The power of suggestion

It's been interesting lately at the Hotel. As usual, as the temperatures go up outside, the tempers flare on the inside. Lately, things have been wilder than ever.

We have a full house again, with lots of work and lots of scheduled vacations, we are back to some folks working overtime. People are crabby, whiny, and generally out of sorts. A few people are even angry, patients and staff included.

Several patients are angry at the doctors for keeping them at the Hotel when they could be home enjoying summer. This, in turn, makes them lash out at the nursing staff. A few of the people I have taken care of have gotten so incensed that they have mounted a campaign to get one staff member in trouble.

How? They composed a suggestion and put it in the suggestion box on the unit which is monitored by the Manglement for the sake of maintaining the ever-onerous "high satisfaction" ratings. Since the named staff member was already in hot water, said person got called to a meeting with the head honchos to determine his fate.

And when that drama is over, someone also "suggested" that staff is sleeping on the night shift. No one knows who did it, but it's caused lots of anger amongst the ranks of the night shift and among the supervisors, too.

So I'm thinking of making a few suggestions myself out of the box:

1. Get a framed copy of the patient agreement put up on our unit. You'd be surprised how many times we try to enforce the rules and patients say, "I knew nothing about that." even though they get a copy and are advised in advance.

2. Maybe we all need to start spouting chapter and verse, so patients really get it  when they have a complaint with staff. My line, "You need to notify the charge nurse, then the nurse manager. If that is not resolved appropriately, patient relations number is extension XXXX, because it is your right  (as noted in #1) to get your needs addressed."

3. Do not whisper: speak and communicate. Tell other nurses if their patients have problems before reporting it to the boss as appropriate.