Patient Surveys..vent.

[Caffeine_IV]

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.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

Need the job. And I like my bosses for two levels up. So I try to limit how much trouble I cause them because when I cause trouble, they get in trouble for not keeping their employees in line.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

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.

you've got a really good point there . . . i took care of a charming gentleman over the thanksgiving weekend who was upset because i wouldn't let his wife visit him. all night long, every other word out of his mouth was about his wife -- would i call her, would i go get her, why wasn't she there? nothing i said satisfied him. nothing. when he was discharged, his patient survey ripped me up one side and down the other for not letting his wife visit. in my manager's office, (and while she was on vacation, i might add) i was offered the opportunity to "explain" why i'd been so mean to this poor old man as to keep his wife from him.

and here i thought the fact that she'd been dead for five months was all the explanation that was needed. (for management, anyway -- obviously the patient didn't get it.)

of course they didn't even apologize to me for pulling me off the floor in front of all of my colleagues to have a chat with four levels of management!

there are some people that are never going to be happy no matter what. they're angry, they're entitled, they're sundowning, they're determined to be unhappy. and there are some people who really want to be happy and just one little thing would make the difference. we waste our time when we neglect the latter (usually quiet and well-mannered) to try to placate the former (usually loud and ill-mannered).

[AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN]

Oh. My. Freaking. LORD! Ruby? Did you tell them that if they wanted to go dig her up, be your guest? What's the rap for desecration of a grave now, anyway?

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

in some ways, management is like the patient population -- some of them can never be happy. you're wise to spend your energy pleasing those who can be pleased. my manager, when she came back from vacation, nearly laughed herself silly.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

Hehe Ruby! You should have told management that next time you'll take their advice and let him visit her.

[healthstar, BSN, RN]

Better surveys are needed :)

[JeneraterRN]

I actually like patient surveys!! It shows the hospital what a bunch of miserable nurses that I work with who are so negative and mean are really like. And it shows that people appreciate me, as a kind and helpful nurse.

I smell a one-sided story. I wonder what your coworkers would say to that comment?I'll hand it to my DON, she only shows us the positive comments really. She knows how irrelevant many of the comments are.

[AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN]

I smell a one-sided story. I wonder what your coworkers would say to that comment?I'll hand it to my DON, she only shows us the positive comments really. She knows how irrelevant many of the comments are.

I started to respond to that one myself, but I couldn't come up with anything sufficiently un-snarky, lol.

[JeneraterRN]

Ha, I'm hoping mine was. I really couldn't leave it alone.

[TopazLover, BSN, RN]

Better surveys are needed :)

If they want to discuss nursing care it need not be put in the casserole with nutrition and environment. It is it's own dish and deserves to be given sufficient room for real discourse.

Ruby's story does emphasize the need for moderately intelligent people to read them. A quick look at the chart should have indicated there was NO WIFE to stay the night. Doesn't everyone have a face sheet with pertinent info that should be read before jumping on the nurse?

Perhaps a survey about the readers of the survey is needed.

[Creamsoda, ASN, RN]

Whoa ho ho...

Imagine what we get in psych.

lol

Talk about pts who do not want to be there.

Like we are really going to get rave reviews!

I like the comments about separating the "crazy" pts from everybody else.

"The rooms are too cold."

"The rooms are too hot."

"They wouldn't let me have my iPod."

"They took my pantyhose away."

"I had to make my own bed."

"Too many groups."

"Not enough groups."

"I felt like I was in prison."

Blah blah blah.

Oh, and my favorite:

"There are no call-lights."

No! There are not any call-lights... and we like it that way... and don't you dare go and ruin it for us!!!

also a typical call light could be a hanging risk! Im sorry, but if your in a psych ward, you have 2 legs, so use em!

[Creamsoda, ASN, RN]

there are rarely -- that i've seen -- any meaningful complaints about the nursing staff. instead, we get hasseled about the silly complaints. "three lovely young nurses and one fat, old one tied me down and forced me to have sex all night long." (agitated, combative and confused young man on a propofol drip who kept exposing his genitals and trying to pull out his lines and tubes. now tell me how we should have dealt with that one.)

you cannot fix stupid.

come on! what young man wouldnt want to have sex all night long!!! i hope that if for some horrible reason i am ever tubed and sedated i remember my icu experience like that. hahahahaha