family problems

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I am a nursing student precepting at the hospital. One patient's that I was taking care of had a lot of family members present, all with different opinions on what should be done, and all with very loud and strong opinions. I know caring for the family is just as important as caring for the patient, and if the patient wants them to be, they have a right to be part of the plan of care. Any suggestions on how to work with a family such as this?

All comments welcome :)

Thanks, Kari Whitey

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I am a strong advocate of the "Leave the Room" school of patient care. Get to know your patient first.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

In order for the patient to heal expediently, all potential stressors need to be eliminated from the immediate environment.

In my opinion, loud, boisterous, overbearing, hovering family members are serving as stressors in the environment and need to be removed.

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See what the patient wants first. If they have an opinion they need to be heard. At the end of the day they are your client. If the patient is alone talk with them and see what they think and if they need more information about what is to happen next. Sometimes nurses have to be the "bad guy" too and the the client a quiet place to think their decision through, they are the one who ultimately has to choose what is going to happen to their body and who is going to do it. I would NEVER confront family or impose personal opinions but I would suggest the client be given the opportunity to think it through with out people bickering over them.

Good luck.

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Specializes in CTICU.

I would talk to them and explain that you are happy to have them involved, but that they need to talk amongst themselves and come up with a spokesperson. The designated spokesperson is the only one who gets to give the (collective) opinion, call and ask questions etc and then they can disseminate info to the rest of the family.

Caring for the family is great, but if it interrupts caring for your patient, you need to put your foot down. We used the designated spokesperson technique a lot in the ICU with good results.

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