most troubling trend in healthcare

[sophie09]

I've been anurse for several years, and frankly, I'm tired. There seem to be so many troubling trends nowadays. What, to you, seem to be the most troubling trends in healthcare? What can we,as nurses do the improve things? Thanks. By the way, this is NOT homework:lol2:

[AgentBeast, MSN, RN]

100% of all people eventually die. This is very troubling.

[commonsense]

100% of all people eventually die. This is very troubling.

Really, that statistic seems pretty high, maybe you need to check your source.

[nicurn001]

Having customer satisfaction trump clinical needs of patients .

We are nurses , we are paid for our ability to assess a patients condition and implement / coordinate their care in accordance with that assessment .Of course a good nurse should ( as a matter of course ) be able to manage their patients in a manner that the patient is comfortable with .

But fluffing pillows or a patients ego should not take priority over a crashing patient , managers are ( or at least used to be ) there to explain to patients / their families why their needs cannot always be met immediately .The H signs outside are for Hospital not Hotel .

[blackbird singing]

But fluffing pillows or a patients ego should not take priority over a crashing patient , managers are ( or at least used to be ) there to explain to patients / their families why their needs cannot always be met immediately .The H signs outside are for Hospital not Hotel .

The NM hangs up the comments from the surveys each week and one comment was a complaint that this woman was never offered to have her pillows fluffed or to get a back rub. Seriously?

Honestly, I will get a little annoyed if you ASK me to do this for you (I'm a PCA), because it isn't a hospital or a spa, but I will do it for you....if you ASK.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

Is it even possible to fluff plastic hospital pillows?

[TakeTwoAspirin, MSN, RN, APRN]

When cost cutting compromises care, either because of cheap/faulty/out-of-date equipment or lack of adequate experienced staff.

[saraaileen76]

Having customer satisfaction trump clinical needs of patients .

We are nurses , we are paid for our ability to assess a patients condition and implement / coordinate their care in accordance with that assessment .Of course a good nurse should ( as a matter of course ) be able to manage their patients in a manner that the patient is comfortable with .

But fluffing pillows or a patients ego should not take priority over a crashing patient , managers are ( or at least used to be ) there to explain to patients / their families why their needs cannot always be met immediately .The H signs outside are for Hospital not Hotel .

This is so true! We have a special group of administrators, who aren't nurses or have been out of nursing so long they don't remember what nursing means, that walk around with their iPads to do customer surveys.

[makes needs known]

The idea that nurses are supposed to be perfect. Hey- we are only human.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Too many people at the top who don't care about the people in the trenches.

[msrosebud28]

And of course where did COMMON SENSE go?...out the door

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

budget cuts and press gainey are the worst things to happen to health care in the past 30 years, and if i had to choose just one, i'd choose press gainey. patient care and customer service are two different (and sometimes opposing) things, and it's a damned shame that customer service seems to be trumping patient care in more and more hospitals.