Why the Customer Service emphasis?

[SoundofMusic]

I am always told/hearing that we have to provide good customer service/service excellence to our patients/clients BECAUSE they have other choices as far as hospitals go.

But honestly, if Hospital A fills up, it's not like hospital B is not going to take the leftover patients.

Why is there "competition" between hospitals? One would think there would be a bed waiting whereever one wanted to go -- or not, and that clients/patients would just have to go where their doctors assigned them?

I mean -- we are in a large city and we have only so many hospitals anyway. It's not like our so-called "healthcare consumers" have all that many choices.

Why all this brou-ha ha about having to "please" all of these patients like they're discriminating customers? I mean -- it's not a retail chain.

I just don't get it. People should be happy to go anywhere and get decent healthcare from good doctors, in a clean facility. This is all I have EVER expected as a patient in a hospital myself. Just clean surroundings and safe care. I've never needed to be waited on, coddled, or "pleased." I"ve expected to live, and get out healthy. That's about all.

Our hospital wants to be the BEST - well, how about allowing that hospital on the other side of town to be excellent and the BEST as well? What's wrong with allowing all hospitals to provide good decent care and let it go at that?

Don't know what i'm trying to say -- but this customer service emphasis just doesn't JIVE with what a hospital is supposed to be and do.

[RN1989]

All of us desire if not expect excellent customer service whenever we interact with others. The problem is that the admin of all the facilities have mis-identified the root cause of the lack (or perceived) lack of customer service in health care.

Admin thinks that we are all just tired and cranky old bitties that refuse to give good customer service. True, there are some people like that. But by far, the reason that patients do not perceive that they get even adequate service is due to nurses having too many patients, too much to do, not enough help, not enough or the right kind of supplies, and no education.

There would be no need for these ridiculous customer service campaigns if admin would fix the inherent problems in healthcare that are causing the shortage of working nurses and eroding healthcare. Patients would then feel that the nurse saw them an appropriate amount of time, answering all their questions, and tending to all facets of their health. Funny what appropriate staffing, education, and support of nurses can do.

[namaste_71]

They won't remember the nice nurse who helped them out or the kindly doctor who ordered testing and meds to get them better.

I do! I do! All I ask is that I'm treated with a bit of respect and no one harms me in the process. I'll be respectful in return. The nurses I remember -- and thank -- are the ones who do just that.

As a patient/consumer, I know when the emphasis is on keeping my business so the hospital makes money. Trust me, we can see right through all the emphasis on pillow-fluffing and gourmet meals.

[namaste_71]

Patients would then feel that the nurse saw them an appropriate amount of time, answering all their questions, and tending to all facets of their health. Funny what appropriate staffing, education, and support of nurses can do.

This, folks, is what real patient-centered care is about. But I'm preaching to the choir on this one.

[tk3100]

Tait, it isn't about the little extra things that I think nurses try to do anyway if/when we have the time. It is about extremely demanding family members that bully staff and the managers that say things like, "the customer is ALWAYS right" and "you'll do what they tell you and smile about it". I have always tried to go above and beyond for my patients, but the trend has been to appease the "customer" regardless of what and how much they ask for. I no longer want to work at the hospital. I have had enough. And I am not alone in this, thus the "shortage". Nurses, who are caring by nature, are tired of being mistreated. This is not, of course, all families and patients. However, I have definitely noticed that people have become much more demanding as a whole.

[leslie :-D]

we are only the lowly work-horses.

time for a loud, echoing, "NAYYYYYYYYYYYYY"?

leslie

ok...

time for a loud, echoing, "NEIGHHHHHHHHHHHHH"?

(ok, i overdosed on silly today)

heh.

leslie:clown:

[RN1982]

ok...

time for a loud, echoing, "NEIGHHHHHHHHHHHHH"?

(ok, i overdosed on silly today)

heh.

leslie:clown:

Why are you replying to yourself????? LOL

:lol_hitti

[martymoose, BSN, RN]

i agree with all the comments- yes we should treat everyone with good care- but to say some canned speech, that you cannot realistically live up to- ours is the hourly rounding thing- and the pts are asked if anyone rounded on them every hour and to tell if someone didnt. doesnt matter if there was a code, or full baths that take two people to do , or etc. i do my best - apparently the "corporation" seems to think we are all pieces of sh(*^t and we are too retarded to say things on our own- we have to use a canned speech.everyone should be treated properly, but life doesnt alwys work out that wayone sick pt will always take all your time. But you cant say" gee im sorry i wasnt in your room this last hour mr smith- i was doing cpr on someone else. alll they have been told is that they can pick their meals( gourmet?) and have flat screen tvs , and have 50 family members in their room. and this pain reassessment thing goes with that too- i understand having effective pain control, but this just opens things up for the drugseekers and such. with the pain assessment thing- i am dishing out more vicodin than i ever have because " my headache is a 9/10!!! and one hour later its only a 7/10- " i need dilaudid thats what works for me:angryfire. customer service means the pt is always right- you better get that order for dilaudid, or you will be told that you are not providing very good care.

doing your best is never good enough- this customer service thing is the ultimate insult to nursing- yes more people will be leaving due to this. i for one can barely tolerate it- as i used to have a work ethic- all they are doing is making me lose it ; after all, whats the point- i will never please everyone- and that one unreasonable pt will get me fired.:angryfire

[RN1989]

However, I have definitely noticed that people have become much more demanding as a whole.

People ARE much more demanding and even rude about it. They are also frequently wrong about the entire situation that they are being ugly about. They get their info from TV and have no idea the truth.

If nurses had the time to educate their patients the way that we used to, we would have the public well educated about the realities of healthcare, what modern medicine can and cannot do, and the public would not be so unrealistic in their expectations. They would know that it is not good for you to remain motionless in bed for 6 months after you have a CABG like they did a hundred years ago.

Unfortunately I am encountering this in my own family recently. If they call me one more time with mis-information from the idiot at church that thinks they have a "cure", I think I'll scream. I can only imagine what the nurse standing in front of my family is thinking. But again, the nurses there haven't had time to sit down with my family and nicely explain why their grasping at straws "cure" is not going to work. So I get the stupid phone calls and am the bad guy because I tell them the truth and not what they want to hear.

[shelly304]

I will play devil's advocate.

My dh had surgery last week. Tethered Cord Syndrome.

We live one hour away from this very LARGE teaching facility. The neuro doing the surg. is a jerk. The hospital I work for (in a very rural area) refers a large number of pts. not only to this MD but also the facility. I have never had a pt tell me they like the MD so I knew what to expect there.

The teaching facility is 1000+ bed.

Now, I am a nurse.

I know pts. and their fams can pains in the ***. But the lack of compassion, empathy, and just plain unfriendliness on this Neuro/Stroke unit was uncalled for.

I approached this hospital stay with an open mind. After reading thru a great thread last week with a lot of great advice for a nurse whose fam member is having surgery, I found a balance to take with me.

I can honestly say the only employee on that floor who gave a hoot about my dh was a wonderful CNA. But of course she only worked 1 shift each day....so the other 12 hrs I felt like we flapping in the wind.

I did not tell anyone I am a nurse...until the last day. So the times I sat in my dh room with his cath bag ready to overflow, the IV beeeeeping away, nobody at the nurses station was thinking, "Well, his wife is a nurse, she can help out." Everytime I trotted to the nurses station for something, I was met with dagger eyes and total disdain. I would stand, waiting for eye contact..from ANYONE, usually to be met with the unit clerk looking up from the desk, "Did you need something?"

Late each night I drove home one hour to be able to care for our horses and turned around in the am at dawn and drove back. I was not a stay-all-night-pain-in-the-butt-family-member. I believed the nurses in that facility should and would have done their jobs with the same compassion and empathy I try to keep close to my heart each day.

On dh last day, when I got to the hosp. I went to the nurses station to see how his 8 hrs without me went. His nurse leaned on the desk and said, "He rang the call bell all night long." With eyes rolling.

Well excuse me! He had major surgery. HE IS IN A GREAT DEAL OF PAIN.

His ever-so-sweet CNA came to the room to see if he she could give him a bath and I said I would take care it. She was so concerned with taking care of her pt. I finally told her I was a nurse. Within the 5 minutes his room was suddenly buzzing with all things full of compassion and empathy. His RN turned into the caring nurse I had hoped he would have. He didn't expect to be waited on, coddled, or pleased, just treated like a human being who matters.

We didn't choose this hospital-it was chosen for us.

So this is my experience, and sadly when someone asks how was your dh stay at xyz hospital? I have an opinion. And the staff on that neuro

unit is the reflection of my opinion! If another hospital stay is in either one of our futures-we will choose another facility. Because the customer service sucked...I don't think I should have had to mention that I am nurse to expect staff to be on their toes. I don't think I should have to mention my dh is an attorney to expect the staff to be on thier toes.

I would hope for anyone that regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, or social standing we will all be treated as human beings who matter in a healthcare setting. And then customer service would not matter. It would just be a given.:heartbeat:nurse:

[RN1982]

Shelly I'm sorry that you and your husband had a bad experience at that hospital. I totally agree with you when you said that you shouldn't have to mention you and your husband's occupation to the nurses to get quality nursing care. I am totally flabbergasted that the nurse actually leaned against the desk and said that about your husband to you. I wish your husband well in his recovery.

[RN1989]

Shelly, having been on that side myself, I totally understand. I however cannot "not" be a nurse and keep quiet about it. I don't bust out and tell the staff but they usually figure it out. I also will tell the staff how they are coming across and let them know that I understand it may be a result of understaffing but that other patients and their families don't have the understanding that I do about such situations.

Yes, there truly can be people who are going to be ugly no matter what. But having been on both sides, I believe that even those chronically hateful-appearing staff were once good ones - they've just been beaten down by a terrible system that the hospital has given them to deal with and they feel completely helpless to change the situation. It isn't right, but it happens and will continue to happen until ALL of us stand up and say ENOUGH! And then we can take back our healthcare system and make it what it should be for everyone.

[RN1982]

Sadly enough, Shelly, had you complained to management, it would have went in one ear and out the other. I think with big facilities such as the one your husband was in, they could care less about the complaints they get. They figure, well, we have this great neuro doc who bringing all of his patients here, thus bring us money. It is in no way an excuse for the nurses behavior but sometimes I think facilities like that could care less.