of "patient" (nurses do not). Another example- if a "customer" asks an employee for directions, the employee is then expected to actually escort them to their destination. Unless of course they have another patient/customer with them already. I am really all for the customer service standards because they just make things easier because your "customers" are happier.

2. No Magnet Status- but I also have to say that my facility is good to their employees.

When as turn left at the end of the corridor or go down two flights been so hard to follow. What if you were on ur way to get ur other pt. Wonders shall never end.

[lizziebeth157]

1. Yes, we are a Hilton Hospital at times. But for the most part it is not ridiculous. For example- admin uses the term "customer" instead of "patient" (nurses do not). Another example- if a "customer" asks an employee for directions, the employee is then expected to actually escort them to their destination. Unless of course they have another patient/customer with them already. I am really all for the customer service standards because they just make things easier because your "customers" are happier.

2. No Magnet Status- but I also have to say that my facility is good to their employees.

Your hospital makes you do the escort thing too instead of just giving directions? I actually got chewed out by my manager for telling a patient how to get to the ICU waiting room (turn around, go down the hall on your left, it's the first door on your left). Seriously.

As to the OP, my hospital obviously has a Hilton Hospital mentality. Aside from the escort thing, we are also expected to go above and beyond to satisfy patient requests. If you go to the customer service thread, you can see my rant about the towel complaints. Another example is that i had a patient this past weekend who apparently thought i was his personal secretary. He was from out of state, passing through when he had an MI. Most of his family was in NY or FL. He was in my hospital in VA. Our patient phones don't call long distance so I offered to call someone from his family so they would know what happened. I made two calls for him, one did not answer, the other did and I transferred the call to his room and they talked for a while. Mission accomplished right? Nowhere close. Now he wants me to call his mother in the Dominican Republic. I called the operator, and they said that unless he had a credit card, they could not place an international call. I asked the patient, he did not have a credit card. Sorry Charlie, no call to mommy for you. Well he proceeded to complain to everyone who entered the room (lab techs, an echo tech, docs, CNAs) All of whom came out and asked me why i wouldn't call his mother for him. After I explained to one particular doctor why i didn't place the international call for him, she told me to give him my cell phone. I thought she meant the wireless phones that we carry at work, she said no, YOUR cell phone. I try to be respectful of the docs but that just pushed me over. I believe my exact words were "are you f***ing crazy?? give him yours!" oops... I'm sure that'll come back to bite me in the a55... If you can't tell I'm still rather irate over that whole situation. But seriously, give a patient my personal cell phone to make an international call? yeah and who's gonna foot that bill? Not me.

And we're applying for Magnet status. Just had our Magnet survey last month.

[WalkieTalkie, RN]

To me Magnet is a PR stunt. I haven't noticed anything different about our hospital since getting it... the only slight difference is that they ask yearly if we are ASN or BSN and if we are working towards being certified in our area of practice. Oh, and they will now reimburse for taking certs... but that's it.