Friday, May 25, 2007

Patients? We Don' Need No Stinkin' Patients.....6/5

It isn't just the summer, although some might be attributed to that,but we are in serious hurt for patients. Low censusing is hurting everyone--those that had vacation time are dropping it into a big void, and more are quitting because they can't get the hours.

They did the big re-model a few years back on 6th (multi-million dollar), and now they don't have the patients (nor the nurses) to keep it open.




And the 'seen within 10 minutes' that they tout--yeah, seen by the screener. It might be hours before being roomed and seen by the doctor. Emails indicate in some cases 9+ hours from 'seen' to discharge for minor ailments.

Now they're sitting between the proverbial rock and hard place. This year has been rough here--going from $1.6M profit to $277k hasn't helped anyone's attitude, and I got an email yesterday that indicated the radiology department is a ghost town. That would be hard pressed to pay staff, much less depreciation.

The bottom line may be this year. If they can't be profitable, it could be what takes Essent down. Kind of the tail wagging the dog....but it's a tail that has half the beds of the dog.... And, if you read the Tennessean, or the Snooze, Dick is in charge of both of the company's dogs. That mean some over-the-shoulder time with Dux and Mikey? Or just being kicked upstairs to being a high-priced dog-walker?

Think Hud could get funding for another try?...frank

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Frank, you just aren't thinking straight. Everything is perfect at prmc. We don't need patients. If we had patients we would need staff, and staff costs money. Why does e$$ent expect patients to come here when their own website lists openings for 25 nursing positions and 10 of those are in critical care areas (ER, ICU, Cath Lab). There are actually more nursing positions open than they have listed on their site. Either they cant keep their site up to date with the masses of staff that are quitting or they are deliberately trying to mislead potential patients into not knowing how bad it really is here.

Anonymous said...

I take nothing the Snooze says at any value- their entire staff has none.

Or is the midget in Nashville shooting for a king-sized tax writeoff when Essent finally sinks below the waves?

Anonymous said...

And considering Essent's recent partnership with a physician group, The Lahey Clinic, maybe these idiots have realized they need Doctors too!

Here is a concept for your business model.....
A hospital's customers are: Patients, Vendors AND PHYSICIANS....

Can't have patients without doctors willing to use your facility... Can't treat those patients without vendors bringing in product for treatment...

Are you finally seeing the light...

Anonymous said...

Essent cant seem to see that low census means no pay for employees.the insurance benifit is the thin thread that holds what few experienced rns here.the low pay low census cycle is about to envelope that thread.its an attitude thing;people ,including m.d.s ,seem to be enemies or liabilities to essesnts management.Unless they wake up and start seeing that their survival depends on treating employees and physicians and patients generously and with the understanding that people work for a living for their families,not for the convience of essents needs and bottom line;the whole orginization will collapse.
perhaps one idea would be to ;instead of throwing good money after bad,forget the idea of moving cardiology north (and having a patched up half assed support system to under gird it,like a pretend er and an icu tht will be staffed by who?,since the icu south is thin itself on experienced rns)maybe a better idea would be to finally build the kind of hospital the community will support, and will attract back all those vaggabonds that daily treck to hospitals here and yon.building a half a loaf will not do anything but hasten essents demise.people arent going to be fooled by this kind of foolishness, its time to stop waisting time and money on half mesasures and build on to the northside a complete functioning hospital and turn the south into what it already looks like,an aging long term care/rehad /skilled nursing home.

Anonymous said...

10:29,

The only light these clowns in NashVegas are seeing is the light of a speeding freight train headed their way.

Anonymous said...

What happened in regard to the recent JCAHO check-up on the northside nonER?

Anonymous said...

Any service industry--one that caters to the general public--has to spend money to make money. Let's take DisneyWorld for example. Oh yeah, they make a lot of money all right. And it isn't cheap to visit there, but most folks want to go at least once. Think about it. Would DW make the mega bucks it does if it didn't cater to its public? That's right. DW spends a lot of money to please the crowds. Not just the college students dressed like Mickey & Minnie. There's a clean up service working their bottoms off to keep the park clean and neat. There's a maintence staff to make sure all the rides as well as the restrooms are in perfect running order. The restaurants and food vendors sell quality items as do the souvenier stands. Why? Because if DisneyWorld were run like PRMC no one would go there. The rides would either not be working or working poorly and perhaps unsafely. It would be one dirty park as there are only a handful of housekeeping crew. There would be no helpful mascots and ride attendants to help patrons find things. And I can assure you, DisneyWorld would shut down very shortly.
It costs a lot of money to go to the ER or be admitted to the hospital. People don't want to do it, but they NEED to do. But just because it's a need and not elective thing doesn't mean that PRMC can stint on amenities. People want a bang for their buck. That means a clean hospital, fully staffed and with quality people--docs, nurses, techs, etc. Equipment needs to be the best and in perfect condition. Yep, you'll need to spend some money, Hud. But it's the only way to bring back your customers. You've skimped and they know it. Wake up!!!

Anonymous said...

Travelers in all healthcare disciplines also talk to each other about places they've worked at, and good and bad reputations can be built based on what travelers say. Inasmuch as I know the current attitude towards agency folk on this site, how many agency personnel still work at PRMC, and what is their opinion of this cluster**** of a hospital?

(By cluster****, I refer to the management and their sorry track records, not the home guards who are still on staff trying to make chicken**** into chicken salad. God bless those folks).

Anonymous said...

There is a distinct problem with PRMC. I have had my grandfather and my father-in-law in this facility in the past 2 1/2 years.

My grandfather was almost given the wrong medication because the nurse supposedly couldn't read the writing on the chart. Luckily my mom was in the room at the time and strongly questioned why he was getting a "new" medicine. He had a stroke and was on a soft diet... his tray had a hamburger on it.

My father-in-law was admitted there on a Monday a.m. He was dismissed on Wednesday at lunch. He didn't get a tray until they were filling out his discharge forms. We had to bring him the rest of his meals.

I 'm sorry that some of the nurses get really mad at us for asking questions and verifying things on our own as family members, but we have seen many mistakes happen. They'll just have to get over it where my family is concerned when one of us has to be admitted.

I do worry about folks being admitted that don't have anyone looking out for them. I cannot even begin to tell you what great service we received with my father-in-law at Baylor for 5 bypasses.

We had excellent care in Tyler at ETMC when he suffered a hymorraghic stroke and we finally got him transferred from the e.r. here after finding out that we didn't have a neurologist at this hospital.

Our family motto has become "stop off at PRMC to stop the immediate bleeding then get me to Dallas ASAP"

This comment was made today on an earlier post--from last year. Figured I should move it up. While the topic line might have been more appropriate, it would have never been seen. It fits this one pretty well....frank

Anonymous said...

All right, I've heard everyone tearing into staff, so now it's my turn.

I'm a former employee (x-ray tech) who has very little good to say about PRMC. However, in this case I've got to relate what happened with my mother.

She has been in the hospital twice in the last few months. The first time was when she was brought by EMS to the ER. She had CHF and probably wouldn't have made it through the rest of the night.

Jerry Rowe was super, as was Cathy Embry and the rest of the ED night crew. The staff on the third floor couldn't have been more caring as well.

She was back in for a cath and a pacer, and this time I brought her in and stayed with her the entire day.

Initially, there seemed to be a glitch with over-booking the time slots--outpatient pre-op was out of beds. Instead, they put her directly in her room on third floor and pulled a nurse from ICU to take care of her.

When the cath team came to get her, Nolan and Wanda made sure that I knew she'd be well taken care of, and Nolan called the room to let me know the status.

They couldn't do the pacer that day, and the physician made sure that I knew why.

This might have been old home week for me, but every one that worked on mom was extremely caring, and excellent in their job. I could not have wished her better care.

She's going back in to have the pacer--here--and I have fewer fears than a while ago, but I'm still coming along for my own peace of mind.

Scott Scholz

There are good people left that still care about the job that we do...but the climate that exists keeps lessening the chances of meeting us....frank

Anonymous said...

JCAHO was also checking on retaliation issues. Another good nurse fired.......

Anonymous said...

It appears we have ONE person with a good experience. Wonder if it's who you know? The vast majority says no way jose. Maybe it was the luck of the draw, but what happens when you bust? Give me a place that is consistantly good if not great.

Anonymous said...

"He had a stroke and was on a soft diet... his tray had a hamburger on it."

As a nurse concerned for a similar pt I questioned the dietary staff on the provision of a hamburger for a soft diet. The oh so intelligent dietary staffer told me that it WAS soft and fit the diet as long as it did not have pickles, lettece or tomatoes on it. Wonder if they've ever tried eating one of their hamburgers?

Anonymous said...

7:38, sounds like a little Orwellian newspeak going on. You know: Madness is wisdom, illness is health, weakness is strength, cold, hard hocley puck-like chunks of undefinable material are palatable.........

Anonymous said...

And Work shall make you free. In lieu of yellow Stars of David maybe we can come up with a patch to wear to show we are the downtrodden and unloved employees of PRMC. Then Duks and his Huddy friends will know who to persecute.

Speaking of persecution, what's with Cheryl-don't-hire-unqualified-people-even-though-she's-not-qualified-to-do-anything Perry has recently released a new revised vacation/timeoff policy. What did we do now, Cheryl? Hope she has the train cars lined up for the employees' trip to Dachau.

fac_p said...

Heard that Hud might be cut off from additional funds for acquisitions. Sounds like the two that were hired for that need to dust off their resumes....frank

Anonymous said...

I do not see how venture capital investors will lend them another dime. Would you if it were your money?

Anonymous said...

6:09 and Frank
So much for good people when the equipment is junk. Guess they're going to have to ship people that need a cath. So much for the 'Chest Pain Center'.

Yeah, just a 'Pain'. You can be seen in 10 minutes---cath? Well, how 'bout a couple days...or more.....frank

Anonymous said...

Frank- if what you say is true, then somebody needs to tell the Fat Lady to warm up- she's on in five.............

And for the folks who may get fired because they couldn't hoodwink anyone into throwing hard-earned money at Hud's failing venture- what did you expect? Anyone with half a brain can look at Hud's track record and see nothing but failure written all over it. You'd be better off setting up a Ponzi scheme, or setaling candy from babies. Those moves are just as abominable, but have a marginally better success rate (unless the babies beat the crap out of you first).