post mortem care

jmgrn65, RN · Feb 28, 2008

That is a good question. I don't know the answer, but i have had patients in the room for a few hours before going to morgue. Some families spend a long time with them.

leslie :-D · Feb 28, 2008

depending on room/air temp, you can start noticing an odor from 6-8 hrs on.

leslie

TazziRN, RN · Feb 28, 2008

I think the longest I've held a body in the ER is about 8 hours.

Wildwood Flower · Feb 28, 2008

Hi,

Yes, and it is kinda scary huh?,I think it has to do with the stored up o2 in the lungs, muscles etc: as best as I can remember{think A&P} the o2 is stored in the muscles and is used up over a period of time.

The Bell Jar · Feb 28, 2008

I know we've kept them in rooms for a few hours til family was done/ or got there.

nursemary9, BSN, RN · Feb 28, 2008

Hi

Your Hospital may have a Policy addressing this. Ours does.

We don't like tp keep a Body more then 4 hrs. Of course, we are pretty flexible.

When our House Staff call the families, they usually ask if the family is coming & about how long it will take them to get here. Since I work nites, we then will call our Security Dept, so they know visitors are coming.

We don't actually take the body down until the family leaves.

misty_stars · Feb 28, 2008

hi, i work in a nursing home and weve kept a body there for over 2 hours waiting on the family to visit them before calling the morgue...exaclty how long they can stay and not smell, im not sure.

Lorie P. · Feb 28, 2008

usually no longer than 2 hours, but there are exceptions like waiting on the family to arrive, say their good-byes.

we take the body to the florida room after the family has left. we call security and they meet us so we can get the gurney and then return with the body.

the longest we held a body was about 5 hours cause the ed doc couldn't get away to come pronounce a dnr.

tencat · Feb 28, 2008

I agree with Leslie. 6-8 hours, then it gets kinda funky in there.....

kasia_blue · Feb 28, 2008

Thanks eveyone for replying :)

I asked the question because there is no policy at our hospital regarding this issue.

Two Rn's left a body in the room for over 12 hours for no reason at all. The family decided not to come to the hospital and the shift was no busier than usual. There was no valid reason.

Although I feel it was just to prevent getting an admit. Anyway as an RN I felt that this was very innapropriate but the Nurse manager of the floor does not feel the same and is siding with the RN's who were working that night. Since we don't have a policy at the hospital, I had hoped that the nurse manager would be a role model and set a good standard of care. Now my coworkers think that it is Ok to leave a body in the room for that length of time. I was hoping to find some standards on the web, but i haven't yet seen any.

Thanks for replying, I was beginning to think it was just me.

flightnurse2b, LPN · Feb 28, 2008

most hospitals have protocols with how long they would allow the body in the room, but like the PP's have said it varies greatly depending on where you work and your speciality.

the hospital i used to work at (in the ER), the body was supposed to be an hour after being pronounced. if the family couldnt get there within the hour, they were taken to the morgue and then the family could view the body in the morgue.

but you can't kick out grieving family members, no matter how bad they are carrying on and even if they have been eating a buffet of churchs chicken next to grannys dead body. the longest i have had a pt in the ER due to family members having a complete and total circus in the room was 9 hours. they even had it catered. and my boss said "well, we need to be culturally sensitive. they are mourning." the poor patient was rigormortised in the low fowler's position with her hands folded when we went to put her in the shroud.

during hurricane frances, we lost power completely and the transformer collapsed. the morgue already had 5 bodies in it, and the pts that had expired during the 3 day long hurricane were kept in their room with the air conditioner on as high as it would go and we padded their bodies with ice packs. we couldnt tx them to the morgue until the hurricane was over because the morgue was accross the parking lot and there were trees and such flying everywhere in 150mph winds.