Is it appropriate to visit past patients in the unit?

[lilla_fjaril]

I interviewed a patient barely out of his teens in the holding area today. He was in for his 4th heart surgery and was understandably not cooperative or pleasant. Still, I left behind an important notebook and he made a point to have the anesthesia provider return it to me. This endeared him to me a bit. Many on the team were not sympathetic to his plight because part of his heart problems were caused by previous drug use. Call me crazy but I did some drugs when I was young and dumb too, and I don't think making typical teenage mistakes mean that he deserves to spend the rest of his life in heart failure.

I'm wondering if it's acceptable to drop by the unit just to see how he's doing. He may not even remember me, but in the OR I often feel like patients are treated like hunks of meat. Call me naive but I guess it just feel like people might appreciate being treated like human beings. Or maybe I just have a soft spot for troubled kids...

[openheartmary]

I don't see a problem with it. After taking a patient over to the unit, I often see one of my previous patients, sitting up in their chair. It is wonderful to see someone recovering. I always greet them and tell them how good it is to see them! Honestly, they probably don't remember me, but I do remember them.

If a smile and a cheerful greeting could possibly lift someone's morale, what is the harm?

[KayceeCA]

I don't see a problem with it. After taking a patient over to the unit, I often see one of my previous patients, sitting up in their chair. It is wonderful to see someone recovering. I always greet them and tell them how good it is to see them! Honestly, they probably don't remember me, but I do remember them.

If a smile and a cheerful greeting could possibly lift someone's morale, what is the harm?

I do the same thing, and I totally agree that there isn't any harm in stopping by to check on a previous patient.

[hikernurse]

I love to visit my babies when they return to the hospital. We have our babies for so long that some of them begin to feel like family. After the constant attention the babies get in the unit, the parents enjoy seeing us, too. A lot of them will stop in the NICU to let their primary nurses know they're back in the hospital and would like to see us again. I think stopping by this patient would be kind and he would appreciate seeing a friendly face--esp. in the hospital.

[shell07]

sure you can!!! our hospital even has post op visits, since we are a smaller hospital alot of our pts. are outpatient but the inpatients are seen before they leave and we get a chance to talk with them and any family members to see if their experience was uneventful and pleasant. (for what they remember) Most of time we see the names on the list and we reconize them and volunteer for that time for post ops.

[linda2097]

I'm not sure my hospital would allow it. We are told not to look at a patient's record on the computer unless it is a patient that we going to work with. Once we are done treating the patient, we do not have a right to know the health status of that patient. They told us we will be fired if we look their data on the computer.

Visiting the patient would be the same thing as looking them up in the computer because the visit would give you knowledge of the patient's condition, including health changes that occurred after you stopped treating the patient.

So, it's very nice to want to visit them, but doing so actually violates their privacy. Patient information is on a need-to-know basis. Once you are done treating a patient, you no longer need to know their status, and you are legally required to respect their privacy.

From a politeness standpoint, it is polite to be friendly, but even more polite to respect privacy.

It's also kind of disrespectful to the patient's floor nurse. How would you like it if you were circulating in the operating room and a floor nurse who USED TO work with the patient stopped by to talk to the patient? It's friendly but inappropriate.

So if you want to visit a patient, I would ask your hospital's lawyer for permission first.

I am not trying to lecture you. Just letting you know to be careful.

[lilla_fjaril]

Yeah, that's exactly why I asked Linda--the whole HIPAA thing. I didn't want to bring it up to my charge because she'd probably find it all cute and pathetic that the newbie nurse 'cared' about her patient.

I would actually have no problem if a patient went from the floor to emergent surgery and a floor nurse wanted to call for an update, etc (as long as it wasn't violating any patient privacy rights.) And I know we can't read charts or look at labs or anything once the patient has left the OR. I guess I just felt sad that most of the team was like 'well, he did drugs in high school. he's reaping what he sowed. too bad for him.' I think patients can pick up the vibe of being blamed for their illness, and I just don't think it's helpful to their recovery.

[spineCNOR]

Interesting question! "Back in the day" before same day surgery became so common it was not at all unusual or OR managers to expect their nurses to do pre- and post-op visits. I don't consider checking up on a patient post-op a HIPPA violation, but it wouldn't hurt to run it by your manager first. After all, this is one way to evaluate the effectiveness of the patient's intraoperative care. As long as you keep in mind that the patient may be tired and not interested in having a visitor most patients and their family members don't mind a very brief visit.