Patient Surveys..vent.

Nurses General Nursing

Published

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.

Better surveys are needed :)

Surveys can be worded to guide people to answer in a way desirable to the survey takers. Many times surveys are flawed.

One place I worked had an info sheet in the admission pack to give to patients which explained the complaints procedure.

A patient once asked "Why is there no information sheet on what to do if I have something good to say - or is that not allowed?"

Specializes in Med/Surg/Onc, LTAC.

One of our last surveys had a negative rating and the comment: "I wasn't allowed to eat, I only could have IV nutrition"... I can imagine there was a REASON, so we had a strike against us for THAT??? ugh :(

Specializes in ER, progressive care.

I feel like with some patients/families, no matter what you do for them they will NEVER be satisfied. And that in turn, reflects those Press Ganey scores. Or the patient will have one bad experience with a nurse and that changes their view on their stay in the hospital.

I also find that most patients/families would rather say something negative (bad experience, juice not being "cold" enough :rolleyes:, etc) versus saying good things.

Specializes in Pedi.
One of our last surveys had a negative rating and the comment: "I wasn't allowed to eat, I only could have IV nutrition"... I can imagine there was a REASON, so we had a strike against us for THAT??? ugh :(

I know I frequently keep patients NPO just for fun. ;)

Really? Can't they screen these kinds of comments out or look in the patient's chart and say, "Oh he had a small bowel obstruction, so he was NPO on TPN."

Specializes in cardiology/oncology/MICU.

The Pt I had last night told his wife and daughter that I was mean and very controlling and he did not want me back today. Let me mention that he is in respiratory failure, demented, had already fallen on one of the medical units, refuses to wear his bipap, tried to hit and kick me, and pulled off 3 EUD's. They told the day nurse that he really doesn't like to be told what to do and that I should try asking him instead, LOL! I am mean and controlling because I told him to put his legs back in the bed and leave the mask alone! 5000 times!

Specializes in Med-Surg; Telemetry; School Nurse pk-8.

These surveys measure customer service. What burns me, is when the results of a customer satisfaction survey direct how nursing care is to be delivered. What ever happened to measuring the success of nursing care by clinical outcome?

Specializes in LTC, med/surg, hospice.
These surveys measure customer service. What burns me, is when the results of a customer satisfaction survey direct how nursing care is to be delivered. What ever happened to measuring the success of nursing care by clinical outcome?

I totally agree. Customer service is very important. I know this as a consumer..but we are not selling dresses and waiting tables. We are dealing with lives.

What burns me, is when the results of a customer satisfaction survey direct how nursing care is to be delivered.

Just because it's what the patient wants, doesn't mean it's what we should do.

All these people hate being NPO? Let them eat. If they aspirate during surgery? Oh well.

They don't want to be bothered at night? Fine. We won't go in the room. If they die overnight? Oh well, at least we didn't wake them.

It has reached the point of flat out insanity.

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

Some of my favorites:

The nurse put the IV in the head because she knew I didn't want it there (not because your kids doesn't have any other access and is on a vent, nitric, and every gtt known to man)

We can't drink our coffee when we have out baby out of the isolette ( gee..then we would get a complaint that we let you do it after you spilled that hot coffee on your kid)

They wouldn't let me take a nap holding my baby, how am I supposed to bond with her? (Enough said)

They wouldn't let me hold my baby because they said I was drunk.

The blankets from your laundry aren't folded right and make the bed look messy (bring your own then)

The nurses wouldn't give me any food vouchers, bus voucher, or any other kind of voucher you can think of ( because we don't have them and you don't come in when social workers are here because you avoid them like the plague).

I wanted the tube out of my baby's mouth, but they told me he couldn't breathe without it, I think they were lying.

I don't like Similac formula and they told me they only use Enfamil. *** ( yes that was on there lol)

I wanted my baby circumcised right after he was born and they told me no (your baby weighs 700 grams...need I say more?

Oh, I have many more lol

I have patients with liver disease who want narcs constantly, how about NO you need your liver more than a buzz, idiot.

I have people who want me to spend 20 minutes adjusting their socks while their roommate writhes in pain and needs blood sugar checked and insulin, and 20 other patients need their meds.

I get families who want me to come adjust the thermostat for them (just like the ones at home, figure it out lazy, or get off your butt and look at it) or who complain to me about social services, the food, etc. I have ZERO control over that.

People just use the nurse as a whipping post/slave! But we get in trouble if we tell people "that's not my job." Well guess what, people say, oh that's the nurse's job CONSTANTLY. HELLO I CANNOT DO EVERYTHING.

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