Nurses at Presence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Illinois say they were humiliated and demeaned by being forced to attend a "boot camp" that the hospital scheduled to discipline them over poor patient satisfaction scores, according to the Joliet Patch.
Among their complaints: nurses say they had to drink water without access to bathrooms, sit on a patient bed in a hallway while wearing goggles and headphones to simulate what it's like to be a patient with poor vision and hearing, all while on top of a bed pan, Patch reported. The nurses have filed a complaint to hospital management that the training session violated the collective bargaining agreement between the nurses and hospital, according to the Illinois Nurses Association, which represents the nurses, The Herald News reported.
But Presence Saint Joseph Medical Center Regional Chief Human Resource Officer Andre Harrison told Patch that the training was meant to ensure the organization delivers a high-quality patient experience. "Our nurse training includes simulating real-world situations to enhance the understanding of our patients’ needs," Harrison told the publication. "As with all of our training exercises, we will review feedback from the participants so that we can continuously improve our programs to bring the very best experience to the patients we serve."
ER nurse Lisa Simmering told The Herald News that instead of forcing nurses to attend a "boot camp," the hospital should have focused on working together to solve the issues.“I think our time and money would be well spent if the hospital leadership collaborated with the physicians to increase our throughput times, since many complaints are regarding the ridiculous wait times our patients experience,” she said.
- here's the Patch article
- read the Herald News article