Why my Patient did not Have Lunch Today.

Nurses Safety

Published

We are short staffed now. Nurses have 5-6 patients on day shift and no nursing aides. So nurses continue to do what RNs normally do: assess patients, pass medications, call doctors... On the top we do what nurses aides normally do: clean up patients, feed those who cannot eat by himself/herself. Yesterday I managed to pass all meds in time and also find time to feed my patient in room 222. I was planning to do the same today - feed my patient between 1230 and 1 p.m. But my manager called me and told me she wanted to talk to me because patient's advocate told her that one of my patients complained about me. The complain was not because I did something wrong. The problem was that I did everything right but after finishing my job I left patient's room immediately but that patient simply wanted me to stay in her room longer. How is it possible when you have 6 patients and no nursing aide? And of course, hour manager knows we are short staffed. I just was listening to my manager without talking back. Precious 30 minutes were killed on this conversation. I initially planned to spend those 30 minutes to feed my patient who was paralyzed, nonverbal but ate well, if you fed him.

And every one did his/her job excellently in this situation. Patient's advocate talked to a patient, documented patient's concerns and passed it to my manager. My manager talked to me. She was very nice, she did not accuse me because she did understand we were short staffed. But my nonverbal paralyzed patient had to skip his lunch today, because everyone did his/her job excellently... If my manager or patients' advocate were flexible to ignore this complaint my nonverbal patient would eat lunch today.

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Are you a new nurse? no way i would keep my mouth shut.

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A complaint that you did a great job but just didn't spend enough time in her room afterwards? This is a complaint worthy of wasting anyones time? Maybe the patient needs a gentle reality check along with the patient advocate and manager who thought this was worthy of a meeting.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I sit here shaking my head......unbelievable.

YOur manager...have they ever been a bedside nurse? how long were they at the bedside? How long did they go to school? The patient advocate...are they a nurse?

This is just a random question......Have you ever wondered why you don't you see CEO's, CFO's and VP's from hospitals on Undercover Boss????

I do it's because they know their decisions are about the bottom dollar and that they could care less about "the patient". They are perfectly aware that what they decide is crazy....there is nothing undercover about it.....

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Specializes in Med/Surg,Cardiac.

I would have told my manager that I had ten minutes and then I had to go feed my patient. Patient first! I'm sure your hospital has some kind of saying about how patients are the most important thing.

~ No One Can Make You Feel Inferior Without Your Consent -Eleanor Roosevelt ~

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You know all hospitals are very big now about patient's satisfaction because it is attached to money now. And managers themselves under pressure from derectors of nursing. Some managers even lose their jobs now because of low pt's satisfaction. To become a patient's advocate you do not have to be a nurse. Degree in communication is enouph.

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The problem with this is that what it takes for the patient to be satisfied and what is good nursing care (or is even practical) are frequently two different things. I work on a unit that often receives high praise from patients (not clients or customers). If a complaint like this had come in it would not have made it far.

For me the real problem here is not that a patient was unhappy that their nurse couldn't waste valuable time hanging around but that due to this frivolous complaint another patient went hungry.

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Specializes in Family Medicine.

Unbelievable. Can we get rid of management and patient representatives already?

Enough is a enough.

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

We have mandatory customer service training coming up next month. I'm hoping for the best but preparing myself for the worst.

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I know that kind of workplace. There is only barely enough time to get all your work done, and only if nothing unexpected happens. In nursing the unexpected happens all the time and your day goes awry quickly.

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Sounds like the patient advocate or manager could have gone to the patients room and spent some time with her. Or better yet go feed you patient so you can spend time in the other patients room.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

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I would have (respectfully) told my supervisor I had a patient to feed and could we talk later.

There was nothing that supervisor had to say to the OP that couldn't have waited. It was not a safety issue.

What started off as a bogus complaint from an attention-seeking patient now resulted in an unintentional case of neglect... but of course, that patient who truly needed OP's help can't complain, can they? So, I guess management doesn't give a flip.

As long as all looks good with patient satisfaction scores.

I'm not blaming the OP... no way... because we all know how this crap works... but OP, please speak up!

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