Patient Surveys..vent.

Altra, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2012

Those comments are *mild* compared to some I've seen. I think of it as being similar to reading travel/restaurant/movie reviews ... of patients describing the same unit/staff, some will say "Fantastic!!", some will say, "Worst experience of my life!" and most will be somewhere in between those two extremes. A few will even be relevant.

netglow, ASN, RN · Jan 9, 2012

Hey, my father who is in his 80's will ding you if you didn't smile enough. So, for his crowd all you have to do is be bubbly and full of smiles ...you could screw up everything else and that would not matter.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2012

I am having a moment so please excuse me.
I can't stand these stupid surveys but I know they are here to stay. Patients give us (the nurses) poor ratings based on things like:
Took too long to get ice
The lab had trouble drawing my blood
They woke me up too much
Nobody offered me a bath
Those are actual comments.
I value my patients and recognize that their perception is their reality but I think it has gone overboard.
I have yet to see any complaints like:
My oxygen fell off and no one helped me put it back on when I called
I complained of chest pain and was ignored for 30 minutes
Accidently pulled out IV and was left bleeding for 10 minutes
Why? Probably because we respond pretty quickly to things that are a higher priority.

Sounds just like the comments we get on these damn surveys. Complaints are usually to the tune of:

The apple juice wasn't cold enough

There aren't enough channels on the TV

My child got woken up in the middle of the night (and how, pray tell, would we do q 4 hr neuro checks without waking the patient up?)

The kitchen took too long to bring the food tray up

I waited on hold for too long when ordering food

I didn't have a private room.

I waited too long in the ER.

NONE of the complaints we get have anything to do with Nursing. So why do these results get posted in the nurses' room with neon paper and remarks like this highlighted? What do you want ME to do about the wait time in the ER or the kitchen?

yuzzamatuzz · Jan 9, 2012

I have realized that many many people also have a hard time understanding the differences between roles in the hospital and who does what. Even though I always introduce myself to my patients as their nurse for the day, I have had many call me doctor later on. I even had a patient once say "The nurses aren't taking care of me! They are awful! That's why you guys always have to bring me my tylenol, because they keep saying that they can't bring it!" I was very confused and explained that I was the nurse, to which the patient was shocked and stated that she thought I was the doctor. She was mad because the nursing assistants weren't bringing her tylenol when she had a fever, and was under the impression she kept having to ask the doctor to get it for her because they wouldn't do it. I clarified roles to her but she still seemed pretty confused. We get a lot of complaints too that on the floor patients feel they don't get as much attention as in the ICU (which is exactly how it should be). Also lots of complaints about vital signs being done every 4 hours, their nurse not being at the nursing station every second of the day (because we have multiple patients...), and having to wait more than 5 minutes sometimes for a call bell to be answered (once again often because we have multiple patients). I am very honest with patients and will tell them if I have a greater priority at the moment, but will come back as soon as I can. In general people respond very well to that, but not always. Sometimes the truth hurts.

RainMom · Jan 9, 2012

I always let my patients know to hit their light if they need anything, BUT I also tell them that we tend to get very busy during the last 1-2 hrs of the shift (nights on ortho), so don't be surprised if it takes several minutes to answer. This way, hopefully, they'll put the call light on a little early when they feel the need to use the commode, realizing that it may be a bit before someone comes to help. Most of the patients I've had have been very understanding & realize they are not the only person I take care of, but occasionally there will be one that gets upset if the call light has been on for more than a couple minutes even though all they want is an extra blanket or a cup of coffee. I had one patient who would put the light on & then just ask me what was going on in the hallways; he could hear more traffic & rolling vital machines, etc. Ummm, we're working?

Medic2RN, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Jan 9, 2012

Honestly, I lost interest in those surveys once I read about the ER staff being criticized by a patient who arrived unconscious, was intubated and sedated. If I knew the person was so unhappy, I would have asked....oh that's right....S/He was unconscious! LOL!

anotherone, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2012

I read them for the laughs but mostly they leave me feeling very angry. I especially love when the manager went ahead and posted one calling a nurse, " a fat b####" with a complaint about something trivial", the endless complaints about the food, care being better in icu. People complain if you don't smile or worse "my mother is ill and the staff is smiling and laughing", " room not clean" ( why is this always a nursing issue, most of the time it is no!" yes i can organize the room or throw trash out if i have time, but i dont have time to scrub the floors or other stuff.

brownbook · Jan 9, 2012

Yikes, what in the heck does administration think by posting stupid complaints in neon in the staff lounge, unless they are there for a laugh? I occasionally see some our patient's feedback as they are being entered into the computer. The clerk will call us over for the egregious ones. One patient complained that they weren't told they would have a nasal cannula after surgery, I work in PACU.

At our monthly meetings valid, complaints will be mentioned, or if there is a lot of complaints about one specific issue. But we don't see the stupid ones.

Positive comments are posted in our lounge, much more inspiring than stupid "my coffee was cold" ones.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Jan 9, 2012

I read them for the laughs but mostly they leave me feeling very angry. I especially love when the manager went ahead and posted one calling a nurse, " a fat b####" with a complaint about something trivial", the endless complaints about the food, care being better in icu. People complain if you don't smile or worse "my mother is ill and the staff is smiling and laughing", " room not clean" ( why is this always a nursing issue, most of the time it is no!" yes i can organize the room or throw trash out if i have time, but i dont have time to scrub the floors or other stuff.

The best complaint I ever got was a mother who complained that the child in the other bed (her son's roommate) had vomited and staff disposed of the vomit in the toilet. In her mind this meant that her son could not use the bathroom because the vomit (which had been flushed several hours earlier) was going to infect his surgical incision. I wonder how this woman thinks vomit should be disposed of?

vashtee, RN · Jan 9, 2012

I hate those surveys, too. Our nurse manager insists on having meetings to go over them as a group (this after 12.5 hour days), and they really only ever cover the complaints. It's so demoralizing.

Also, based on these stupid surveys, they are actually giving us a SCRIPT about how to speak to patients (thanks to one or two surly nurses), and they intend to shadow us on rounds to see how well we do. It's so insulting. I wish management would just grow some testicles and speak directly to the one or two nurses with attitude issues.

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Jan 9, 2012

although I understand that the purpose is patient satisfation and that we are being reimbursed by insurance based on these scores, I too wonder about the validity of the survey. I do not like associating nurses with room service. I do not believe the survey captures REAL issues with patient satisfaction. They are all unsatsified once they get the bill anyway.