Thank you notes to patients?

darkblue · Sep 11, 2008

I thought this was going to be a thread about sending a patient that really touched your heart a thank you note and if it was appropriate. Boy was I wrong.
I would simply refuse to write the notes and start looking for a new job. My job is to give patients the best damn care I can give them while they are with me. It's not my job to promote the hospital to them..

It really doesn't bother me that much, and looking for a new job isn't really an option for me right now lol. It just seems....awkward. The manager for our unit even hand-wrote about 50 of these cards for us to sign and hand out...:stone

grammyr · Sep 11, 2008

Since your manager was kind enough to hand write 50, maybe she will volunteer to continue writing, handing them out, and collecting them.

locolorenzo22, BSN, RN · Sep 11, 2008

thank you for having us call a hospital security code so we could have 10 people(and 12 onlookers) put you into the psych hold room and 5 point restraints. Thank you for flashing me your ass when we had to give you a ventrogluteal shot and you promptly whipped em down. Please make sure to complain on your patient satisfaction survery that I was "rude" when I explained your pain pill takes more than 10 minutes to work.....Thanks!

nina4nursing · Sep 11, 2008

Another version::typing

Thank you for utilizing our ER department. If not for your vist today I would not be employed for $10.00/HR and allowed to be interogated by my supervisor who want to be sure that you recieved this thank you note.

Nina

namaste_71 · Sep 11, 2008

From the patient side, I don't see what difference these make.

My s/o recently received a thank-you card after spending 10 days on a local med-surg unit. It was signed by whoever happened to be on shift before the card was mailed. I can't remember the exact wording, but there was a huge gap between the sentiment on the card and the actual quality of care. It was pretty easy to see right through it--an attempt to hike up patient satisfaction ratings.

As a patient or patient's loved one, I'd rather see that hospital focus on retaining RNs/LPNs and keep safer staffing ratios. The unit was at full census during his stay -- with 1:7-9 ratios.

Seems to me healthcare facilties that treat their employees well tend to have safe and happy patients, too.

mama_d, BSN, RN · Sep 11, 2008

Ah, good ol' Press Ganey. Between them and JCAHO it's a wonder I can do any nursing at the bedside at all.

Ours are preprinted with a thank you message and our mission statement across the bottom...all staff that cares for a patient is supposed to sign it, although if we have had people threaten to sue us it usually remains blank.

I do still have the card around here somewhere that came from when our baby was hospitalized a couple of years ago, the nurses wrote really sweet messages on it instead of just signing their names. So from the patient end, even knowing that it's PG BS, I enjoyed getting it. It also refreshed my memory with names to praise on my PG questionaire.

wooh, BSN, RN · Sep 11, 2008

We do these, but I work in peds. And PG is exactly what it's for. But hey, I'm at the point where I'm coming to accept that PG and JC are unfortunately here to stay, and if I have to stop giving excellent care to get a "very good" on PG, then I guess that's what I have to do.

h2ogoddess · Sep 11, 2008

If I need care badly enough---( I don't think I will be the easiest pt )--forget the cards --PLEASE just take care of me !!

I see no need whatsoever for this kind of CRAP.

And let me be the one to give thanks to the ER staff !!

nicunana · Sep 11, 2008

My husband received one of these about 2 weeks after he was discharged from a ten day inpatient stay. Of the 12 signatures, only 3 of them were actually involved in his care. We were quite insulted that administration thought such a schmaltzy gesture would give us warm fuzzy feelings about their facility. The truth is that he received excellent care while he was there, but our opinion of the facility itself was actually lowered by such a stupid waste of staff time. It was PR gone bad in a big way!

MB37 · Sep 11, 2008

If you get one of these after a stay (or a family member's), comment in the PG survey about how condescending and meaningless you thought it was! That's like thinking the postcard the car dealership sends me at Christmas time is going to give me warm fuzzies the next time I'm in the market for a used car...

dani_girl · Sep 11, 2008

I would love to know how much money and time hospitals are wasting for this.. I mean postage alone but add to it they probably hired someone to set up an account for these cards, the paper and time... yet they complain about the floor wasting funds on frivolous things..... like using two blue pads instead of one... :bugeyes:

Yet I am a new nurse, so what do I know??? But there have been times that I have seen thank yous sent out, or even notes or gestures of support to pt.... when it actually comes from the staff without orders means something.... when you realize it is a PR stunt... no

ArwenEvenstar · Sep 11, 2008

Hey there, our ER manager is making all the employees write thank you notes to our patients thanking them for allowing us to take care of them.
This seems a little odd to me, I thought it was supposed to be the other way around. Do any of you practice this?

I hope you are joking?! This is ridiculous!

This is one of many reasons I left the hospital setting almost 4 years ago now and will never return. Patients seemed to get more and more demanding over the years, and the hospital only seemed to encourage it by promoting the hospital like it was a hotel! The hospital is not a hotel! Hospitals are only going to run off more nurses with this ridiculous crap!