Privacy & Confidentiality in ER

stbernardclub · Dec 3, 2004

well...the er i work at as agency nurse occationally has....ortho room with 4 beds, only curtains between, then a double with a partial wall, then a 4 bed trauma with , you guessed it, curtains. Then the enterence for ambulance, then another 4 bed with curtains,,,one room for psych, one room for gyne, and one for eye...and a displaced nursing desk that can hardly see anyone! I think the 3 stooges built it!

traumakimmy · Dec 3, 2004

the er i work in now has some private rooms but about 1/2 are just bays divided by curtains and when we're overloaded some patients go in hallways. no curtains around them. they bought us screens to go around the patients in the hall way but then you can't fit other carts through the hallways to go to tests and such.

the last ed i worked in, and the reason the i left, was much different. when the patient load got too high, the rooms were doubled yep thats right doubled. no curtains, no walls, just 2 patients and their families bunkin' together about a foot apart from each other. one call lite (give it to the most alert patient) one tv and all the family members. doctors doing consults right there leaning against the other patients bed. No privacy. no cofidentiality. this hospital JCAHO approved. even obtained the all powerful MAGNET status (that tells ya what i think of that program.).

sorry. didn't intend to vent. but oh well i feel better :imbar

kim

RN92 · Dec 3, 2004

Our ER rooms are divided by curtains, too. There is no privacy - you can hear everything that is going on next door. And, we allow 1-2 family members to stay with the pt.!! Until recently, we had a section right in front of the nurses desk consisting of 5 chairs right next to each other. This is where we kept asthma pts, or other pts not requiring a bed. There wasnt even a curtain between them. When paramedics brought pts in, they were right in front of these chairs. Paramedics would give report - and everybody heard it. I was embarassed for some of these pts. Who wants to talk about their discharges or sores (in private places), broadcast in front of an audience. !!

needsmore$ · Dec 3, 2004

We have a 16 bed treatment area. Rooms 1,2, 6-10, 14, 15 and 16 are private. they have glass sliding breakaway doors and are negative-vented as well

3,4 and 5 are separated by curtains.

13 is a private--crisis/seclusion room (different type of door,ceiling and no outlets)

11 and 12 were are trauma area but since we are not a trauma hosp anymore-they are used as reg. treatment rooms.

We are in the design phase of building our new ED-every room will be singles-with the glass sliding breakaway doors--and every room will be the same!! so you can see anything in any one room (we are using carts w/ equipment-pedi, OB/GYN, ortho, EENT etc)

Anne

soniblvn · Dec 3, 2004

Just curious as to what your ER layout is like. For example, in our trauma room we have 3 cardiac monitors with only curtains to divide the patients. The same for our observation/examination area, we have 6 stretchers (bays) with curtains that divides them. This is the same for minor surgery, fracture and holding area. The only rooms that are single are the isolation, gyne, consult, eye room. Our hospital opened in 1994 so it isn't that old. Apparently there are new guidelines with respect to patient confidentiality and privacy which I feel are long overdue in putting into place. I am curious to hear what your ER layout is. Please advise. Thanks for your time.
Sarah

I work in a ER that is 36 rooms. 6 rooms are seperated by curtains the rest have walls and a curtain at the foot of the bed or a door with a curtain as well. We usually have to resort to putting people in the hall spaces on a daily basis, which we try to provide a roll away curtain ( not always avail unless JACHO) haha.. ( then we wouldnt put people in the halls... at all.)

So I think we try to have some privacy. the 6 rooms with only curtains we usually use as a psy. hold or for floor admits waiting on rooms or consults to be admitted.

flashyrn2be · Dec 3, 2004

My last little refresher course in confidentiality seemed to allude that it was ok to discuss a patients condition with the patient - even if they shared a room with another. This was one of the only if few exceptions to the whole privacy thing. Sounds bizarre, but I re read everything to be sure.

I have been in pts. rooms doing assessments, teaching, etc and have the pt in the next bed put in their two cents worth. Oh, tell her about last nite or what about when such and such happened.

I find it very unnerving having patients overhear other patients situations or problems. I am all for private rooms, in the ER and everywhere.

Trauma Columnist · Dec 3, 2004

Our ER is 30 beds, 20 private rooms, 2 trauma rooms, 10 private minor care rooms. We too put people in the hallway, sometimes with curtains, sometimes not - depending on how many people we have total. It is very difficult to maintain privacy.

chip193 · Dec 3, 2004

Just curious as to what your ER layout is like. For example, in our trauma room we have 3 cardiac monitors with only curtains to divide the patients. The same for our observation/examination area, we have 6 stretchers (bays) with curtains that divides them. This is the same for minor surgery, fracture and holding area. The only rooms that are single are the isolation, gyne, consult, eye room. Our hospital opened in 1994 so it isn't that old. Apparently there are new guidelines with respect to patient confidentiality and privacy which I feel are long overdue in putting into place. I am curious to hear what your ER layout is. Please advise. Thanks for your time.
Sarah

Privacy in an ER? We're under construction, so that will tell you how much privacy we have! We even have monitored beds in the hallways!

Our "Critical Care" area has two trauma rooms (each separate with doors and curtains) and three heart rooms (again each separate). The three "Step Down" (step down from what, we're not quite sure yet!) rooms are all individual, but have only a curtain to close them off from the hall. The five hall beds have four portable monitors to share, and sometimes we can find a curtain or screen to go around the beds.

Our "Pod" area has four "cubicles", which are just like the "Step Down" rooms. There is an Ortho and GYN room, each monitored, with it's own wooden door. The five hall beds are out in the open!

The most colorful thing about our department is the 50' tunnel that separates the two areas now. Hopefully, when the center of the department is finished, the hall beds in the Pod will go away and privacy will get better.

Chip

purplemania, BSN, RN · Dec 3, 2004

we re-modeled our ED so that all rooms are private. Since then, we have had overflow with beds in the hall. No privacy there.

veetach · Dec 7, 2004

we will be moving into a brand new ER in March of 2005. Every single room has a door. No more curtained areas. We will have 15 monitored beds, 2 gyn beds, and when the remodel of the old ER is complete we will have I think 20 other beds, (ortho, psych etc).

ERNurse752, RN · Dec 7, 2004

We had a pt's wife rip one of our nurses a new one b/c her husband was getting a breathing treatment with the door open, and she said it was a HIPAA violation...