Family members as patients on your unit

[KAW1962]

This occurred last week at work and I would like some opinions. I work on a specialty unit (ortho). The business office called and asked me if we would be willing to take an observation patient being admitted for a GI bleed. The patient had requested to be placed on our unit because her niece works there. I told them we were unable to take the patient, and the patient was subsequently placed on the Obs unit. I happened to mention this in passing to one of my co-workers yesterday, who's response was "boy, aren't you nice. I wouldn't want my family member anywhere else." I didn't say anything to her at the time. My reason for not accepting the patient was because in my opinion, this opens the door for conflict. I have seen it happen too many times. The patient expects preferential treatment, the employee expects the patient to have preferential treatment, the rest of the family now feels that the employee is at liberty to discuss details of the patients' care, and heaven forbid if the patient was unhappy with the care received, they may be unwilling to report a legitimate complaint, or it may put the employee in a delicate position. Was I wrong to say no?

[TazziRN, RN]

No. Another reason is that yours is a specialty unit. Ortho care and GI care are on different ends of the spectrum.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

No, I think you did the right thing. (Wouldn't mention it to others though). I work in the ER and we have the similar set of circumstances often. Stand your ground.

[HappyNurse2005, RN]

WE have had nurses family members before, when appropriate, though. Our NM's mother was on our floor, but seeing as we are the stepdown unit for cardio/thoracic surgery, when she had a cabg, ours was the appropriate unit to go to. i was on orientation then, so i dont remember anything coming of it, i dont think there was any big hullabaloo about it

we have had one of our cardiologists son on our floor, too. again, for a dx appropriate for our floor. he didn't demand anything different than we normally did. (except for a bigger room, which we accomodated when one became available, we didnt bump anyone for him)

on another floor that i was pulled to once, a nurses stepfather or grandfather, or something like that was a pt. again, for a legitimate dx for that floor. i didnt know this nurse. she was not working this day he was admitted to the floor, was in the computer trying to look up his xrays, saying something to the effect that hte dr would rush his echo b/c she knew the doc, etc etc. that all rubbed me the wrong way.

[leslie :-D]

seeing that i'm a hospice nurse, i really would rather not have any family members on my unit.:)

leslie

[beautifulb]

We have had family members on our floor. We have even had staff on our floor, due to their request. The family members don't expect any preferential treatment and we don't give it to them. We treat them as we would any other pt. We provide exceptional care and respect the pt's privacy. Also, with HIPPA we are prohibited from talking about the pt. to ANYONE unless they are directly involved with the pt.

[perfectbluebuildings, BSN, RN]

We get staff members' kids every once in a while- hmmm I wonder why with all the infectious stuff on our floor?? I don't think it's really been any kind of issue. They do often ask who's working and request to have "either Nurse A, B or C", but then some of the chronic/long-term patients will do that pretty often, too and the charge nurses have no problem with that. I think you did the right thing... GI bleed isn't an ortho issue. And I'd think they'd want to have people more used to caring for their family member's issue, rather than people who knew them but may not have as much experience in GI stuff.

Why WERE they considering putting them on your floor- just because of the family member thing?

[NurseSDP]

Having worked on a general surgery floor in the only hospital in our town, family members as patients was relatively common. We tried to keep it as appropriate diagnosis oriented as we could, i.e. fresh postop patients, but due to high admission rates to our facility and the overflow issue, it wasn't always possible. My dad has even been on our floor as a patient when he had his hernia repair surgery, and it was no big deal. I just refrained from being his direct care nurse, limited any extensive visiting to when I was off the clock, and kept out of his chart. He didn't ask for any special treatment and felt that overall his care was good. I don't think it was uncomfortable or became an issue to anyone.

[grannynurse FNP student]

Generally I do not think it is a good idea to have a family member on the floor I worked. It puts too much real or imagine strain on the rest of the staff. And if a family member wants to be put on a specialty unit and does not have a thing to do with the patients illness, NO! And if your family member request to be put on your unit, out of diagnoses, you tell them their illness requires specialized care. It lets you off the hook and they get the right care.

Grannynurse:balloons:

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I live in a small city with only one hospital, so there was never an issue when family members or friends were patients on my floor, nor were there any problems when I was a patient on my own floor. I just made sure some one else was my family member's/friend's nurse, and when I myself was in the hospital I stayed out of the staff areas, didn't ask for special accommodations, and in general did my best not to be a nuisance.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Just want to post a reminder that getting in a family member's or your own chart for that matter is a HIPAA violation and at least in my facility is punishable by firing.

[Medic/Nurse, BSN, RN]

NO, you did not do the wrong thing at all.

If they (family) wanted the patient on your floor because their niece worked there, I'd have to have a rational explanation. I'd still refuse the admit, but gee I'd like to hear that reasoning!

Sounds like an invitation for a hungry, hungry HIPPA'o' s feeding to me. Why risk it?