What I’d like for Nurses Week next year, part 2

4. Less focus on customer service, more on quality patient care. The two are not synonymous. “Customer service” focus means that nurses get reprimanded for trying to make sure that patients get the therapies they need but don’t necessarily want. “Customer service” focus brings floods of paperwork for charge nurses and managers, unnecessary rounds and quizzes and mailings for patients, and frustration when there’s one more thing you have to do that has nothing to do with your patients’ health. I say we banish Press-Ganey and focus on how well the nurses are allowed to do their jobs.

Next: Trust our clinical judgment. →