Friday, December 16, 2016

Slogans


I am curious about sources of data, slogans, origins of lingo, and always wondering, "how did this thing get started". Recently, when taking a specimen to the Laboratory, I noticed a large Employee-focused poster on the wall, titled "Our True North". It was clearly a "corporate" generated, behavioral modification tool, to repair and improve our employee public image.

What struck me was the bastardization of a common term, that being "Graffiti". Sure, we all know what that means; "writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place. (Dictionary).

The message on the poster, subjugated that term, as "Physical Graffiti" and "Verbal Graffiti", in such a way, as to have nothing to do with writing, drawing or spraying.

Internet research, brought me to the source behind all this gobbledygook:
http://www.wecreateloyalty.com/. This is "a company that creates solutions for elevating the human side of healthcare". (Improving Patient Satisfaction........ahh, now doesn't that sound familiar?) Yep, the whole hotdog,  HCAHPS (the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems)

I followed this link: http://www.wecreateloyalty.com/tag/patient-satisfaction/
And discovered exactly where this "brilliant" motivational poster was sourced to.

Anyway, that's my rant for the week; and the poem to go along with it.

Graffiti on the Wall

Hello Humankindness
Is our branding theme,
Attempting to become
A virtual meme,
It's a feel good concept
But is it money well spent?
It depends on who you poll
The workers or management.

Last month I noticed
A grand poster in the Lab,
Orange and white
Near the vivisection slab,
Where dissidents are sectioned
Along with audit prone nurses,
A feel good corporate billboard
With inspirational verses.

"Our True North"
The title, the theme,
Describing forms of graffiti
That almost made me scream,
Physical Graffiti
Old magazines in the waiting room,
Clutter at the workstation
All dire and doom.

Things you can see, touch or smell
That distract the consumer,
Like your rotten egg salad
Or the C-diff, from Boomer,
Over there in room Ten
Near the patient in Eleven,
Who just had open-heart surgery
Man, it stinks to high heaven.

Yep, that's patient centered care
With hourly rounding,
Flip and flop, Q2 hours
Uncle Bob gets a pounding,
Because it's all about perception
Presented to the people,
Human Kindness News @ Five
Rescue a dog on the steeple.

Verbal Graffiti
Just what do they mean?
Not talking kindly
About Jimmie or Jean,
While standing in the elevator
Boisterously laughing,
Saying, I don't have time
Because of inadequate staffing.

I'm on a break;
No, that's not my job,
You're not my patient
And, Mary's a slob,
The things that don't add
To their overall existence,
Then we'll fail in all surveys
Yikes; reimbursement resistance.

Fake news? this isn't
Would they lie to us? Never,
And $200 million dollars
Buys a big lever,
To bring on the smiles
And feel good public relations,
While we hunt for supplies
At the nursing stations.

1 comment:

Oldfoolrn said...

I checked out that loyalty promoting website and the first thing that greeted me was a joyous scrubnurse gowned and gloved waving at me and had her other hand contaminated by being draped around her back like a fish hook. There needs to be a hiearchy of needs with dolts like this. All the feel good malarkey aint worth a tinker's damn (I worked with a surgeon that used that expression all the time)if the patient develops a septic complication. I cannot believe such blatant BSers get paid for this!