Family Visitation in the PACU

Has everyone forgotten about why we became nurses in the 1st place? To help not only the patient but also help the family cope. FAMILY CENTERED CARE. My PACU doesn't offer adult visitation but we are in the midst of creating concrete guidelines. ASPAN has specifically came out and said more visitation options for families increase patient outcomes and patient satisfaction. This is evidenced based practice. By reading most of these threads, I think most of you a very resistant to change. I was very resistant to open visitation in the ICU when I worked there. But after getting used to it, it was a tremendous success. Most of the comments being posted are excuses for not wanting to change. I hear it all the time "this is the way we have always done it".

Blatant violations of patient privacy are not mere excuses for not wanting to change.

If I were having surgery and coming through PACU, and the visitor in the slot next to mine listened in on report from anesthesia to find out that I had HIV, Hep C, etc. then witnessed me screaming and throwing off the covers exposing myself coming out of anesthesia, throwing up, listening to the surgeon telling me whether or not they got out all of the cancer, then later listening to the PACU nurse calling report to the floor about my entire history and what surgery I had, only to find out that this same visitor was my next door neighbor or knew me on some other level........

I guess I'm supposed to take comfort in knowing that my privacy being compromised was a small sacrifice because studies have shown that visitors in the PACU improve patient satisfaction and outcomes.

I hear it all the time "If you'd keep your family members happy, they wouldn't bother you so much".