Anyone else feel like a robot reciting customer service scripts all the time?

Nurses Relations

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Just wanted to vent at how stupid it is to have to recite the same script (AIDET, for those of you unlucky enough to know what I'm talking about) for every patient all the time, with the whole point being to implant the words "very good care" in their minds so that the hospital can get higher-rated patient satisfaction surveys. "Very good care" is the utmost highest level you can rate the facility on the survey. I am one of those people where, if I'm going to give you the highest possible rating, you better be darn near perfect. So I don't find it surprising if people do not choose that option. Does management really think if you keep saying "very good care" all the time that it will actually brainwash the patients into giving us that rating? I know all this has to do with the future tying of reimbursement to patient satisfaction surveys (which to me is ridiculous--if they want to tie reimbursement to anything, it should be the overall quality of clinical outcomes, IMHO) but I just feel like such a drone having to recite a script all the time. I believe my interactions with my patients should be organic and sincere and not some stupid script where I am trying to brainwash them. It just really irks me. Plus we get audited on them constantly. OK. Rant over.

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.

I would feel exactly as you do. And I just think I would have to refuse to do it.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

"Is there anything else I can get for you? I have the time!"

"We know you have many choices, so I'd like to thank you for choosing ABC Hospital."

"Your doctor is very good!"

"My goal is to exceed expectations and provide very good care!"

"Thank you for choosing ABC Hospital and I wish you well!"

"I want to assure you that we will do everything possible to exceed your expectations."

"Our goal is to provide you with very good care!"

"In 7 to 10 days, you will receive a survey from the hospital regarding the stay."

I'm calling shenanigans. I do not use scripting because it sounds phony and insults the intelligence of the patients. Scripting also insults our intelligence.

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Specializes in L & D; Postpartum.

I have had patients TELL me that they don't want to hear it again....having heard it ad nauseum for umpteen times before I arrive.

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Specializes in ICU,ED, Corrections, dodging med-surg.

I don't think I could MAKE myself say, "Thank you for choosing our hospital when you have so many others to choose from". (which is in our script as well):down: with scripts!

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Specializes in LTC Rehab Med/Surg.

The script circulated for about a month. Nobody used it. Nobody monitored who did or did not use it. It kinda got shuffled to the FILE box.

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Specializes in IMCU/PCU.

Uh...is Raggedy-Ann made of polyester?! LOL! Social engineering...and YES, most hospitals I've worked for do it in some form or fashion.

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To be honest, I am really not that great at getting it all out. I'll do part of it all the time, but the brainwashing part I leave out. I do like to go over the plan of care anyway.

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Yuck, so unnatural, I would say I did it, but not really do it.

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Specializes in Pedi.

You couldn't PAY me to recite lines from a script to my patients. Though I am 100% convinced that management level people go to meetings where they are fed lines to give to employees who voice concerns over anything. No kool-aid for me, thanks.

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
"Your doctor is very good!"

In nursing school,while discussing therapeutic communication (which nurses, as a whole, do not do all that well...but I digress) we were specifically taught not to say this, particularly when the pt saying something to the effect of "I don't know much about that doctor....I hope I will be all right." Saying this ("he is a great doctor") makes the pt think you are ignoring their feelings and that you don't want to talk about their fears, etc.....ahh, nursing school.

Anyway, in the ER I can envision a conversation with a patient being discharged; Me: "thank you for choosing us today for your healthcare needs, I hope you choose us in the future. Your excellent care today was provided by nurse XXX and by Dr. DDD. Please have a safe trip home." Pt would then say "hey, I came in by ambulance for my sore throat, I need a taxi slip for a ride home!" Me: "I'm terribly sorry sir, we do not have the ability to provide transportation home. But it was our pleasure to serve you today. We hope you enjoyed the quality services we provided to you." Pt: "You ******* I need a way home! And a turkey sandwich! (for the *s, insert your favorite crude name) And quit telling me how wonderful this ****hole ER is."

Point is, I think it would be pretty silly (stupid?) to try and go with a script for most of our ER pts.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Step-Down.

The whole customer service idea is silly IMO. It's not that I don't want my patients to be entirely happy with their stay and if I have time then I will absolutely round and see if I can get my patients anything. The problem is that patients don't usually understand prioritization, so they don't understand that my inability to bring them a pitcher of water may be because I have a patient currently in respiratory distress who I have to tend to. It also leads patients to think we are waitresses, IMO. The other day I was leaving work and some man came up to me and asked me where he could get a cup of coffee. I nicely explained to him that the cafeteria was closed, but that there is a nice coffee shop right across the street. He subsequently got annoyed and told me that he was too overweight to walk across the street, and would I be able to get him a cup of coffee from the cafeteria (keep in mind that I wasn't on my unit anymore, was off work, and this man was a stranger to me). I repeated that the cafeteria was closed, and he scoffed off annoyed that I couldn't make a cup off coffee appear out of thin air. I also had a parent yell at me for 15 minutes because "food services continues to bring up food that a toddler will not eat" (ie barbeque chicken and green beans), I asked her what her son likes and she replied "hamburgers and french fries". I had to explain to her that food services does not serve that, and her son was on a sodium restricted diet so shouldn't have that anyways. She clearly wasn't "satisfied" with my response. I am here to be a nurse, and promote good health. Sometimes reality is not what patients/families want to hear, and that is going to contribute to lower patient satisfaction surveys. I'm very blunt with my patients and if I have a higher priority to deal with then I tell them, most people understand after that but unfortunately some still don't. I agree with the OP that we should focus on clinical outcomes more than patient satisfaction surveys. Wouldn't it be nice to be handed a nurse satisfaction survey and have management do rounds to ask if there is anything WE need?

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