New ICU - poor visibility

[bobarb, BSN, RN]

Our hospital is remodeling the small ICU we have, and I just discovered that it has poor visibility to the pts. rooms from the nurses station, and no cameras in rooms. I am concerned that things will happen - seizures, central lines being pulled out, etc. Does anyone work in a unit where they can't see their pts. well? Am I worrying for nothing? (OUr present unit has camera in rooms, and visible from desk.)

[RNperdiem, RN]

My unit is used to be two separate units with a door between them. Sometimes my 2 patient assignment is split between the 2 units and I don't always have the visibility I like.

My unit has reinforced the policy of responding promptly to alarms, even if they are not your patients.

We make a point to keep the noise level down in the unit. For example, the TV does not need to be on for lots of these patients who cannot watch anyway. You can hear trouble too sometimes.

Visibility problems means being a good patient advocate in regards to needing a sitter or restraints.

[Be_Moore]

In our ICU you can't see both of your patients at once, because of a design flaw (the unit was designed by a L&D nurse turned architect who obviously is retarded--err, I mean mentally challenged to be a little more PC). But luckily our assignments 99% of the time are right next to each other, so its about a 3 second walk from one room to the other. Our desks and computers are right outside the patients room (as opposed to a centralized nursing station). So yeah, we struggle with the whole not being able to see both patients, but luckily it's not THAT bad. About 30 seconds more thought by the architect would've prevented the whole thing. Or just a little consultation with ICU staff.