fhare

I think the bathroom postings go a little overboard....Perhaps your hospital isn't using the information as it is intended....

As I stated, you have to take the information with a keen eye. Like it or not, healthcare is a competitive business and customer service is key to success. I don't argue that more nurses are needed. Quite the contrary, I am well aware of the need as a nurse of 26 years I have seen several "shortages". THere are never enough nurses. But what does it take from our time to reassure a patient that they are your focus and not the chart...Press-Ganey is a business tool, but if you encourage your patients to complete the survey and explain the importance to them, you will see the positives too. Yes, Press-Ganey can be used negatively, but not all hospitals do. We just acheived Magnet status here at the University of Rochester Medical Center and Press-Ganey surveys are done. The information is used in a positive way and has actually lead to improvements for nursing. There is some benefit.

I am currently in a new and exciting Masters program at the University of Rochester School of Nursing: Masters in Leadership. This has lead also to the development of a Masters program (currently in development) for Clinical Leadership. Like many qualities of a good leader, you can't learn them. It's more a personality trait. I believe that good leaders can be honed and moulded by programs like these and are designed to bring out the best in potential leaders for nursing. Someone who has the clinical knowledge to be a leader and the managerial qualities to be a manager can be the same person. Why sacrifice one for the other. As nursing becomes more and more acute in the hospital setting, we need clinical leaders at the masters level who are still at the bedside, but intimately involved in the management and leadership of the unit. The future of nursing is brighter and brighter as we grow.

If Press-Ganey surveys are taken seriously and assessed with a keen eye, they really reflect what the public sees. Perhaps you should put yourself in the bed and be the patient. Haven't you had a family member in a hospital you didn't work in and wondered about the level of care they were receiving? Appearance to the public is everything. It only takes a few seconds to reassure a patient that they can depend on you and it goes a long way to patient satisfaction. I realize that you can't please everyone, but at least strive for the majority. It's something like Burger King "Have it your way". To the extent possible, patients should be able to have it their way, whatever way makes them feel most comfortable. I do draw the line at letting them leave the unit for a smoke (topic of another thread). That is just ludicris from a healthcare standpoint. But so is the staff cutting away from the unit for a quick smoke break and returning smelling like an ashtray from the smoking hut....

Allowing patients to leave the unit to smoke is going too far. With the increase in acuity of patients admitted to the hospital it seems to me that this is contrary to our mission and goal. What about the physician? Why doesn't he/she have the moxy to tell the patient that they are just too ill to leave the unit and participate in something that will slow recovery and contribute to their eventual demise? If they are in that amount of pain requiring MS PCA, I dont' see the need to leave. Maybe they should stop the MS PCA for the time they want to leave the unit? Furthermore, I'm sure that patient wouldn't want to hear that the PCA couldn't be refilled right away because the nurse was out of the unit taking a patient on a smoke break and would be back in 30 minutes...