Babies in hospital rooms. ..ugh!! *twitch*

Nurses Relations

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Specializes in Quality, Cardiac Stepdown, MICU.

It seriously makes me twitch when babies are in any hospital room besides the one where they are born. Especially tiny infants! Do people not understand that the hospital is full of sick people, some with MDROs that could kill that baby in an instant?!

When I see they're just visiting, I'll grit my teeth and wait until they leave. If the visit gets too long, or they and their parent try to spend the night with the pt (yes this happens to me a lot), I tell them they can't stay. Invariably they have no ride home by that time (I'm night shift) but I tell them after tomorrow, no more baby, and I explain why.

Some understand. Others whine that it makes Grammy feel soooooo good to see the wittle angel!! Sheesh. Does Grammy really wish her wittle angel harm?

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Specializes in Leadership, Psych, HomeCare, Amb. Care.

Could kill the infant in an instant?

Really? :sarcastic:

That's a super toxic environment you got there. :nailbiting:

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Specializes in Quality, Cardiac Stepdown, MICU.

LOL OK, I'm being a little dramatic. But only a little. I wanted to take my firstborn to our family doctor for regular care, and he wouldn't even see her before she was 6 months, because he didn't want her exposed to the waiting room. I know we are all washing our hands, etc., but the hospital is still full of sick, gross, germy stuff.

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I'm with you 100%. See it much more than I'd like to and makes me cringe every time. I will tell them to make sure they wash their hands and the baby's after visiting, try to keep the child from putting things/hands in mouth, don't put baby on floor, don't let baby eat things that have been in the room.

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Does your hospital not have age restrictions on visitors? My unit and most of the floors have a "no one under 14" rule and we do enforce it, unless it is a very special situation. I don't think a lot of people realize how germ-filled hospitals are. I know I didn't before becoming a nurse and working in one.

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Specializes in Quality, Cardiac Stepdown, MICU.

This was on a PCU floor -- all private rooms, no age or time restrictions, family can even sleep over if they like (the window bench converts to a couch). I'm in MICU now, and I noticed NO couches, just two (rather uncomfortable) chairs in each room. Message sent.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I've walked into hospital rooms where a baby was crawling around on the floor, picking up God-knows-what and putting it in his/her mouth. :eek: I never even wore my work shoes in the house---always left 'em out in the garage between wearings---because I had a good idea of what slithers across hospital floors and I didn't want it on mine. Yecccch.

What got me was that people were genuinely astonished when I outlined the potential hazards of allowing their child to crawl on the floor. Most were very cooperative and scooped the little one up immediately, but there were always a few who thought I was overexaggerating and let matters proceed. Apparently it didn't matter that it might also be dangerous for the child to be stepped on by a healthcare professional rushing into the room, but then we're not talking about brain trusts here. LOL

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
I don't think a lot of people realize how germ-filled hospitals are.

In our ED we had a pt. with a service dog. Another pt, while being wheeled by on a stretcher, said "I can't believe they let that dog in here--wouldn't it interfere with the sterile environment." :roflmao:

I didn't have the heart to tell her how filthy (relatively speaking) the ED really is. That nice dog is spreading a whole lot fewer germs that many of our patients.

As for the OP, yeah, I can't believe visitors would bring their babies to the ED…they are crawling on the floor, putting gloves in their mouths, trying to eat who-knows-what off the floor… Yuck!

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

Exercising the immune system!

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And the baby probably hasn't had any vaccinations to make sure she doesn't get autism. :)

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Specializes in hospice.

And some people think us out-of-hospital birthers are nuts. This is one reason we choose that. ;)

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Specializes in hospice.
And the baby probably hasn't had any vaccinations to make sure she doesn't get autism. :)

*groan* :banghead:

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