No visiting hours?

NursesRmofun, ASN, RN · Jun 18, 2015

Unlike my recent hospitalization on the med/surg floor where people flowed in and out of my roommate's side of the room all day and night, I remember being very limited on visiting hours when I was in the psych unit. We were only allowed visitors from 1730-1900 during the week, and 1300-1600 and 1730-1900 on weekends. It was just as well, it was hard on me to have them visit because I had to watch them leave, and I was SUCH a mess.....for once I was glad to be in an environment where everything was strictly controlled and I didn't have to think too much for myself until I got better. So visiting hours can be a good thing for both patients and the staff.

I floated to psych when I was a "float" at one point in my career...and it is pretty structured. I think it is comforting to the patients too. I also seemed to pick up that many family and friends of patients were some kind of trigger for them, that upset them. So, that also may be part of the limited hours there. Makes sense.

MidLifeRN2012 · Jun 18, 2015

I'm so thankful that I work in a psych unit that severely limits visitation to 1 1/2 hours. 6:30 to 8 pm. And they have to lock up all their belongings in the nurses station and most can't go 20 min without their cell phones. I can't imagine the time sucking that would happen to a nurses time when she has to deal with family questions and requests on top of all that charting

I guess it's the new nurse in me that is intimidated by having visitors watch me while doing patient care. I hated that in nursing school. How do you get past that? ---should I ever venture out of psych

NursesRmofun, ASN, RN · Jun 18, 2015

Visiting hours. Previous floor (Med/surg) had none.
What's nice:
1. Family can alert us of change in status, or communicate with us when the patient can't understand that the call button isn't a remote....
What's bad:
1. Visitor overload, hyper children, and arguments among the family, friends, and patient. No visiting hours = this can be an ongoing thing....

Agreed. Sometimes I would tell the visitors to "take a break" and I would do the things that needed to be done without them there. Again, completely agree on the noise level problems.

NursesRmofun, ASN, RN · Jun 18, 2015

I'm so thankful that I work in a psych unit that severely limits visitation to 1 1/2 hours. 6:30 to 8 pm. And they have to lock up all their belongings in the nurses station and most can't go 20 min without their cell phones. I can't imagine the time sucking that would happen to a nurses time when she has to deal with family questions and requests on top of all that charting
I guess it's the new nurse in me that is intimidated by having visitors watch me while doing patient care. I hated that in nursing school. How do you get past that? ---should I ever venture out of psych

It's not always easy but you learn how to answer their questions in a efficient way and move past that room to the next. If you are really crunched for time, you tell them as much as you can and assure them you will be back for the rest of the explanation. Most seem to understand that your time is shared and limited. It all seems to work out!

NursesRmofun, ASN, RN · Jun 18, 2015

I work in critical care, and we have visiting hours. I hate it. I couldn't imagine being as sick as some of my patients are, and not being able to have my husband with me whenever I want.
Visitors aren't that distracting. The times they have been, I've politely asked them if they could stay quiet for a few minutes so I could focus, which they immediately comply with.
Also, I've found that sometimes visiting hours prevent a primary caretaker from being present when the physician rounds. It drives me crazy!!
But I am literally the only person on my unit who feels this way so I keep on enforcing the rules.
I do think that only allowing 2-3 back at a time is a good rule, though.

I personally never saw a doctor round later than 9 or 10 p.m., except for interns or residents may have popped in at the one teaching hospital at a later hour...but I only remember them doing that for patients with a more immediate problem. And that really is what I was getting at...problems with very late visits or late visitors. I don't mean the one person staying overnight, if they do...I mean a few people in the room making a little too much noise. I wondered if that was a problem for those without visiting hours.

NursesRmofun, ASN, RN · Jun 18, 2015

I don't know who it was and I seem to have lost the posted message, so I can't quote...but someone was talking about having to empty a visitor's colostomy bag, etc. I would think that was a liability. I thought that visitors needed to be able to do those things themselves or have someone along to do it. Actually, I read a posted note about that in my doc's office the other day...that a patient must be able to toilet themselves OR have someone with them that could help! (In other words, the doc's nurse wouldn't be helping them to the toilet!) Smart to post a note, I think. Too much for a doc's office to deal with....and many have MA's not nurses.

StarletRN1 · Jun 18, 2015

We have no visiting hours. I kinda wish we did because I find I'm being nurse to the visitors more than the patient sometimes. There are some that are really helpful. Especially with confused/impulsive patients. I completely see the benefits of having visitors around, but I don't think it would hurt to have some limitations on that. I find that more times than not when the family is there all day, the patient is exhausted when they leave...and the roommate, for that matter.

fredinho · Jun 18, 2015

We have visiting hours from 2pm-8pm

applewhitern, BSN, RN · Jun 18, 2015

I have never known of a medical-surgical unit anywhere in my area that limits visitation. The only time a visitor cannot stay overnight is if it is in a semi-private room. They are welcome to stay overnight in the private rooms.

Susie2310 · Jun 18, 2015

I work in critical care, and we have visiting hours. I hate it. I couldn't imagine being as sick as some of my patients are, and not being able to have my husband with me whenever I want.

Given that studies show that patients benefit from unrestricted access to their family member/support person, and that family members benefit also, and that the most current critical care nursing texts endorse this practice, as do various nursing specialty organizations, and, according to an earlier poster, JCAHO has taken this position, it is unfortunate that your unit and the nurses you work with still endorse the barbaric practice of not allowing extremely sick patients 24 hour access to their (well behaved) support person/s. I appreciate that you support unrestricted visitation.

Julius Seizure · Jun 18, 2015

I didn't see anything wrong with no set visiting hours until I read this post. I remember a family I had to ask to leave, because their loved one was an anxious mess. They always made her anxious, and she couldn't ask them to leave. So I was the bad guy.

Ive been the bad guy lots of times, and have no problem with that. On many occasions I have told my patients parents that if they dont want the aunts/uncles/cousins staying too long then they can tell me and I'll kindly ask them to leave after 30 minutes or whatever :)

toomuchbaloney · Jun 18, 2015

No limitations on visiting hours sounds like a U.S. healthcare system ploy to keep those satisfaction scores high.
Unless the patient is palliative and close to going or a child I do not understand people who want to stay all night.

My family does not leave loved ones in the hospital alone over night. We insure that there is someone present at all times to advocate for the loved one even when they might be medicated or otherwise unable to adequately communicate their needs.

Errors made in the hospital setting are a big problem in this country. Errors are suggested by current studies to be the third leading cause of death in the USA.

A New, Evidence-based Estimate of Patient Harms Associated w... : Journal of Patient Safety