Doors to patient rooms: open or closed?

[ktliz]

This might seem like a silly question, but I was just wondering whether it is the norm on your unit to leave the doors to patients' rooms open or closed?

All my hospital experiences have been with 2 facilities. At the hospital where I volunteered, all rooms are private, and most patients kept their door fully closed. At my local hospital, most rooms are shared, and doors seem to be left open.

Do you have a specific policy on your unit for whether doors are to be left open or closed? Do you leave it up to the patient? Or do you keep doors open as a convenience or safety measure?

-Katee, pre-nursing student

[itsmejuli]

I work in LTC, all of the doors are open unless the resident is AOx3 and then its their choice.

Well, I was working a hall I don't usually work yesterday for a few hours. There was a closed door. I opened it to find a CNA sitting doing homework I don't know how many times I've opened doors to find aids talking or watching football. Yeah, I work weekends.

[bjaeram]

I work in an ER so it may be a little different but we are supposed to keep them closed all the time. The reason is so they don't hear the conversations going on in the halls and nurses station. Of course there are exceptions when we need to really see a patient but 95% of the time they are shut.

[ObtundedRN, BSN, RN]

We keep doors open on my unit. To hear alarms (vent, monitor, IV pump, bed exit alarms, etc.), and also for falls prevention. So that as we walk past rooms we can look in, and also hear if someone falls.

[hearts895, RN BSN]

At the hospital I work for, 90% of the time they are open, but there are exceptions allowed as per pt. preference, or for reasons like isolation or comfort measures (close to death etc.) Usually there has to be a "reason" for the doors to be closed.