What do you say to a pt, pt's family or both, when they complain about the nursing care given by one of your co-workers? Sometimes I'm at a loss and I know the family is correct and this nurse SUCKS!
I had two conversations yesterday about the same nurse. Since I'm charge, I get pulled into these conversations in attempt to diffuse them and give good customer service. A pt and her husband came to me yesterday and pulled me into the hall for a discussion. Here is that conversation. The second scenario pretty echoed this one
Me: Hi, I'm Suzie Q, the charge nurse, how can I help you?
Pt: "I want to complain about the night nurse I had. She was very rough with my IV, and I had to remind her to plug in my second small IV bag that she left on the IV hook for 2 hrs. The nurse told me that she was new again to the floor (she had been in the charge role for 7 months, and never left the desk because she's lazy. Her nursing experience is well over 20 yrs). She just seemed really scattered and was rude when I asked for pain meds. I took a walk down the hall to remind her to plug in my other IV bag and she was at the desk reading."
Me: I'm so sorry you had this experience. I will most certainly pass this on to the manager and he will come down and speak with you (which he did). What can I do for you at this present time?
Pt: Nothing. You have been great, as are the other nurses. Thanks for your time.
What else can I say or do??? I don't want to think I'm brushing this patient off but they are right. This nurse is not a good nurse. I want the pt to leave feeling good about their stay, but I just know they will remember the one bad apple and not all the good care they received. I'm really tired of putting out fires like this.