Published
I agree that the term "patient satisfaction scores" gives me a rash. In healthcare there are times we do things patients may not like because they are uncomfortable or the prep is inconvenient. In nursing there are times when we cannot be in three places at once and must prioritize our actions thus leaving someone on a bedpan longer than desired. When guiding a stretcher to CT with transport, sometimes a wall is unintentionally is bumped as we move around patients in the hall because there are too many patients in the ER than rooms to care for them.
I understand patients are less than 100% happy if some of these things occur. Both my father and nephew are currently in hospital for care that requires long term admissions and I sometimes cringe when I hear about what a doctor or nurse has said or done. But to put this to a satisfaction score similar to when I purchase something on Amazon is shortsighted at best. If asked people may remember being on the the bedpan, not that they were saved from a serious infection.
How this impacts this horrendous exercise is that these scores were the impetus for them. Nurses, for the most part, do all they can to care for their patients. To propose this "Bootcamp" implies no respect to the men and women who occupy this profession at their institution. I agree with those who label it abussive.
It does call to mind the end of the film "The Doctor" when he proposed that each of his residents would be assigned an illness and be given all the tests and experiences associated with it. The implication being they would be better doctors as he had become now since he had been a patient. While this is an amusing and thoughtful end to the movie I don't think it is necessary for the same reason this "Bootcamp" wasn't. We nurses are taught to understand our patients from nursing school on. Any administrator or educators who had come from the trenches would know this.
I've been reading comments on that article from non-healthcare workers, and I'm feeling a bit sickened by how they think of nurses and nurse aides.
If increasingly people think it's OK to treat nurses like dog s***, why wouldn't students like me just go into other professions like stock broker?
I'm not a nurse yet, but having worked with them over the years I know how hard they work and the kind of ungrateful s*** they go through.
Shame on anyone who actually thought this was a good idea, including whoever said so in this thread. As some mentioned, if you're going to 'simulate' how the patient is, bring in some of the s***ty aspects patients and their sometime f***ing crazy family members bring. I've seen nurses punched, kicked, scratched, yelled at, screamed at, spat on, pissed on, groped, and hit with thrown things. I've seen nurses break down in front of me, and have seen even seasoned, old nurses break down in tears,
F**K this s***.
Nurses do so much and it's the greedy administration and the A-hole patients and family members that have no idea how much nurses go through on a daily basis just to make peanuts.
I'm all about being a caring and effective person, but f*** you I'm also a damned good realist. I commend the nurses for bringing light to this and I would take it even further to make sure this kind of crap doesn't happen again.
First of all, I think this is ridiculous to put a professional through. Did these exercises relate directly to what the patients complained about? Is the hospital assuming that the fact that patients wait an inordinate period of time on a bedpan is the "fault" of the nurse? Is the nurse multi-tasking because she/he has not enough time to care for too many patients? I mean, once again, Nursesa re blamed for the short-comings of an entire system. Wrong!
That exercise just sounds awful. That is not how you treat your nurses. I can say though that I do know a few people who work at this hospital. They have all said actually how well staffed the units are (well the med-surg units anyways) and seem to like their jobs. Doing this sort of exercise is one way to run people off, though.
I have to admit I would have participated just to play the role of Worst Patient Ever. I would have banned everyone from my care except admin. I would have made a mess of the bed and everything else. I would have screamed in the hall for my pain meds and hit things. I would have threatened to sue and call the cops. Maybe if admin got close enough to tell me to stop it, I'd even kick or pull hair--though it would be even better if poo was involved. Oh I can empathize with the patient role if I need to.
The evil subversive in me thinks it could have been fun.
brandy1017, ASN, RN
2,910 Posts
I'm so jealous I wish I was old enough to retire! Isn't that crazy most people want to be young, but I keep wishing I was older and find myself envying the nurses closer to retirement!
I wrack my brain trying to come up with a solution but haven't found one. I'm just so tired of all the BS we have to put up with just to have a paycheck. I envy friends and family that worked for the govt and were able to retire with full pensions and health insurance after only 20-25 years. If only nurses were given that option. It would make the stress easier to deal with knowing an end was in sight!
Someone tell me where are all the good nursing jobs hiding? Or are they over the rainbow!