[LaRose]

What are your units doing about visiting hours these days - limited at set hours or more open or fully open?

Do you have strong feelings about any particular method and why?

[meandragonbrett]

We have set times, but then depending on patient situation and things going on in the unit...some families might be allowed to stay longer or come in earlier....come in in the middle of the night, etc. Just depends on what is going on in the unit. Nobody is allowed in the unit during report.

[zozzy777]

Most hospitals are going to open ICU hours. Some study somewhere said it was better for the families. As for me, I do not like it AT ALL!! I know I do some of my best work when families are out of the way. Families nowadays are intrusive and impair us from doing our jobs. I know this does not apply to all families, but in my experience, it is the majority of families. THen, when it is time for report, families give you all kinds of grief because they have to step out. I speak for many of my friends who also do not like open hours.

[ripcurl1]

I work for two large teaching hospitals with different visiting hours in each. The first has an open policy in visiting in the ICU's. Family can come and stay at anytime. This was done in an attempt to decrease sedation needs, decrease anxiety, and improve patient comfort and outcomes. I didn't like it at first but it actually helps a lot of patients. They have also just initiated family presence during code situations.
The other hospital has daytime hours from 11a-5p and then again at 830p till 10p. No family is allowed to be on the during shift report because of the sharing of info and HIPPA!! Or so thats what I'm told

[Christie RN2006]

At my hospital the CVICU has set visiting hours, but the CCU and the SICU (where I work) sets their own hours. If we have a patient not doing well sometimes the family members stay around the clock. If we have A&O patients we usually make the visitors go home when normal visiting hours are over. Our visiting hours are set based on how the patient is doing.... and how annoying the family is :P

[dorie43rn]

Our visiting hours are scheduled, but alot of familys don't adhere to them. If we nurses get our way, the doors will be locked, and the familys will have to be buzzed in. Of course there are exceptions to the rules for certain patients, but nurses need the time to get things done. Familys are more intrusive nowadays. They come to the nursing station to tell us Grandad needs hot tea, or my unconcious mother on the vent needs more morphine, she seems uncomfortable. Meanwhile a diprivan drip is running, and the patient hasn't moved for days! Also, familys watch every little thing you do, and question you. Everyone is looking for a lawsuit these days.They follow us into other patients rooms because hubby needs his dilaudid! We had an incident where the wife went to upper mangagment about a certain nurse, but didn't tell the upper management the certain nurses name, so who did they come to? Me, the nurse who took care of the patient last. The problem? The other nurse wasn't nice to her. She went to the president of the hospital because in her opinion the nurse wasn't nice to her! Nope, sorry, familys should come on designated visiting hours, the patient will do just fine in between. They usually aren't in the ICU long, and when they move to the floor, then the family can visit as long as they want. I've had family members in the ICU before I was a nurse, and I had no problems with visiting hours. And the thing with the kids is, they are germy, and the ICU is very germy, so wait till they get to the floor please. If someone is not going to make it, then by all means, we close the curtain, and let the whole family in at once. Locked doors can not come soon enough!

Dorie

[SICU Queen]

We have set hours, and I cherish the times in between!! Families, I find, often cause more irritation and harm to the patient than benefit, with rare exceptions.

(Plus, they pester the heck out of me for ridiculous BS when I really need to be doing other things... and God forbid if they actually see you sitting down taking a bite of food, or drinking something... )

[NurseMeg]

I wish we had visiting hours, but our ICU is "open". Sometimes, when I am admitting a very, very sick patient, I'll try to set things up initially with the family to limit visitation (if appropriate). I'll often advise setting up shifts with the family: 1-2 people in the room at a time, voices hushed, no cell phones, take turns going back and forth btw. the room and the waiting room. Most families respect this if it's set up that way at the beginning and then reinforced by the following nurse. Of course, at times this isn't appropriate. Is the patient is going to die, by all means let the family come and go as they please! But having 5 family members in the room and trying to stabilize a sick patient can be nearly impossible.
For HIPPA compliance and privacy as well, it would be nice to have limited visiting hours. I've been in the middle of report on one patient and had the other family come up and stand behind us- it's just not fair to the other patient.

[AliRae]

We have open hours, but limit the number at the bedside to 3, which includes parents. We have built-in beds for a parent (or 2 if they squish) to stay the night. Sometimes this is a blessing. There are kids who are absolutely inconsolable without parents there. There are kids who just need to be held all. the. time. And we just don't have that time.

However, it's mostly just a nuisance. Some nurses don't enforce the 3-person rule, so when you start kicking bodies out on your way to the bed, you're the bad guy. And then Uncle Jimmy wants to come in when no parents are there and pitches a fit because no one can prove that he really is Uncle Jimmy and so isn't allowed in. And, of course, Grandma needs some more coffee. STAT.

*sigh* I wish it weren't all about the press-gaineys and I could kick families out when I needed to.