Dear Hospital Administration...

wooh, BSN, RN · Jul 24, 2012

Which do you prefer...
1. High patient satisfaction scores OR semi-private rooms?
2. Staff clocking out on time OR bedside report?
3. Quiet at night initiative OR filling the unit with admissions all night long?
Because when you change "OR" to "AND", it doesn't work. You can't have it all. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Night Shift Floor Nurse Who Works Her Butt Off But It Never Seems Good Enough.

One of the best posts ever on this site. :)

Anne36, LPN · Jul 24, 2012

The last LTC I was doing clinicals at had 4 clients to 1 bathroom. The rooms were semi-private but they were extremely small (inadequate, the beds were all shoved up against the wall, so you couldnt even get 2 people to help reposition a client without a lot of trouble). It was difficult to provide adequate privacy for personal care needs. Private rooms for LTC would be great.

NightOwl0624 · Jul 24, 2012

At the risk of straying from the topic at hand...
I believe that semi-private rooms can sometimes be beneficial to the patient(s). we have a mixture of privates and semis. When possible, a thoughtful matching of the roommates help. Some people actually seem to enjoy the company and not being "alone" while in the hospital. Also, pairing two patients that require close observation can save resources.
That being said, I do think the majority of rooms should be private.
Somewhat agree with the "quiet at night" thing, but patients aren't very happy about hanging out on an ER gurney all night either.

I believe private rooms are the way to go, HOWEVER, your post made me think of two of the most pleasantly confused lol's that were roommates that entertained each other for hours. It was so cute to listen to them....they kept repeating the same conversations over and over. I think in certain situations shared rooms can be useful, but unfortunately that is very rare. And the poster who mentioned the fall rate going up in private rooms, I never realized there may be a correlation there. Interesting.

kdbuckley1 · Jul 25, 2012

Before I was a nurse I was a unit secretary on a 42 bed med surg floor. At the time they were semi private rooms with the exception of our negative pressure room. I will never forget the day I answered the call light and I couldn't quite make out what the pt said, but I was pretty sure it was a long the lines of "He's sitting on me!!" I appologized and told him I couldn't make out what he had said. Again he said, but this time he yelled "HE'S SITTING ON ME!!!!" I quickly got the pt's nurse and she went down there and sure enough a little dementia patient had gone to the bathroom gotten confused on the way back and was sitting on the other patient in his bed!! Enough said!

Jmira.BSN.RN · Jul 25, 2012

Ever been to a Kindred???

I've seen 5 in a room. MRSA patients mixed with C-diffs mixed with clean pts mixed with a couple of clean pts. Yowza!

redhead_NURSE98!, ADN, BSN · Jul 25, 2012

" High patient satisfaction scores OR semi-private rooms?"
From a patient perspective, I couldn't agree more. I remember reading an article in the New York Times a while back that those who study human factors and architecture in health care settings finally came to the realization that shared rooms are a very bad idea, sometime around the late 90's. I spent three weeks post-surgical in a hospital that was built just after that time, where everyone had a private room, and the stay was horrible.
Some months later I spent a couple of weeks in a world-class hospital sharing a room, and it was among the the worst experiences of my life. While the medical and nursing care were excellent, I felt like I was going to die having to deal with very sick roommates, one who regurgitated blood like a lawn sprinkler, and another who had profound sleep apnea. The first had his extended family in the room at all hours. The staff was very lenient about visitors. I had a spinal headache and could hardly move or think, after having major surgery. I hardly slept. I don't know how I got out of there without an MI.
Anything other than private patient rooms should be banned. It's not just a matter of comfort. It's also a matter of infection control.

I stayed in a semi-private room for 5 days before I was a nurse, with a woman who was bedbound and had constant diarrhea...her family was there alllll day long yappity yapping and I had to sit there behind my stupid curtain and not play the tv because "it bothered her." Meanwhile the nurses would take her bedpan and set it on the toilet rim, with the faucet rinsy thing sticking down still...every time I had to go to the bathroom I had to kick the bedpan off with my foot and pick up the faucet with my bare hands. Finally I caught one of them and said "excuse me but I use this room too, I'd appreciate it if you'd fix the toilet back so a PERSON can use it when you're done."

Since I've been a nurse I've had multiple patients who are AO, independent, in for an overnight obs, refuse to stay in their rooms and even sit in the hallway against the wall at 3am, because their roommate was incontinent or doing bowel prep or something else that made them sick. They really shouldn't have to deal with that.

l8308 · Jul 25, 2012

I was a patient in a private room several times and loved it. I also had to share a room with a roommate. The roommates were usually way older than me. I did convince one elderly roommate she should have a MRI done for her back. I had a roommate who was a LPN like me so that was nice and around my age. Also, each time she requested pain medicine, I did too. That was fun! :) I roomed with an elderly roommate who rang the bell for the CNA to do something about my snoring. That was hilarious. I was listening to their conversation. I just hope never to have to go to the hospital ever again in my lifetime. I would like to die at home. Also, I am glad there was no one in the room when I had to prep the night before for a colonoscopy

anotherone, BSN, RN · Jul 25, 2012

I hate bedside report and I hate semi privates as others say the most. i especially hate all the complaints I have to deal with from patients about them. I am sure most of the people will never go on to complain to upper management or administration just nursing staff. They will just rate thier stay poorly and we wil be blamed. Some of those rooms are so tiny, that there is little that can be done about privacy. 2 have to use the bathroom at the same time, one has visitors at all hours, 1 has a bowel prep, 1 is an admission that just got there at 3 am and needs and ng tube, multiple portable x rays, a couple consults, etc.

P_RN, ADN, RN · Jul 25, 2012

Amen!! I had a pancreatic duct stent placed at our State Medical University Hospital (SC). Their policy was in empty semi-private rooms the first patient to arrive MUST be placed in the 2nd bed. OK I got the window...looking out on a roof with frogs and birds (near the Atlantic Ocean). I had 2 IVs a PCA pump and a drain. These were on 2 rolling IV poles.

The next patient was a chronic pain post pancreatitis who stayed on her cell phone from the moment I got there until I moved myself to the hallway and sat on a pillow the rest of the night. I only moved to go to the visitors restroom, as the 1st bed patient sneaked a smoke every 30 minutes or so. I was about 20 feet from the nurses' station. One housekeeper commented to me about where I was, the staff took my frequent vitals, did I&O in the HALL.

I hear they have built a new hospital, but if I have a recurrence I will go to MCG or Charlotte. And yes I did tell the supervisor (no more rooms available) and yes I did fill out a Press-Gainey,and No I never heard back from the hospital. My doctor was apologetic but "I have no control over rooms."

Private rooms is my vote.

Sugar Magnolia · Jul 25, 2012

We only have private rooms. The hospital is aesthetically beautiful; some patients call our facility "Hotel Hilton". And no joke-- people complain on the survey's about people vomiting next door, the pt being too loud in the room down the hall. Sometimes you just can't win...

NicuGal, MSN, RN · Jul 25, 2012

Private rooms all the way. When I was a patient at the hospital I work at, I got paired with this poor lady who stunk to the high heavens, had even stinkier family who were loud and horrible. I just had surgery, was sick as all get out and I had to deal with this for the first day until my workmates finally raised such a stink about it they moved me. And sharing a bathroom....let's not go there...especially postpartum! Ewwwww!!!!! We are in the process of going to private rooms right now starting on the peds floor, our rehab and ICU's except for NICU are private.

That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Jul 26, 2012

I can totally relate. Send it to all the managers!

And if I ever had a semi private room, I would drink as much milk as humanly possible ( I am a wee bit lactose intolerant :devil: )