Patient Surveys..vent.

anotherone, BSN, RN · Jan 10, 2012

The doctors get mentioned in the surveys managemnt posts also. Not nearly anywhere near the amount nursing does but stuff like : took too long to write discharge orders, took too long to order pain meds, didn't order dilaudid as I am allergic to everything else, kept me without eating for 1 day!!!!!, too many doctors saw me (hahaha).

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Jan 10, 2012

My recent hospitalization resulted in me calling my friend, at work, she works for an attorney. I simply stated to her that my side rail had been getting it's blood pressure checked q 15 min for the past 1 1/2 hr but I had not seen a nurse since it had been attached. This call was heard by a clerk who happened to be doing something in the room. She obviously reported it to a nurse who came in and informed me they were busy with a sick person. Imagine my surprise when I had been brought in by ambulance with a sky high B/P and chest pain. I thought I might behaving an MI. The resident, when I saw her, thought I had an aneurysm. But according to this nurse, I was not sick, and did not require either direct or monitoring observation. At least, that is what I took out of her one sided conversation that she threw at me from the doorway.

I was totally with you until I realized you were well enough to phone a friend to snark. An evolving MI or aneurysm causes too much pain to even think about that, and you'd have at least two people attending you at all times. So no, you were probably not the sickest.

Guttercat, ASN, RN · Jan 10, 2012

I was totally with you until I realized you were well enough to phone a friend to snark. An evolving MI or aneurysm causes too much pain to even think about that, and you'd have at least two people attending you at all times. So no, you were probably not the sickest.

Agreed but you have to admit that, "hey, my siderail has been getting its blood pressure checked every 15 minutes" was pretty funny. Bad practice, but funny in the black humor sense. :)

In other news, I ran over a poor little "obviously somebody's pet" kitty on my way to work the other morning, just a mile from the hospital. Snapped its back and the poor thing was trying to drag itself off the busy, rush hour street on its two front legs.

Broke my heart.

Scooped it up, laid her in my backseat and dropped her off at mom's until the humane society came out and picked her up.

Mom babysat kitty who lay paralyzed from the mid section down on a cushion we made for her. Kitty just wanted someone there petting her and offering soothing words...she'd start meowing if mom left. Kitty would look at her, raise her little head and purr. Mom, who is not at all a cat-fan, said she'd never turn this cat away if it turned up at her door...it was that sweet.

Humane society put her down...they said she was the sweetest cat ever.

Then, I went to work where the patients complain about ice and such, and hospital-induced paralysis (IcanpickupmycellphonetenfeetawaybutIcan't reachmykleenexboxthreeinchesfrommynoseandnoonewouldhelpmeeeee!)

I wish human-patients were more like animal-patients. I'd think they'd be more realistic in satisfaction surverys...

Morainey, BSN, RN · Jan 10, 2012

Oh my gosh :crying2: your story about the kitty made me want to cry. Thank you for being so kind.

kmarie724 · Jan 11, 2012

I got one for my recent hospital stay. There was almost a full page of questions about the food service!

TopazLover, BSN, RN · Jan 11, 2012

I was totally with you until I realized you were well enough to phone a friend to snark. An evolving MI or aneurysm causes too much pain to even think about that, and you'd have at least two people attending you at all times. So no, you were probably not the sickest.

Actually I did not think so much that I was having an MI. Having taken care of scores of folks who were in denial and had MIs I was second guessing continuously. I knew in my heart I was not having an aneurysm. Mostly I was scared that I would stroke out because my B/P was so high when I was taken in. That was why it annoyed me so much that I was not having B/Ps taken.

I told my friend on the phone so she could get my SO, her boss, in to see me. It might have been snarky but I was the one getting stat CT with contrast. I did not want to be alone. I figured I should see a nurse at least once in a while if only to check on the fact that I had not used the call bell. Of course I didn't. It was on the other side of the room.

The doctors seemed concerned even though the initial enzymes were not elevated. They believed I had something cardiac going on enough that they wanted to transfer me to the cardiac specialty hospital.

Don't assume that because I did not have horrible pain that I was healthy. Some of the deadest arrests I have worked on had little pain.

PeepnBiscuitsRN · Jan 11, 2012

We post our patient reviews in our break room. I've only seen a handful of things that apply to nursing staff- and of that handful only a few that would be understandable ("a group of nurses outside my room were socializing and getting a little loud and it was hard to sleep") the rest was aimed, by and large at the food services- taking too long for breakfast/lunch/dinner trays to arrive, the food being terrible (ok, I had both my kids at this hospital, and sorry, the food really does leave a lot to be desired..but can the nurses do anything about that? No!) Saw one particularly venomous comment: "how about you actually hire some Americans who really need jobs?" Oh and there were a few complaints about doctors too.

wooh, BSN, RN · Jan 11, 2012

Do any of you find yourselves becoming numb to this CSR stuff?

I've reached the point where I just don't care. It really doesn't matter what we do or don't do, the surveys are designed to find something we did wrong.

But what I really wonder....

Why when someone is mad already, and they're of course crazy, and won't be made happy....

Why do we spend more time and effort on them? If they're going to be giving us bad scores anyway, let's quit putting time and effort into them. Put the time and effort into other people we've got a chance with. I'm soooo tired of rewarding their bad behavior with more time and attention. You're unhappy with our "care"? Fine, we'll give you the bare minimum until you're gone. There are plenty of people in the hospital that appreciate what we do. I'm tired of wasting time on people that are going to screw us anyway.

wooh, BSN, RN · Jan 11, 2012

What's interesting is that when the hospital scores poorly on employee satisfaction surveys, this is their excuse. "It's a one-sided view, only unhappy staff filled it out." So, you had a 74% response rate therefore 74% of your staff are unhappy? And you're ok with that?

I actually tried to go up the chain to ask why a 80% staff satisfaction score was ok (for judging the bigwigs) but anything short of 95% on patient satisfaction is not ok (for judging us peons).

I was advised to stop asking.

Caffeine_IV · Jan 11, 2012

I know that this will all be tied into reimbursement. But I don't believe that dissatisfied patient = they received poor care or had a bad outcome.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Jan 12, 2012

I actually tried to go up the chain to ask why a 80% staff satisfaction score was ok (for judging the bigwigs) but anything short of 95% on patient satisfaction is not ok (for judging us peons).
I was advised to stop asking.

Your people must have gone to the same "how to deal with your staff when they start asking questions" training that TBTB at my institution go to.

AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN · Jan 12, 2012

See, that right there would have just made me ask MORE.