Help! I'm So Confused

[kbm318]

Ok so I'm really confused and I'm hoping someone can help me out. I'm just starting nursing school so I don't know how things sometimes work in the hospital. But I thought if you were a patients nurse and the family was there if you asked the family to leave long enough for you to do a procedure or whatever you had to do, alone with the patient so you had no distractions they had to. The floor my bf works on in the CTU/CCU there is a patient's wife who refuses to leave when she is asked to. When he asked the charge nurse about this they said she doesn't have to go anywhere she went to someone higher up and complained so now she doesn't have to budge.

I'm just so confused I hate hearing two different things and I'm just hoping someone can clear it up for me. Thanks!

[anon695]

They should be teaching you how to handle these issues in school. My school told us that in most circumstances, when a patient wants family to stay in the room, the family can stay in the room (it's the patient's choice, not yours)

[kbm318]

Well I'm just starting so I haven't been taught yet. But thank you for your response I was so confused with being told 2 different things I just didn't know what to think.

[anon695]

Did you talk to your instructor about this specific situation? The best way to get answers is always to ask your clinical instructor and see what she thinks.

[raspberryfizz42]

I know that in the end it is ultimately the patients decision whether they want family in the room or not. Honestly, if I was your clinical instructor I would not assign you to this patient simply because you need to become comfortable with the setting/hospital etc. before coming into a situation like this. I guess it is a good learning experience though. If you can do something, like place a Foley, in front of an audience then you can do it anywhere.