Visitors with no common sense!!

Nurses General Nursing

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What has happened to common sense in the hospital? I had a patient who had a hysterectomy (TAH and BSO) Tuesday morning. This young lady was only back her room for about 20 minutes when she had about 10 visitors come! :( :( She had just fallen asleep when these people showed up! So, of course they wake her up. And they proceed to visit with her like they had just set down in her home with coffee for a long visit. The longer they stayed, the more uptight and tense the patient became. Hence, the worse her pain became. I finally had enough, and asked everyone to leave except her S/O. I just can't believe that some people would be so inconsiderate! A nurse I work with had the same problem on Friday. An elderly lady had a colon resection and within minutes of her returning to the room, several people had gathered to visit. :confused: I hate sounding like a hag, but some of these people just don't get it. I just love it also when people barge into the room, when the door is SHUT and the curtain is pulled. They just walk in like it is their own home. :( That really pops my gasket. :angryfire I just want to scream "Hey, how would you like me to walk in on you when you have your naked backside exposed to the world?" Anyone else feel the same way about inconsiderate visitors? Maybe I just seem to be the magnet the past few weeks for them. :rolleyes:

Specializes in Everything except surgery.

I guess I must be a meanie...cause I don't put up with none of the stuff I'm reading here! I have no problem asking people to leave! Too many visitors...howling kids...loud voices....not good for the pt!. Yeah I get insulted looks...but they leave...and that's all I care about! The only person I never ask to leave is SOs...but even they can be pains in the rear. But they're important to the pt....so they stay!

I had one son, who out of the whole family in the room....thought he was going to stay while I assessed his mother on my first rounds! He kept looking at me...as he slowly eased out of the room...because He knew I meant business...and he wasn't about to stay. Why he even thought he should stay while I uncovered his mother is beyond me! Tried to come back in the room before I was finished and I politely turned him right around! Mom just smiled. Most pts will tell you thank you! "I had to go to the bathroom...and I didn't want to get up while "they" were here". Or I wanted to ask for some pain medicine...but was waiting for them to leave! "Or I didn't want to hurt their feelings by asking them to leave"

Well...Brownie will be the bad guy for them...anytime!

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Originally posted by Brownms46

Well...Brownie will be the bad guy for them...anytime!

You go girl! Us bad guys gotta stick together for the patients!

Heather

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I have asked/told visitors to go and they simply refuse. When administration won't support you (even when they're creating a fire hazard) there's not much you can do. We have major accountability and zero authority. :(

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Originally posted by mattsmom81

We have major accountability and zero authority. :(

Wow! You just said alot about nursing as a whole, mattsmom!

Heather

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Ya knooooooooowwwwwww.............I just gotta chime in on this one. Honey, visitors irritate the holy livin' snot outta me. I of course, work OB, where people think they are entitled to see their neighbor's-cousin's-girlfriend's bloody lady parts at 3am and get all indignant if we kick 'em out. :rolleyes:

Heather, Brownie, and the rest of you 'meanie' nurses, ladies, I'm right there with ya!!! LOL!!! I am evil, evil, evil!! I will throw your a$$ out of my unit in a heartbeat. I don't care who you are. I have called security more than once to escort an unruly/uncooperative 'visitor' (I have another name for them, but can't type it here...) out of the hospital. My unit is locked, and it has a strict visitation policy. GOD BLESS 'EM. My managers, secretary, and fellow nurses back it up with action, too. And security is WONDERFUL when it comes to coming to our rescue.

I have worked in several places that weren't locked and had wussy or nonexistent vistiation policies, and let me tell ya....when I interviewed for the place I work now, you bet your butt I asked them about their visitation policy. Had the unit not been locked and the visitation policy been wussy or not enforced, I would have turned down the job offer. I'm totally serious.

Mattsmom, you hit the nail on the head. I refuse to work in a place that expects me to protect my patient and co-workers, but refuses to give me the tools or power to do so!!

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Originally posted by Huganurse

To finally RN: Good for you!!!! I wish you'd been my nurse when I had my son. After I had him they handed him to hubby and told him to go show him to the family. I had not even had a chance to put one hand on my boy before he was out the door. I don't know if I'll ever get over the fact that my MIL and SIL's held him before I did. Two hours later, I was furious, they still wouldn't bring him to me. I finally got out of my bed against the nurses advice and started looking for my baby. I found him in the nursery. I picked him up and carried him back to my room so I could finally bond with him. I'll never know why the visitors had priority over my baby that day. And all this was after I'd ended up in the hospital to have him b/c he was 2w late, instead of the birthing center, where I had planned on holding him and bonding with him before they even cut the cord. I applaud all those L/D nurses who put Mom first, and make sure that Mom is calling the shots when it comes to visitors.

Oh, HE** NO!! I'm sorry, but I have a strict rule...MOMMY HOLDS BABY BEFORE ANYBODY ELSE. I have really made some mil's and grandmas mad, but LIKE I CARE!! The mothers of those babies thanked me profusely afterward. I tell those people who get all pissy when I tell 'em they can't hold the baby until momma does

"Look...she worked and bled and sweated for x number of hours for this child. She aches for this child. She gets to hold him/her first. PERIOD." They back down immediately. HEE HEE!!

Huganurse, next time you have a baby, you call me and Heather...we'll be the 'mean' nurses you need!!! LOL!! We got your back, babe!! ;)

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Specializes in Everything except surgery.
Originally posted by OBNURSEHEATHER

You go girl! Us bad guys gotta stick together for the patients!

Heather

You betcha we do...:cool:!!

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Specializes in Everything except surgery.
Originally posted by shay

Ya knooooooooowwwwwww.............I just gotta chime in on this one. Honey, visitors irritate the holy livin' snot outta me. I of course, work OB, where people think they are entitled to see their neighbor's-cousin's-girlfriend's bloody lady parts at 3am and get all indignant if we kick 'em out. :rolleyes:

Heather, Brownie, and the rest of you 'meanie' nurses, ladies, I'm right there with ya!!! LOL!!! I am evil, evil, evil!! I will throw your a$$ out of my unit in a heartbeat. I don't care who you are. I have called security more than once to escort an unruly/uncooperative 'visitor' (I have another name for them, but can't type it here...) out of the hospital. My unit is locked, and it has a strict visitation policy. GOD BLESS 'EM. My managers, secretary, and fellow nurses back it up with action, too. And security is WONDERFUL when it comes to coming to our rescue.

I have worked in several places that weren't locked and had wussy or nonexistent vistiation policies, and let me tell ya....when I interviewed for the place I work now, you bet your butt I asked them about their visitation policy. Had the unit not been locked and the visitation policy been wussy or not enforced, I would have turned down the job offer. I'm totally serious.

Mattsmom, you hit the nail on the head. I refuse to work in a place that expects me to protect my patient and co-workers, but refuses to give me the tools or power to do so!!

AMEN...and AMEN! Inconsiderate ...don't know when to leave visitors...who take over a pt's room...and think they have the right to infringe on my pts inability or refusal to stand up to them...have no fear...the meanies are here...:chuckle

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Ya'll make me laugh....I am a Yankee transplant down here in the Southland...and was put in charge right out of nursing school because I was more 'assertive' than most of the southern belles. ;)

I very quickly got dubbed 'The Dragon Lady at the front desk' when I ran off an unruly group of young men who were gallivanting around our unit reeking of booze and disturbing everyone. The nickname stuck---all 7 years at that hospital I was 'The Dragon Lady' to the nursing and medical staff. :)

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Specializes in Everything except surgery.

'The Dragon Lady' dunnn dunup dunup...YEAHHHHH!!!

I LOVE IT!!!:chuckle

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Canoehead:

That actually happened to me, as I'm sure 80 % of other women also! Hubby and I arrived at the hospital at 11:02 PM on a Saturday night- I finally delivered at 7:13 Sunday morning, exhausted and in obviously in pain...........still had to sit there and endure visitors alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll day up until 8 that night. All of my nurses were wonderful, no complaints about them whatsoever, but I was praying for one of them to tell my family and hubby's family to let me rest so I wouldn't have to be the villian! Not a nurse yet, but when I do become one, I'll always make sure to remember to ask the mother if she's up to all of the visitors for hours on end!

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Specializes in Cardiology/Women's Health.

Vistors can absolutely make your job hell, as if we don't have enough on our plate already. I truly empathize with family members being concerned about their loved ones, because I've been on that side of the fence myself. But the numerouse phone calls at shift change asking about how so-and-so is doing and you haven't even gotten out of report yet drives me crazy. I love it when they ask how they slept during the night and the pt. is A/O x3. Is it a tad bit selfish of me to think that the pt. can tell them how they slept much better that I can? And what about the visitors who won't do a single thing for their family members like even hand them a kleenex.

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