Pt having a "friend" over for "special nursing care"

Nurses Relations

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You know what I mean. . .a patient having someone of the opposite sex (or the same sex! that's happened too) that they are romantically involved with, spend the night (thankfully in a private room) and performing overt sex acts, to the horror of the poor CNA who has to come in and fix her tele leads, which have obviously come loose from all the activity.

I was horrified to know that not only does my hospital not have a policy against this, but the house supervisor told me I was not allowed to tell them to stop! These are sick people here! I understand people say they have "physical needs," but can we draw a line somewhere?!

Specializes in Quality, Cardiac Stepdown, MICU.
Knocking on the door and waiting for permission to enter THE ROOM is proper etiquette and would negate the entire thread .

Since I am the OP, I will state that the CNA DID knock, and shouted several times that she was coming in (the curtain was pulled in addition to the door closed) and they did not cease their activity.

I don't consider a private hospital room to be "private," like I would a dwelling like an apartment, or even a full-time dwelling like LTC. (You know what they say about the high rate of STDs in those places among elderly pts. . .)

The pt doesn't get to choose their diet, if they want a lot of salt and they're on a sodium restriction. They don't get to choose when we wake them up for vitals, meds and care (though of course they have the right to refuse all these things). In my opinion, they are here for medical care, and their primal urges are just going to have to wait until they are discharged. At least those involving a partner. . .

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Specializes in Quality, Cardiac Stepdown, MICU.
The patient did not ask you to go watch them. They should have there privacy (because it is private room) in there own room. Nurses dont have the right to just go in without knocking.

No, but they asked me to take care of them, they asked all of us (nurses, doctors and staff) by coming to the hospital and/or calling 9-1-1. And I'm going to take care of them to the best of my ability, and if their leads are off and they show asystole, or if they got super tachy all of a sudden, I'm going in to investigate. Like another nurse mentioned, since I work nights I do not usually knock on a closed door (so I can round without waking the pt), but even so, I knock on a door as a COURTESY, and only if I'm coming in for something mundane. I do not feel I am REQUIRED to knock before entering a room when I feel the pt may be in danger.

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Specializes in Quality, Cardiac Stepdown, MICU.
Most of the time, telemetry monitoring is a precaution. It is easy to distinguish artifact or lead displacement from a true dysrhythmia.

Sure it is. I know "leads fail" means the leads are off, not that the pt is dead.

At least, I HOPE that's what it means. Because if the leads are off, I have no way of knowing if the pt is dead, in vfib, or anything. Hence why the leads have to be reapplied stat.

In our hospital, telemetry is not a precaution, it's ordered by the MD. If they don't need tele, we take it off and move them to the medical floor.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.
Ok...what minor child is working?

Last time I checked, it was 2014, not 1914....

When I worked in LTC, a few of the caregivers were under 18.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
When I worked in LTC, a few of the caregivers were under 18.

In my area it is common to have CNAs working in LTC and hospitals who are not 18 yet. I have and do know several who are 16 even, though I haven't heard of any under age 16.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

I guess it's my area, but most caregivers are 18 and up; most are either nursing students or out of high school; most postings are stated that CNAs have to be 18 or older....

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I am by no means a prude, but I will say as an ER nurse, i do not appreciate having to separate a young couple, just because they couldn't wait.

It's disrespectful to all involved. It also leads me to believe, that your not in as much pain as you claim to be.

I can handle the drunk or psych patients that make sexual suggestions, they are not in the clearest frame of mind. They can usually be redirected pretty easily.

You can be a freak in the sheets all you want, just not in the ER! Only MY opinion of course. :/

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