No Visitors

[Morainey, BSN, RN]

Suppose you have an adult patient who has specified "no visitors except these couple of people", and the patient's mother wants to visit but is not on the list. How would you handle this?

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I would at least let the patient know that his mother is in the building, and proceed to ask if he wishes to see her. If not, I would inform the mother that the patient is refusing visitors.

[silverbells_star]

Then the pt needs to request to be listed as confidential and they can proceed to inform those certain people what room, etc.

[loriangel14, RN]

Yes I have been in this position.The parent wasn't on the list and they couldn't visit.I did let the patient know but they still refused.

[amoLucia]

Yes I have been in this position.The parent wasn't on the list and they couldn't visit.I did let the patient know but they still refused.

This would be my approach too.

[linzjane88]

UGH I hate those! I work ob L&D and we frequently get "Absolutely NO visitors for me. Except....Bill, Pete, my stepmom (but NOT my mother in law!), my sister, my grandma,..... And call in to make sure it's okay before you let anyone come in."

It is SUCH a pain in the butt. I have things to do other than managing your guest list!

We oblige with a smile on our face if we are able (low census, nothing crazy going on) but being the doorman is FIRST thing to go if it gets busy.

In the situation you've described I usually will still ask the patient just to confirm.

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

No one is monitoring what visitors are going where.... Nor do we ask them where they are going

[MunoRN, RN]

At my facility you are either "Do not announce" or not, there is no in-between. If you don't want your mother coming to visit, you can make yourself do not announce and then inform a select group about your where-abouts.

[BlueDevil,DNP, DNP, RN]

I never worked anyplace that screened visitors either. We had some circumstances where it was spouse only for a few hours post op or something, but it isn't a prison and I was never a warden. You are either accepting visitors or not, that's it. It's your job to tell Mom you don't want to see her, not mine. However, in a scenario where a unit actually did have the time and personnel to screen visitors, lol, I cannot imagine a scenario in which option C would ever be acceptable.

[S.G.]

At my last facility we had signs we could post on the patient door that said, "Please do not enter. Check in at nurse's station". We posted these for patients who requested limited visitors and kept a list at the secretary's desk.

[MoopleRN]

If my patient has specified "these couple of people" and someone not on the list, even the mother, wanted to visit, I wouldn't double check with my patient. Why would I? My patient has already made his/her decision. Nor would I tell my patient, your mom was here FYI... To what purpose?

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

We can't judge why or why not a patient wants or doesn't want visitors. There are a number who don't want anyone to know they are patients. A visitor would have no way of knowing which room someone was in unless they were told. So visitors roaming the halls looking for their family member/friend is not ideal either. I have had patients who want to be completely alone--and that includes spouses/boyfriends and the like. I only follow the request, I don't create them. It amazes me the lengths one will go through to see a patient. "They called me" or "do you know who I am???" is often a case. But on the other hand, we have employees who are wink, wink, nod, nod "Oh noooo your daughter in room 553 doesn't want you to come IN right now".....

Our question on admission is along the lines of "do you want us to acknowledge you are a patient here if someone comes or calls and asks?" Either yes, or no. If it is no, then we can not confirm nor deny that the person is a patient. Period. To do otherwise would be infringing on the patient's right to privacy.