Seriously?!?!

patient satisfaction is pretty bad but thankfully it is not the focus, much stronger focus on assess, treat and dispo to the door or the floor.

Must be nice. We've always been in hot water over patient satisfaction scores, management concocting some hair-brain scheme every month to improve scores which really just irritates staff, lowers morale, and in my opinion, negatively impacts patient care. Not to mention, it caused a mass exodus of our best nurses. We have a new president of the hospital who is an ex trauma nurse with tons of experience so hopefully he'll get with the program and realize most of these scores are completely beyond our control.

The whole patient satisfaction thing is futile, because no matter WHAT you do someone will always be unhappy. It's worse in the ER.

^ the truth

Pt came in by ambulance in the middle of the night because her ankle had been sore for six months and she wanted an x-ray. Doc spent two seconds handing her an outpatient requisition. Her next statement to me... "How am I going to get home?"

Pt came in.. CC.. Skinned knee.

We cleaned it, put some ointment on it and then a bandaid. Told her to do the same at home. What a waste of a clinic bed.

The whole patient satisfaction thing is futile, because no matter WHAT you do someone will always be unhappy. It's worse in the ER.

Agreed...it's a dog and pony show! Something to keep us busy/distracted while the higher ups take the money and run.

What brings you in today sir?, "I was feeling unmotivated" I wanted to die with that one. People are truly crazy.

Lol!!!!!!....unreal,hahahaha!!!!

Why do patients come in with these complaints and when they find out nothing is wrong with them, they get all upset?

Most (if not all!) of my patients from the other night came in c/o abdominal pain. They are flabbergasted when they learn they truly don't need anything for pain ("but oh my gosh, I'm in SO much pain I need Dilaudid NOW!") and the doc only prescribes some simethicone, colace and a nice bottle of mag citrate (ours has a pleasant lemony flavor!). It's like they WANT something to be wrong with them. You should be happy that the abdominal CT showed nothing serious, you just need to pass some gas and poop a little!

And I love how patients show their "true colors" when they don't get what they want. Another one of my abdominal pain patients was all nice and sweet until they learned that the provider wouldn't give them the Dilaudid or morphine that they wanted; instead, all they were getting was a Lortab. Ugh.

Why do patients come in with these complaints and when they find out nothing is wrong with them, they get all upset?

Most (if not all!) of my patients from the other night came in c/o abdominal pain. They are flabbergasted when they learn they truly don't need anything for pain ("but oh my gosh, I'm in SO much pain I need Dilaudid NOW!") and the doc only prescribes some simethicone, colace and a nice bottle of mag citrate (ours has a pleasant lemony flavor!). It's like they WANT something to be wrong with them. You should be happy that the abdominal CT showed nothing serious, you just need to pass some gas and poop a little!

And I love how patients show their "true colors" when they don't get what they want. Another one of my abdominal pain patients was all nice and sweet until they learned that the provider wouldn't give them the Dilaudid or morphine that they wanted; instead, all they were getting was a Lortab. Ugh.

It's amazing how sweet they are until you tell them they 'don't' actually have an 'emergency'. I have a sweet, scripted line for many of my patients.

It's amazing how sweet they are until you tell them they 'don't' actually have an 'emergency'. I have a sweet, scripted line for many of my patients.

Oh do tell!

Fortunately I wasn't the triage nurse on this particular day.... My mother had presented to her local ER because she was experiencing severe vertigo, something she hadn't experienced before and in a panic her friend had driven her there. In front of Mum in the line at triage, she overheard the gentleman explain that he had done an excessive number of situps at the gym and now his belly was sore. Mum phoned me to tell me that, she couldn't believe that someone would go to an Emergency department with such a complaint......

Oh do tell!

The good news is, from our testing today, what your experiencing is not a life threatening issue. There's no blockages, growths or swelling that is causing your pain. Your blood levels are normal, which indicates you are not experiencing any active bleeding or issues of concerns with your organs. Your d/c plan is xyz, and I encourage you to follow up with your doctor, where more in depth testing than is available in the ER can be performed. Of course, I encourage you to return to the ER if you feel your condition is becoming worse or new symptoms develop.