Family visitation in ICU

mattsmom81 · Mar 8, 2005

Yes I've noticed we have some similarities in our backgrounds RN34TX! I believe our experiences do make us who we are as people and as nurses; whether we've seen unfair practices or not, whether we or a friend has been grossly wronged by the healthcare system or if we've only seen fair practices, if we've worked in union environments then go to a nonunion/employment at will areas... it all figures in doesn't it.

grits · Mar 21, 2005

I have been a critical care nurse for 25 years. I am definitely against open visitation in a critical care unit. I am in the process of leaving the unit environment because of this. 1. visitors gawk at other patients while strolling through the unit to visit their family. 2. they interfere with patient care. 3. patients do not receive the care they deserve because family is in their scrutinizing all that you do, so we stay out. 4. the presence of visitors in the unit creates havoc. example-- one visitor became hostile because a nurse said her mothers rhythm was tacky... I am so disappointed in this new concept. My young manager says its a generational "THING" she believes in visitors at all times.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Mar 21, 2005

fine -- let your young manager deal with the visitors all day while trying to take care of two critically ill patients. then see how she feels!

RN34TX · Mar 21, 2005

I have been a critical care nurse for 25 years. I am definitely against open visitation in a critical care unit. I am in the process of leaving the unit environment because of this. 1. visitors gawk at other patients while strolling through the unit to visit their family. 2. they interfere with patient care. 3. patients do not receive the care they deserve because family is in their scrutinizing all that you do, so we stay out. 4. the presence of visitors in the unit creates havoc. example-- one visitor became hostile because a nurse said her mothers rhythm was tacky... I am so disappointed in this new concept. My young manager says its a generational "THING" she believes in visitors at all times.

It is NOT a generational thing, it's a "I'm a manager now" thing.

I've been a nurse since my mid-20's and I'm 34 now, still probably younger than most ICU managers.

I didn't appreciate being scrutinized and abused by family members when I was a new nurse either, the only difference was during my first couple of years I busted my hump trying to please them in every way possible. I genuinely thought that how pleased family was with you was a reflection of how good of a nurse you are.

A few hundred never-to-be-satisfied families later, I learned my lesson.

LindaMarie76 · Mar 23, 2005

I'm still learning that lesson :uhoh3:

It is NOT a generational thing, it's a "I'm a manager now" thing.
I've been a nurse since my mid-20's and I'm 34 now, still probably younger than most ICU managers.
I didn't appreciate being scrutinized and abused by family members when I was a new nurse either, the only difference was during my first couple of years I busted my hump trying to please them in every way possible. I genuinely thought that how pleased family was with you was a reflection of how good of a nurse you are.
A few hundred never-to-be-satisfied families later, I learned my lesson.

bfjworr · Apr 21, 2005

I'm still learning that lesson

It's amazing how much stress this issue has caused in our unit....

But, could the visitation issue be less stressful if the nurse to patient ratio was better?

Or would your feelings remain the same, even if you had only one patient to care for?

:rolleyes:

RN34TX · Apr 21, 2005

It's amazing how much stress this issue has caused in our unit....
But, could the visitation issue be less stressful if the nurse to patient ratio was better?
Or would your feelings remain the same, even if you had only one patient to care for?

It wouldn't address all of the issues involved but would definitely better fit the image to families that their loved one is your only patient to be concerned about and free up more time to cater to them.

But is that the appropriate goal?

fergus51 · Apr 21, 2005

Apparently it is in this customer service based profession called healthcare;) I say we just change the word "Hospital" on the door to "Hotel" and get it over with.... Can you tell we've had a run on these people lately and I'm tired of management coddling them?

bellehill, RN · Apr 22, 2005

ditto, Fergus...I think it is going around. Not only does management coddle them but they stab us in the back doing it. I actually had a manager yell at me for enforcing the no-visiting during shift change rule. That was the manager I liked too, sure did open my eyes. If I knew that my manager would back me up and respect my choices then I might be happier with this new open visitiation. Until that time I will not like it.

bluesky, BSN, RN · Apr 23, 2005

I understand that other nurses have issues with families in the room at all times. I don't like the idea of imposing my values on others yet by the same token I resent being told that I CANNOT have family in the room for the same reason. I want family in my room. They (a majority of the time) relax the patient and in my opinion increase the quality of care given to their loved one. I personally would want to be in the room 24 hrs if that were my loved one. Yes, there are unreasonable, domineering, unpleasant visitors. If they break the rules they are out. They comprise a small minority of visitors and in my time in SICU not a single visitor has refused to leave during report. I see that you can't make a policy that is at the individual nurse's discretion which for me would be the ideal_ families would complain of disparate treatment. Yet the nursing model does show that in fact the whole family is our concern even though the patient is of course our primary focus. This is a major point of contention on my unit and I do hold the minority opinion. However I have to go with my gut and my gut tells me it's the right thing to let people be with the ones they love when they are very sick and know that there are no reasonable limitations to that togetherness.

bellehill, RN · Apr 23, 2005

I have had plenty of family members stay with their loved one all night and it was great, I had no problems. The minority are the ones that ruin it for me. I tell people straight up what I expect of them and when they need to leave, I will remind them about 30 minutes prior to that time and if they still don't leave I get mad. This happens all the time on our unit...visitors not leaving for shift change. Management doesn't back us up with this rule, the visitors see this and have no respect for us. Even after we tell a family member they can't sleep in the room (because they stress out the patient and make things worse) the manager comes behind us and says yes they can.

I certainly agree with you about wanting to stay with my loved one, I would certainly respect the nurses. The visitors who do follow the rules without constant nagging can come and go as they please, but I don't have time to police the visitors and management won't. If there is a happy-medium point for visitation please tell me, it certainly isn't in my hospital.

fergus51 · Apr 23, 2005

Bluesky, it doesn't sound like you are in the minority at all. Well behaved visitors can stay, bad ones can't right? That's probably what we all want. I've never met a nurse who thought no one should be allowed on the unit.

I don't see why the second someone wants to discuss the poorly behaved nutcases, we have to say "I'm not talking about the nice visitors". It seems obvious to me that the problem is the nutcases and I don't feel bad about saying that. The hospital is not a hotel or a tourist attraction and you'd be surprised at how many visitors to our unit have acted as though it was lately. They not only disturb the staff, they disturb the other visitors and patients. We don't have our babies in private rooms.