Patients Families & Friends

[RNSuzq1, RN]

Hi All,

I've belonged to the Student Nurse Forum for the last 2 years and since I graduated in May - I guess I've "Graduated" to this Forum... and hope some of my fellow "New Nurses" can give me some advise.

I've worked as a CNAII for the last year on a med/surg floor at the hospital I did clinicals in and went full-time since graduation - staying there until I take the NCLEX (hopefully SOON).. We did most of our clinicals at this hospital - so I don't know if what goes on there is like most or not and I want to know how to "tactfully" deal with this situation before I begin my new job at another hospital.

The problem is - most patients have numerous family members, church friends, neighbors, "screaming children", distant cousins, (the mailman - ) in their tiny rooms and often, these people don't move out of their seats when the Nurses and I enter the room to care for the patients. Both of my folks spent time in a hospital before they passed a few years ago and whenever the Nurses came into the rooms, we'd jump up and get out of their way so they could do their job - not so with these people. I've literally had to climb over people in chairs to get to the patients, it's crazy.

The other day a patient's entire family was having a picnic in her room - food spread all over, they were all eating and when I entered the room - the patient said "Good God, what does that girl want? Boy - did I feel "special" - I told her I worked there and was just doing my job. When I left, I heard some of the family members saying what "pain in the A**es" we were disturbing them all the time. I talked to one of the Nurses about this and she said the patients had to realize they were in the "Hospital", not in a hotel at the beach" - but you can't actually say that to a patient.

The worst is when I go in a patients room and they have their boyfriend/husband, wife (whoever) in the bed with them - sometimes the other person is naked or in their undies and they make me feel like I've just barged into their bedroom at home. It's embarrassing to me and I hate being put in a situation where I feel like an intruder - it's a hospital afterall. I once had to give a bed bath to a guy with his half-naked girlfriend asleep next to him in the tiny hospital bed (she wouldn't leave and he he didn't want her to) - sorry, that's just to weird for me.

If a patient is critically ill, dying, etc. - I can understand all the family and friends wanting to be at the bedside. But - if the patient is there to recover from an illness, surgery, etc. - they need their rest and can't really do that with all these people there day and night. There's been times that I don't want to go back into a patients room for some procedure, but I have to - it's my job. A lot of these patients are on strict I&O, even though we ask them to save the urine, a lot of these family members take it upon themselves to empty the urinals or hats in the bathroom and when I go in there to measure, the urine is gone, the family says - oh it was just a little (I can't record - just a little, I need a #). Some will remove the scd's and ted hose off post-op patients and when I go in there, tell me the patient didn't like them on..:angryfire . After I take vitals, people in the room want to know what they were - I can't tell them that and they get mad at me.

It's driving me absolutely crazy and I wanted to know if all hospitals are like this??? I've accepted an RN position on a med/surg floor at another hospital and if it's like this everywhere, I know I won't like it. I want to take care of the patient, but can't handle all the "extras" intervening and interrupting the care. Someone told me I might be happier in an ER or ICU where you are mostly just dealing with the patient.

I don't want to sound like I'm anti-family, I'm not and I know patients need that support when they're in the hospital, but this is really over-kill. Any suggestions, I'm open to them all.