Originally Posted by bfjworr Although our unit has closed visitation hours....our unit is easily accessible....There are no locks on the double doors and there is no one preventing them from walking through the double doors to the unit itself. Each patient door can be locked and this is encouraged by our manager. There is a red phone visitors are suppose to pick up and use to find out if it is convenient to visit. Many do not use the red phone.... We limit visitors to two at a time... but many do not pay attention... Some nurses do not enforce the rule and then all the other staff nurses receive aggravation from the families when they follow the guidelines. Another problem is families try to wake up sedated patients while they are on the ventilator or loosen or remove restraints while they are visiting and forget to replace them when they leave. Patient confidentiality is compromised when family members approach the nurses station.....we have glass doors on our rooms so all our patients are easily seen by the nurses....and unfortunately sometimes visitors....Do you have some of these same problems....
Aside from the red telephones and glass doors b/t your patients, I would think we worked at the same hospital based on what you just described.
Nothing irks me more than when you FINALLY get some buck-wild patient settled down and asleep for the family to come and wake him up, in spite of the fact you've explained to them to leave him alone.
Just a few weeks ago, we had this really wacko patient that even the most kindhearted and patient nurses could no longer deal with. We got the chief resident to come and talk to his even more wacko wife, where he explained to her ICU psychosis, lack of rest, etc. ad nauseum. After the resident left, she proceeded to bark at him in this awful, loud, gravelly voice that he needed to "CALM DOWN!!!!" Oh yeah, that helps...........
Family visitation in ICU
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