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 CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i wish healthcare facilities could go back to the old days of limited visitation hours instead of the ridiculous 24-hour open visitation policies that many places have enacted. it would make my job easier and safer if i didn't have 10 visitors in the room at 9pm who refuse to leave for invasive procedures.
of course, i'm practicing "bad customer service" by even daring to ask these people to step out for a moment.
in addition, management does absolutely nothing when patients and families curse, swear, make threats, or act in a menacing manner.
i couldn't agree with you more. even when it's in the patient's best interest to ask them to step out, if someone complains, you get dinged for customer service. i'm sick of both the obnoxious visitation policies and the nutty customer service craze.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
it's medicine and customer service, sorry. obviously there are times when things simply can't be allowed for their safety for medical reasons, but hell if a couple that's been married 40 years wants to stay together i say let them. get the other half a recliner and a pillow and tell them how happy you are that they're here to help watch harry or betty when you can't be in the room. i absolutely excel at kissing patient/family asses and i don't mind owning it.
makes the job a lot more pleasant for everyone when they think you're on their team, not just there to enforce a bunch of rules. i think they're more likely to listen to why the rules are in place when you're willing to do everything else in your power to make someone happy. i joke with them a lot. i have no problem saying no when it's needed, but on the other hand i get really fed up with nurses on a power trip enforcing rules just because they want to be seen as in charge of the whole situation. (i'm not accusing anyone here of this necessarily, just saying what i've observed)
the problem with some nurses not following the rules is that you get to be the "good nurse," and anyone who does follow the rules is "the bad nurse." harry or betty's spouse may be absolutely sweet, pleasant and cooperative. but if they get to stay, agatha or amos' spouse then wants to stay as well -- and they may be entitled, obnoxious and obstructive.
yeah just today, I was walking in the hallway and I heard Nurse Nurse in a screaming voice ( not my patient.) I went running in thinking maybe someone was having a MI or maybe had fallen no he was like take my tray I am done with it no please or anything! This is from a alert and oriented 50 something year old
the problem with some nurses not following the rules is that you get to be the "good nurse," and anyone who does follow the rules is "the bad nurse." harry or betty's spouse may be absolutely sweet, pleasant and cooperative. but if they get to stay, agatha or amos' spouse then wants to stay as well -- and they may be entitled, obnoxious and obstructive.
about the good nurse, bad nurse...omg thats so true!!
a lady calls me last sat morning and wants to know how mom is doing. me" do you have a code?", her "no, just tell me how mom is". so i explain i am unable to tell her anything over the phone butwhen she comes in, i will help her put a code on the chart so she can call anytime. she went off on me! demanding to talk to the admin, the don, the supervisor (i am the supervisor, lol). no matter how many times i explained there is this little law that prevents me from telling her anything without a code, it didnt matter. she kept screaming that i was the only one that refused to tell her anything over the phone. it did me no good to say anything, i was the "bad nurse", even though i was following the law.
i watch court tv every day during the week. i dont wanna be on there!
Nursing is not the field of medicine. The medical model is drastically different from the nursing model.
Nursing is not medicine. Medicine is not nursing. Nurses don't practice medicine, and doctors don't practice nursing.
If you're not working in the field of medicine, I'm not sure what you're doing. I don't care what "model" you're looking at, that's just semantics at this point.
I'm really glad I work with people who mainly feel like I do, that it's possible to do your job without being a hardass or some sort of Exalted Policy Enforcer. If you don't want to call it ass kissing, call it TLC, but it's all the same thing. It makes the whole experience smoother for everyone involved, even if it's just little things like making sure the patient always has fresh ice water or enough pillows or a warm blanket if they're cold. Yes, some people are just obnoxious, but most respond readily to a smile and a little ass kissing. The patients DO notice those things. Why wouldn't you want your shift to be more pleasant for both of you? I can guarantee you coming in with both guns blazing doesn't make anyone feel any better.
I've been told many, many times by patients that they always want to come to our floor if given the choice because we're "the nicest". Now it's true if you're dying you don't necessarily care about "nice" but we're also a specialized unit that is good at what it does. A well-oiled machine compared to other places I've been and we may turn over 20 or more patients in a day sometimes. I don't give a rat's patoot about Press-Gainey scores but we do consistently have the highest ones in the hospital and it's no mystery why. I've worked most of those other floors as a float.
So are you going to ban the family from visiting ever, because of this ONE wife? Why would anyone go get a spouse a tray? Tell them where the vending machines are. I joke about ass kissing but I never said anywhere that anyone should be a doormat.
When you've been married 40 years and your spouse is laying in a hospital bed, would YOU want to be kicked out when they could simply get you a recliner? They've been together all that time...most people enjoy having their spouse stay with them. They might be old and scared. Let's be honest, most spouses don't go around messing with IVs. I know because I work nights and we have spouses staying together all the time. It's rare that they cause any issues at all, other than sometimes they can be really annoying. Again, I said you don't need to be a doormat.
Hope that helps, I don't come here intending to fight. I have had more than enough of that on other sites. I like the loads of insight and knowledge I get here.
I wish healthcare facilities could go back to the old days of limited visitation hours instead of the ridiculous 24-hour open visitation policies that many places have enacted. It would make my job easier and safer if I didn't have 10 visitors in the room at 9pm who refuse to leave for invasive procedures.
Of course, I'm practicing "bad customer service" by even daring to ask these people to step out for a moment.
In addition, management does absolutely nothing when patients and families curse, swear, make threats, or act in a menacing manner.
"The patient comes first", was exemplified by the nurse explaining the patient's NOT having a milk shake was more beneficial to him/her, than having one. Sometimes people exaggerate a desire, to distract them from their suffering. I guess the patient was sedated, and if family were aiding in the attempt to thwart her/his recovery, you could always say that it was an aberrant reaction to that. People regress when sick, back to a time when they were given things through the behavior being exibited. Perhaps if you asked the patient what, other than food would make him/her more comfortable........ explaining that taking anything into their digestive tract would make them more miserable. We are there to help patients, not fulfil all their wishes, especially if doing that would (a) make their condition worse (b) be against their doctor's order, which could endanger your license, if you went against that.
Obviously 10 visitors is 8 too many. Certainly their presence during an invasive procedure (? injection, dressing change?) cannot be tolerated, as patients must have privacy then. Security needed to be called to get the them out. After that, only the 2 people who are the closest related to the patient should return. No one can relate coherently to 10 people at once, even when well!
Bedside parties can make patients' conditions deteriorate, and disturb other patients. Visitors who refuse to leave when security tells them to leave, or use threats, need the police called in - not the threat of that, as that could endanger hospital staff and patients. Just the sudden appearance of officers in uniform should do the trick to remove them.
Management can't be there 24/7, and extra reinforcements may be called, if they're not there. If they don't like that, then call them in to keep the peace, and explain to patient relations staff, that going against doctor's orders isn't permitted.
Curtailing visiting hours because of bad mannered groups, could hamper many other patients who need the comfort of having their loved ones near them. I worked when strict visiting hours had to be enforced by nurses, and that was just a waste of our time. Hang in there, handling difficult patients will become easier, with time.
KellyKelly, I don't think you are getting it. Nursing is not medicine. Medicine is not nursing. I don't practice medicine, I practice nursing. Don't know why you aren't understanding that. It's not semantics, it's the truth and I know what I am doing and it's nursing.
The model does matter, medicine and nursing are two very different things.
While I agree with you TraumaNurse07, I think it is more of the questions' phraseing than the meaning. If re-phrased to "What is more important in Nursing: medical requirements or customer service scores?" I dont think there would be any confusion.
We all know the difference between the nursing and medical models and I think there maybe a, (dare I say it?), red herring thrown into the mix.
Specializes in Acute Care Cardiac, Education, Prof Practice.
I would rather have a rude nurse that will save my life than a super nice one that doesn't know what she's doing....
If only life was so pefectly black and white.
I am sorry to those of you who have to work in facilities that don't support you as nurses. I can see how that can be a very big burden.
However I feel in nursing there are a few types of patients. The pure and simple PITA that just doesn't get it that NO you can NOT get her drunk boyfriend some pain meds for his fingers that he somehow smashed in a window the hour he was gone from the hospital.
Then there are the ones that seem biligerent, but really just don't understand WHY they can't/can do something. I had a patient once that was refusing his insulin all day. I came in at shift change and said "do you understand why we use insulin in the hospital?" He stated no, I explained it too him and he was completely compliant there on out.
A lot of times customer service is more about slowing down, taking a breath and answering a few questions.
Did I say it was the nurse's fault? Or am I always supposed to simply assume it was 100% the family member's fault?
People typically have a reason, sometimes valid and sometimes not, for being leery. Seems to me that a little self-review of how we as nurses come across to family members in a particular situation isn't a bad thing.
Yeah, bring back the visiting hours. What gets me is those married people who have been together say 40 years and when the other half goes into the hospital, the other one is there caring for their every whim and letting you know that everything you do is wrong! I agree that clients should be treated well after all, without their money I would not have a place to work but the a#$ kissing has got to stop.
Above is all I said. This is one type of pt that bugs me which wants me to see visiting hours back. This opinion does not make me a bad nurse and I am new at the customer service game for sure. I'm not here to fight either, just made an opinion of mine, sorry it upset you enough to give you the need to belittle my skills. I guess once I have "serviced" as many years as you I will be able to tolerate more. I still wish the visiting hours would come back because there are pt families that really hinder my job regardless that for the most part they are good for the healing process...I think that is an o.k. statement for me to say or do you think I should just give up nursing due to my lack of intolerance for certain situations? Peace to all.
Ruby Vee, BSN
17 Articles; 14,051 Posts
i couldn't agree with you more. even when it's in the patient's best interest to ask them to step out, if someone complains, you get dinged for customer service. i'm sick of both the obnoxious visitation policies and the nutty customer service craze.