Visitors chasing you down the hallway....

[KSU-SN]

I work on a very busy med/surg unit. It is not uncommon to have 8-12 new post surgery patients come to the floor in an 8 hour shift. Recently we have had a lot of trouble finding beds for patients because the entire hospital is full. Everyone runs around busy as can be and we are all stretched to our limit. But visitors are constantly chasing you down the hallway, approaching you as you are getting out all the meds for a certain patient, coming up to the nurses station. Most of the time they approach someone who knows nothing about the patient they are visiting so then you have to not only stop what you're doing but find that nurse so the visitor can talk to the appropriate person. Its also almost always for things that can wait....they come to the nurses station all the time asking for ice chips or another blanket. The other day I was standing at the narc drawer taking out a morphine syringe and counting the ones still left in the drawer and some random lady came up to me and asked me for some towels so her mom could get cleaned up. She could see I was in the middle of something. I told her I couldn't help her right now but I would ask the nurse's aide to get her some towels. A few months ago I had a man whose mother was having a lot of pain and he would come out in the hall, look in all the rooms to find you, and chase you down so he could ask you to get her a pain pill. Then he would stand in the hall with his arms crossed and stare at you wherever you went until you went into her room. I am getting extremely frustrated with this....I cant tell you how many times I've gotten out all the meds for a patient and been about to go into the patient's room and some visitor asks me for a washcloth or a refill for their water pitcher. And we cant leave meds sitting out in the open so im forced to either put them all back in the drawer or carry them around with me and risk dropping them or losing them in the process. Does anyone have any ideas how we could reinforce the use of the call light without being rude? I can understand if its an emergency like so and so cant breathe or someone has to use the bathroom REAL BAD. But there are many times when I want to tell someone to just use the dang call light because I am very busy right now and either the nurse's aide will get to you or I will get to you when I have a free minute. I just have not come up with an effective way of getting this point across without offending anyone.

[Colorado1]

We do walking rounds at shift change. Before I leave the room, I ask, "Is there anything you need immediately?" If not, then I let them know I will be finishing report on my other patients and I will be back within an hour. We also do hourly rounds to address pain, potty, and position and let them know someone will be around about every hour to meet their needs. As a rule, this works pretty well. But I don't get upset by a family member coming out to ask me for an extra pillow or something. Nurses get interrupted. That's just kind of part of the job.

[Batman25]

You have too many patients to provide safe and adequate care on a M/S floor. The nurses should ban together and stop accepting assignments that aren't safe. You won't get more help until you make it an issue. Don't out your license on the line for them. If the aides are as short staffed as you are they won't be much help to the patients either. This is a dangerous situation all around.

I won't tolerate anyone coming into another patient's room. Period. When dealing with meds you need to assert yourself as well so mistakes aren't made. You can be polite and yet firm. And if anyone tries to track me down for a pillow while I am running the halls due to an emergency they should know better. I won't take time away from a patient in dire need to discuss pillows, etc. It's a shame people don't know better. How would they feel if we stopped to talk pillows when their loved one couldn't breathe?

[JenniferSews]

I'm amazed that people are walking into another patients room! That is unbelievable. I haven't had that happen yet, but I'm constantly amazed how many people walk right up, see I am clearly on the phone talking to someone and they interrupt without a thought. Is it really expected that I will immediatly hang up on a doctor in mid sentence so I can explain where the public bathroom is?

For not using the call light I ask those family members EVERY TIME they track me down in a nice sweet voice "oh, is your call light on?" before addressing their concern. Most of them eventually get the hint. I then tell them I will help them after I am done with what I am doing, or if they put on the call light they may get help sooner from a CNA.

[notjustanurse]

Frequently on our unit visitors won't even try to use the call light first, and I can vouch for the 2 PCA's I work with that the patients ARE NOT being ignored. We seem to live in a society with an ever-increasing perception that every little need must be addressed instantaneously. I have also been chased into rooms for requests for towels, ice, and the latest one was to demand that I empty a commode. Reasonable request, but perhaps it could wait 5 minutes while I attend to the patient you barged in on? ugh.

[SoundofMusic]

I feel that overall, this is the fault of the hospital administration. At admission, patient's families could EASILY be oriented and briefed as to the proper behavior and expectations of hospital staff. They could be handed literature. They could receive orientation on where the ice chips are, where the water is, how to order food, how to find extra blankets. Honestly is this just FREAKING rocket science?

But NO -- our admins and the powers that be just seem to be blind to this. It's such little stuff, SO simple to solve ...yet they continue to just burden nursing with it and wonder why their pt satisfaction ratings are always a struggle.

I don't know ...until nurses just strike or something ...nothing's EVER going to get done about it. We used to have Candy Stripers ...girls in little pink striped uniforms who woudl come around w/ refreshments and things ...I just have to wonder what ever happened to that concept ...but then again, probably due to lawsuits being called against the hospital for it. I tried to get a volunteer job for my son at our hospital ...they told me they already have enough volunteers ....at which point my jaw dropped as I am FOREVER needing a volunteer's help, but they are always telling me they're "too busy" at this time to escort a pt down or whatever.

Hospitals just don't even seem to operate intelligently anymore. I don't know what gives.

[MomRN0913]

Honestly, you can educate some of these families ot no end on how to help their loved ones, but they don't get it. I have been stopped with gloves and a syringe about to give an injection ot another patient and a different family member has hunted me down for ice chips. I simply tell them, I am busy, I or soenmone else will be with you shortly., They just don't get it.

You just hope you ahve good staff who sees this and jumps in. A good tech is worth their weight in gold. And the hosuekeeper in the ICU I worked in was good at getting patients blankets and would come to us ot make sure the patient can have ice chip[s first...

It's a sucky reality with these visitors, but we just have ot know how to handle it.

[Ava.J]

I had a 15 year old patient on the High Dependency floor I used to work on, who was admitted with pneumonia.

He had severe asthma and once, during a pretty bad attack, I was trying to treat him with his mother and grandmother looking on.

As he's coughing and wheezing away and I'm standing there, Meds. in hand, Grandma suddenly pipes up, 'Do you think you could go down to the restaurant and get me a sandwich?!'

I don't know what planet these people are on sometimes!

[enchantmentdis, BSN, RN]

Oh, these idiots know exactly how to behave. They choose not to behave correctly and coming to the hospital is like a school field trip. They know the nurse is so busy that she can't pee, and they do not care. They are selfish pigs who just don't get it.

[enchantmentdis, BSN, RN]

Had an 80+ man in my ER last night- ABd pain- (He was FOS...surprise)- Wife, and 2 very pushy family members with them. I made sure I told them what was going on, how long it would approx. take. They still HOUNDED me for stupid things- She followed me into the med room to tell me he needed help using the urinal....HUH? 1. He used it FINE by himself 45 minutes ago when I was in the room...2. His parts are in the same place they have been for the last 80+ years- his belly hurts, his arms aren't broken..3. YOU have been married to him for the past 60 years- STUFF HIS PARTS into the damn urinal yourself!... I did't get in there quickly enough- the next thing I know, he's reported to be having "HORRIBLE CHEST PAIN!"- as reported to me by the PIA family. I asked them to leave the room, did EKG, Cardiac enzymes, VS- re-assesed for potential cardiac issues- I ask him, as I get ready to pop the first nitro- Where is your chest pain? His answer- "I don't HAVE chest pain, I haven't had chest pain since I've been here, my belly hurts!" So I open the door, coming nose to nose with the family. "Did you report to the nurses station that he was having CP?" "Oh, well, yes, that's what we thought he said......"

Shoulda just told the old blue rinse that she was even more full of sh*t than her husband was. It would have been worth getting a write up for.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

sounds to me like you guys are so busy that even with the call light, they might go unanswered or ignored. do the call lights get answered appropriately? do you have enough techs or a huc that can help these family members? it might just come down to lack of staffing.

i had to put my foot down with a lady chasing me into other patients rooms for ridiculous requests like fluffing her husbands pillows. (um you cant fluff the pillow for him? you married him! youd rather chase me?) it is not acceptable to come into another patients room, all of my patients deserve my full attention. and as a new nurse, i dont like being distracted with meds when i am doing my 5 rights and 3 checks. :)

i think that maybe your floor staff needs to do a better "settle in" process, maybe? when you settle in a patient you explain to the family & patient how the call light works and how things work. and get them all the little things they need (quickly).

sometimes i wish the hospital would realize that better staffing with techs etc could really help improve patient satisfaction. it is cheaper to add more techs to help with the little things then pay nurses to chase our own tails. a good tech is worth their weight and gold, the true unsung heros of healthcare. i wish they got paid what they are worth!

it's not the staffing levels, the orientation (or lack thereof) to the unit or the communication of rules. it's the visitors. no matter how many times you tell them, show them or ask them to use the call light, they just don't get it. they don't want to get it. no one wants to wait for their ice just because you're busy doing cpr down the hall.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

we do walking rounds at shift change. before i leave the room, i ask, "is there anything you need immediately?" if not, then i let them know i will be finishing report on my other patients and i will be back within an hour. we also do hourly rounds to address pain, potty, and position and let them know someone will be around about every hour to meet their needs. as a rule, this works pretty well. but i don't get upset by a family member coming out to ask me for an extra pillow or something. nurses get interrupted. that's just kind of part of the job.

i'm glad that works well for you, but keep in mind that what works well for nurses in nice suburban hospitals in colorado or wisconsin will not work at all in inner city hospitals in detroit or baltimore. i doubt very much the op needs to be educated on hourly rounds or customer service. it's all about the visitors.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

i'm glad that works well for you, but keep in mind that what works well for nurses in nice suburban hospitals in colorado or wisconsin will not work at all in inner city hospitals in detroit or baltimore. i doubt very much the op needs to be educated on hourly rounds or customer service. it's all about the visitors.

who are really unlikely to change. so our options are: 1)to establish and re-establish proper boundaries firmly yet politely, and make peace with the rest of it, or 2)stay in a perpetual state of anger and anguish.