I'm sorry, but I didn't realize I signed up to please the customer. While the nurses go around reminding the patients this is a hospital, not a hotel, we get notices that we SHOULD make these people feel like they're in a hotel. Or "even if you know they're wrong, you should apologize and let them know that they're right" THIS IS AN ACTUAL MEMO THAT APPEARED IN MY MAILBOX.
... oh but it gets worse.
I got tapped on the shoulder by the "hospital customer service rep" telling me this patient (customer) really really wants a milkshake and would really make her day if she could have a milkshake. And I tell this rep this patient just had a bowel resection yesterday and not only can she NOT have a milkshake, but she probably can't even have water, even ice, for the next couple days. I spend all day listening to this patient whine and complain, and now the hospital has provided her a rep to follow me out in the hallway to whine and complain. And neither of them can admit that although a milkshake would make the patient really happy for about 15 mins, going back to surgery and prolonging the recovery would not. I know there's a lot of things in the medical field that seem downright cruel. But if we go by "the customer is always right" keep the patient/customer happy, there will be consequences.
Should customer service be #1 priority? Or am I just being delusional believing that patient safety is more important than patient satisfaction?
Specializes in Med/surg, pediatrics, gi, gu,stepdown un.
I am being to feel I should have gone into the business field, instead of nursing.
The administrators are always telling us " the customer is always right" Stop calling our patients "customers" It really gives the wrong impression of what a hospital setting is all about. I may be wrong but shouldn't we be trying to heal our patients and teach them how to take better care of themselves?
Think of all the extra nurses we could hire at the BEDSIDE to do patient care if we didn't throw billions of dollars into USELESS nursing research, and cut the nurse executives in HALF, and stopped generating advertisement journals with a splash of real information, and had "paperwork reduction act" in healthcare like we did in taxes. I am all for valuable research, but how many billions of dollars do we have to spend to define the concept of "nurse"!!!!!!!!!!! aaaaaarrrrrrrggggggg. Thank you for letting me post. And if we get into politically biased conversations where everyone ASSumes that all nurses are or ought to be democrats, I am resigning my membership LOL
OMG I so totally agree. Theories of nursing, concepts of nursing, defining what a nurse is, geez. Make it relevant for goodness sakes. We take care of people!! That is what we are, that is what we do. I want to know how we can do things better, not what I am. This is why I did not go for an MSN, but an MBA instead. I need education I can USE.
BTW, I don't like calling them customers OR clients. I am not a lawyer (or a prostitute), nor do I work in sales. I don't serve them or wait on them. I take care of them and teach them to take care of themselves. I want them to be my patients. It implies a trusting, caring relationship.
I absolutely EXCEL at kissing patient/family asses and I don't mind owning it.
I like the way you think haha
I am not a nurse yet, so probably shouldn't answer this, But I have volunteered and worked as an emt and at a hospital, so here is my $0.02. I don't mind kissing a little a$$, if it makes them more comfortable and helps them get better. I mean the milkshake thing was obviously just ridiculous, but if they want their family by their side at every hour, an extra blanket, the tv clicker or a coke I'm more than happy to help them out. Now that doesn't mean that they shouldn't ask nicely and be respectful, but as long as their request isn't just wayyy out of line, I'm more than happy to cowtail to their whims, I mean, they are paying and probably are already feeling miserable. Of course, as I said, I'm not a nurse yet and don't have to worry about crazy patient loads, meds, and all that, so I can see how it would be frustrating if they are constantly wanting something.
Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
Should customer service be #1 priority?
O ,sure-why not? If we were staffed for that we could fluff pillows and save lives all day long. As it is now we are lucky to get out alive at the end of the day sometimes....
Why not? Because you obviously don't get it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being nice, smiling, going the extra mile, etc. But when patient requests are detrimental to their health, and nursing tries to reinforce the healing, which does not always = happiness, mgmt chops nurses' legs off at the knees. Many times, in order to get better, there must be pain and agony of some sort- going NPO, ambulating, deep breathing and coughing, enduring needle sticks. The problem comes when mgmt puts every little customer whim ahead of healing.
Nursing is the ART of integrating both. A difficult, but often awesome, challenge. Yes, our degrees are in Science, but how well prepared for total patient care were we, fresh out of school? I continue to learn all the time.
why not? because, and i go far upthread here, giving the patient a milkshake would compromise his health.
people come to the hospital for care. if all they needed was customer service, they'd be at a disney hotel.
why not, simply put. in today's society the customer/patient has come to expect this kind of service. whether right or wrong does not particularly matter anymore. the customer based approach and satisfaction is a necessary part of what we do. now we can fight it. or we can adapt to it. adaptation and evolving are necessary to the way things are done now. this is the shadow of things to come.
I come in for my 7p-7a shift. I'm getting a patient from PACU who's having hypotension after a minor surgery and is on some Neosynepherine to maintain the BP.
I get report. The nurse hasn't given any fluid. The patient hasn't urinated post op. (wth?)
The nurse brings the patient over. We get them all settled in.
"Oh that nurse was So nice. My gosh. I never expected to have such a nice nurse."
Now the patient and I are getting along fine. I don't think this is some sort of nice nurse/mean nurse manipulation thing. But the nurse didn't provide my patient with adequate interventions to try to fix the BP, and she didn't do anything about the fact that the patient hadn't urinated in 9 hours. She didn't suggest placing a foley- didn't even suggest to the patient he needed to try to pee. Didn't bladder scan him, didn't palpate to see if his bladder was full to bursting. Didn't even really acknowledge it as possible complication of his hypotension.
But she was "nice" so I guess it's alright.
I wasn't rude to this patient. Heck, we had a few laughs through my shift. I (as I sometimes do) felt priviledged to be part of the recovery process.
But the patient had a post-op hospitalization (should have gone home post-PACU) based on poor care from the nice nurse, so don't try to tell me "nice" cuts it. It doesn't. I won't suggest being rude or unprofessional is ever excusable, but customer service isn't, and shouldn't be our #1 focus.
Why not, simply put. In today's society the customer/patient has come to expect this kind of service. Whether right or wrong does not particularly matter anymore. The customer based approach and satisfaction is a necessary part of what we do. Now we can fight it. Or we can adapt to it. Adaptation and evolving are necessary to the way things are done now. This is the shadow of things to come.
The fact that the patient has come to expect this kind of service is one of the reasons why nursing can really suck. There is no way to adapt to the fact that your fluid overloaded CHF'er doesn't want to take their diuretics b/c "I'll pee all night long" as they blithely ignore their fluid restriction. Do you want to help your patients get well, or do you want to be a co-conspirator in their continued non-compliance?
I won't argue that there are times when compromise is acceptable. You want me to heplock off your fluids for fifteen minutes so that you can go to the bathroom without dragging your pump along? If you've got NS going at 50 mL/hr, OK. If you've got Dopamine or Cardizem going, forget it. It's your birthday, and you're stuck in the hospital, and you're a diabetic, but you want a small slice of birthday cake that your family brought in? OK, this one time, we can work together...you can have that small slice of cake instead of the graham crackers I have for you, but after I let you know it's gonna be an exception. You want to eat the whole cake? No go.
A lot of times it comes down to educatiing the patient and how willing they are to hear it, and then follow it. If they are willing to be educated regarding their condition and treatment, it's great. But how often does that actually translate into better compliance when at the hospital? Hearing it and having to do it are often two different things.
Also, to those that think "adult patients should have family members at the bedside 24/7 because the healthcare system is evil and no one cares and if I want my wife at the bedside I'll have her there or I'll have your license" obviously have never had to try to keep someone in bed because they full out lost their minds from sleep deprivation because everytime the monitor beeped wifey-poo was flipping out, and waking the patient up to make sure they're okay. and then after three days at the bedside wifey-poo smells like poo (cuz she can't go home to shower, oh no!) and is delirious herself and asking the same questions about the same medications, and plan of care, and how much does it cost to install one of the handicap toilets, and what medications are you giving now?... *sigh* It's not that we mind teaching, or explaining, or taking care of the patient as a holistic person and a member a family/community, but HOLY c**p you can't tell me that every single adult needs their loved one at the bedside every single day. Go home! Shower! Sleep! I'll call if anything happens, and I'll know because I slept all day yesterday and am 100% devoted to giving excellent patient care, not exhausted and so stressed that my eyes aren't focusing.
((Of course I'm not talking about the exceptions- actively dieing patient, etc.))
Ruffles 1
74 Posts
I am being to feel I should have gone into the business field, instead of nursing.
The administrators are always telling us " the customer is always right" Stop calling our patients "customers" It really gives the wrong impression of what a hospital setting is all about. I may be wrong but shouldn't we be trying to heal our patients and teach them how to take better care of themselves?