PR in Nursing Has Taken the Front Seat in Patient Care
Or, objects in the mirror are closer than they appear. Lately, seems as if image in nursing or even PR in nursing has taken the front seat in what makes great patient care. Does it, really? Can facilities create an image through PR that make a difference in how a patient is cared for? Or perhaps just the perception of care?
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PR is big business in nursing. In order to have positive PR, a facility has to have a positive image. It is sometimes a difficult thing to be a well respected nurse due to what the nurse knows, as opposed to how politically correct, positive company image a nurse portrays.
Nursing has had a great deal of images throughout the years. At one time, nurses were respected with the title that they held by their cap and starched white dress, pristine, a uniform that commanded a certain presence. Compassionate, firm with kindness, and never ending wealth of hands on care are some thoughts that come to mind when one remembers that swish/swish of a nurse's dress as she walked down the hall. Never a prouder moment when they would "earn their cap".
When nursing changed a bit--and even men entered the nursing profession, there was a period of time that the nursing was loyalty. A nurse would be so very proud to be where they were. Facilities were thrilled if a nurse was on top of patient care, every patient was where they should be, and there was time and boundless energy to fluff and buff and do extras. They may be in freshly ironed scrubs (which in some facilities didn't come along until the late 70's! And even into the early 80's it was still all white scrubs) but every patient was up and clean and meds were carefully crushed in medium of choice, and there were breaks and charting time.....and patient load was maybe 3 or 4 patients per nurse. 5-7 on a really, really busy day if someone was out sick. You had DON's who would round and help with patients, as the DON's were long time nurses.
Now, nursing image is seen through a carefully planned communication process that is meant to anticipate and exceed what the patient believes they would like. Ratios far outweigh what any one nurse could possibly accomplish in a day, and any extras are a thing of the long, long past. However, a nurse now needs to know how to make a patient believe they have hit payday with what is akin to a private duty nurse who only has them for a patient.
And here lies the disconnect. Nurses who are used to actually creating a plan of care that can be reasonably accomplished--warts and all--(and most elderly people dislike taking that drug that makes em pee all day) are instead discussing how they want to "exceed expectations". And newer nurses are shocked to realize that "fluffing and buffing" even existed at all.
At the end of the day we are all wrinkled. Some more than others. Patients are no longer people. They are measurements by which someone else gets paid, and it is not the nurses.
Those who come to the conclusion that nursing is no more than customer service with some meds added in---oh, ya and that pesky "let's keep em alive then we will REALLY get dinged" become jaded. And overwhelmed. And wondering where that "swish, swish" went.
