Do you check on your patients less when family is in the room?

3dayRN · Apr 13, 2011

When his sats dropped it shows up on a monitor at the nurses station. The might before when it happened the nurse always came in. I didn't ASSume the nurse knew he needed suctioned. The monitor alarming at the nurses station was a clue not an assumption that something was wrong. Noone showed up so I did it myself. The third time it happened the nurse actually showed up in the room and I told her he needed suctioned and she didn't do it. My dad is very sick and to the point he doesn't want to be left alone. Someone is in his room 24/7 this hospital is 3.5 hours away from home so we can't just stop by and leave and stop by again. Once we are here we stay. We are never in the way. When the nurse or Oct asks us family members if WE not my dad needs anything we ALWAYS say no. We always step out to not be in the way. During the day we turn my dad give his bath change kinsman walked him when he was able etc... but at night we are not here to "visit" all the light ate turned off and its obvious we are trying to sleep only because my dad doesn't want to be left alone. He wants someone here when he wakes up. So I'm not a family member that's asking for numerous things and certainly nothing for my self. I even brought my own blanket. My dad IS one of the very sick patients that does need the nurses attention and he should get it. Now this doesn't happen at all on day shift and only a few times on nights but it shouldn't happen at all.

rninbloom · Apr 13, 2011

Family in the room should have no bearing on frequency of assessment. If family could take care of them, they wouldn't be in the hospital...they would be at home.

3dayRN · Apr 13, 2011

Sorry for my misspelled words. I'm on my phone and not much sleep. Point is though I don't mind helping but if I'm sleeping someone should be checking on him. I shouldn't have to call out and say ok I'm going to sleep now. Will see how tonight goes.

BluegrassRN · Apr 13, 2011

Direct communication is your best friend. Good luck, and I hope your father is doing better.

MissBrahmsRN · Apr 13, 2011

80s with a good waveform? i'll be in there pronto or send another RN in if i am attending to something more critical. 80s with a crappy waveform that 2 secs later blanks out to "please change sensor" then goes back to nice waveform with 92% or up & i am on night 3 with this patient and i know they do that cause they move around like crazy, etc etc then i won't be in there quite so quick, i will likely peek in for a sec & assess whether it needs attention or not. makes no difference to me whether or not family is in there, this isn't the Hilton. had family members yell at me for waking them up cause their loved one needed important care. :rolleyes: its frustrating for everyone involved i think.

if i'm busy (like in the middle of a meds pass or have a doc bedside) & family is there with the other patients I will introduce myself & say, "well, i'll step out & go take care of some things but if you need help please dont hesitate to use the call-light if i can't respond right away one of our assistants or another nurse will check on you"

i do like family bedside, it does tend to help my patients sleep better, have less pain, etc but if they want lots of uninterrupted sleep the hospital is NOT the place to get it.

leslie :-D · Apr 13, 2011

Direct communication is your best friend.

this.

so effective, yet so underutilized.

i just don't get it.

leslie

ckh23, BSN, RN · Apr 13, 2011

I like for them to spend as much time together as possible. Our unit does not allow overnight stays. However I do NOT check on them less and I don't let them interfere with care.

LouisVRN, RN · Apr 13, 2011

Honestly, it depends. If a patient is alert oriented x3, and there for something like a lap appy with 2-3 friends at bedside, I may save them until last to round on assuming one of the three of them will let me know if there is a change in status. If the patient has a family member who is less than A&O x3, well I'll probably be in there more often for fear of having them become a second patient. (OT but a horror story with a woman with mild dementia and family brought her husband with sundowner's to spend the night with her - He became combative and was a definite fall risk and ended up needing more care than his wife.) In a situation with someone who is acutely ill it doesn't matter who is there. Our facility mandates we do hourly rounds so everyone gets seen every hour.

ETA There are a lot of cases where I will have been in a room checked on pt and family and not 5 minutes later they are calling for a nurse. Was it possible your nurse came in and you just weren't aware of it? This doesn't excuse not coming to check on an alarm, but at night I've gotten very good at sneaking around pt's rooms. Turning off equipment, empyting trash, cleaning the room, changing IV bags, refilling water without the waking anyone up.

3dayRN · Apr 13, 2011

I don't mind getting no sleep because the nurse is in checking on my dad. I don't care if they turn on the brightest light. I don't think I should be awake because his sats are dropping , yes with a good waveform, but I don't want to be worried the alarms are sounding and noone shows up. I work midnights believe me I don't care about waking up families if I need to do care. I'm not complaining about wanting to sleep without interruption, I EXPECT that. I always appreciate when a family stays but I DO check on my patients. I do NOT expect them to do my job. So basically if his sats are dropping and I am awakened by nurses responding to this then THANK YOU! For doing your job.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Apr 13, 2011

here it is 0500 sitting in the hospital. not as a nurse but as a daughter. someone has been staying in the room for the past few nights. last night it was me. i am exhausted. i stayed because he does not want to be left alone. i have not slept because the nurse didn't make rounds for the better part of the shift. i'm all about helping but i think a nurse should have come in room when sats dropped to 86 . no that didn't happen. i had to wake him up to cough and suction him. i will be here all day today and again tonight. i am not complaining about that but i think its unfair for the nurse to assume because i'm in the room he doesn't receive the same care. i had to suction him a couple times during night. i will absolutely do whatever needs done but like i said i'm emotionally and physically exhausted to the point i want to just cry. so my question is do you check on your patients less when visitors are in room?

do i check on patients less often when family is around? it depends upon the condition of the patient and yes, it depends upon the family. i'll admit, although not proudly, that i avoid the patient whose family is obnoxious. i'm not saying this is you. but i noticed when my father was in the hospital that his nurses checked on him far less frequently when my sister (obnoxious) or my mother (dementia) were around. i think that's human nature. i'll do all the necessary care and assessments, but if the family is a pain in the you-know-where, i typically don't hang around just to chat or stay in the room unless it's unavoidable. maybe i'm a horrible person.

burntoutrn1 · Apr 23, 2011

I check on my pts the same amount regardless of wheter or not visitors are present. In addition, I always tell the VISITORS to call if they think their loved one needs something. The fact that sats dropped to 86% and RN did not come in is DISTRESSING. I would speak to nurse mgr or pt rep. If the RN knew that you were a nurse, maybe she thought that was an opportunity to spend less time with your dad b/c you could take care of it? Totally inapprorpiate, and not an excuse. This happened to me when my Grandpa was in the ICU (I was an ICU nurse at the time). What the RNs didn't understand is that I was not thinking as a nurse but as a scared granddaughter who was exhausted, in shock, and worried about my FAMILY MEMBER.