Visitors with no common sense!!

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What has happened to common sense in the hospital? I had a patient who had a hysterectomy (TAH and BSO) Tuesday morning. This young lady was only back her room for about 20 minutes when she had about 10 visitors come! :( :( She had just fallen asleep when these people showed up! So, of course they wake her up. And they proceed to visit with her like they had just set down in her home with coffee for a long visit. The longer they stayed, the more uptight and tense the patient became. Hence, the worse her pain became. I finally had enough, and asked everyone to leave except her S/O. I just can't believe that some people would be so inconsiderate! A nurse I work with had the same problem on Friday. An elderly lady had a colon resection and within minutes of her returning to the room, several people had gathered to visit. :confused: I hate sounding like a hag, but some of these people just don't get it. I just love it also when people barge into the room, when the door is SHUT and the curtain is pulled. They just walk in like it is their own home. :( That really pops my gasket. :angryfire I just want to scream "Hey, how would you like me to walk in on you when you have your naked backside exposed to the world?" Anyone else feel the same way about inconsiderate visitors? Maybe I just seem to be the magnet the past few weeks for them. :rolleyes:

LOL! I must have looked like a raving lunatic in labor because when I looked at everyone, including my hubby, and started screaming "GET THE F**K OUT!" they all left!

But I realize some people don't lke to be the bad guy, so that's what I do now. Heather, RN, bad guy. :D

Heather

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

Poor Heather--think you were in transition??

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Specializes in Med-Surg Nursing.

OK, let me tell you about my night last night.

There is a pt on one of the gen floors at my hosp. Has been there awhile. Came in with serious infection. Is doing better shoulda been d/c'd weeks ago.

All of us nurses and aides wanted to scream!!!!

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Originally posted by prmenrs

Poor Heather--think you were in transition??

I may have been :chuckle

Hard to tell when the entire labor was 3 hours from start to finish!

Heather

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Love this thread :kiss

I've got a couple of stories to share. The first was when I was working ICU. We had "flexible visitation" and a family was in visiting a patient. Suddenly our monitor at the desk starts spewing out reams of crazy paper! I went to the room, and a family member is serenely punching buttons on the bedside monitor. When I ask him politely what the "heck" he is doing, he replies, "Oh, I was just trying to figure out how this thing works." He had also tried to figure out how the IV pump worked; fortunately, he was playing with the one that had the mainline fluid instead of the Dopamine! I seized upon this teaching moment to explain why one shouldn't punch buttons randomly in an ICU.

During one of the brief times I was floated to OB (fish out of water: another thread idea), I took two interesting phone calls. The first was from a family member who asked "Has Mrs. Smith had her baby yet?" When I answered in the negative, she became indignant. "Well, when is she going to have it?" I was sorely tempted to reply, "In three hours, forty minutes and sixteen seconds." "Ma'am, you'll have to ask God." was another idea.

I later took another call in which a woman wanted to know if "Mrs. Jones" was there in labor. When I replied that we had no patient by that name, she became angry. "Well, I called her mother's house, her doctor's office and even had her paged at Walmart! I can't find her, so she's GOT to be there having her baby!" Do they think we hid her in the closet or something? To my OB peers, this has really been an eye opener! I didn't realize you deal with these nut cases on a regular basis. Please accept my profound admiration. :D :rolleyes:

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

kaknurse--tough wife!!! Hate to second guess, but possibly a translator would help? When we're desparate, we use AT&T, they even have translators who specialize in Medical translations. I think the problem is also cultural--not understanding that you can't reach him on vacation, etc. I'll bet she gives him a ration of sh** when he gets back!!

Maybe that demetia is contagious?

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Specializes in Med-Surg Nursing.

had to change this one too

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I work in the ICU and let me tell you... some people should not be allowed to procreate. Seems the dumb gene just keeps getting passed on.

I have seen people come in drunk, walk into the room of their loved one who they haven't seen in years and throw themselves across the patient. Mind you, the patient is in isolation for VRE and MRSA, on a vent, gtts, has a Swan,etc.

Have had security come to remove a visitor who took a swing at the nursing supervisor (again, another drunk).

We have had to padlock our refrigerator in the nourishment room because families seem to think they're at home and can have whatever they want. Pisses me off when I go to get something for a patient and the fridge is empty.

BTW, great topic!

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At our hospital. we say some of these people come from the shallow end of the gene pool. I think some of them come from the puddles left behind when someone climbs out of the gene pool.

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I work in a PICU that has an "open" visiting policy. Our manager thinks it is cruel to "barricade" parents from their children. While this may have some, though not much, merit it also means anybody can come in at any time. We are a small unit and only staff 2 nurses at a time. Well, if you have ever worked with kids you know that it takes 2 nurses to do almost anything with them.

While this is going on visiters come and go as they please without anyone policing them.

I have one disturbing story to share. One horrible night I admitted 2 kids from the same MVA. Patient one was closed head injury on a vent and patient number 2 was a depressed skull fracture confused and combatative. I got these 2 patients up from er 15 minutes apart and spent time explaining to both families that visiting would be limited this first night, all parties agreed. The kicker was that both families hated each other and blamed each other for the accident. While attempting to start an IV on my vent kid I heard a commotion in my other patients room. Seems some teenagers I had just kicked out had decided to return to the room when they saw both nurses were occupied. I went into the room and these two "visiters" were shaking this patient, with a depressed frontal skull fracture, and yelling at her to wake up while slapping her face.

I really thought I would get fired when my boss heard what I had told the young people but either they didn't complain or she felt like i was justified. The father of the child who was being shaken had to be removed by security because he was really going to hurt these 2 kids when he found out what had happened.

After all this happened we still cannot convince our manager to allow us to get a lock on the PICU doors so we can control traffic better. Wish I could blame this on the "suits" of the hospital but she is a nurse also and one of the suits tried to find a joint commision rule that stated we must have a lock, unsuccessfully.:angryfire

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

Have your suits ever heard of a child being abducted from a hospital? It could happen, maybe by a noncustodial parent. We had to have the 3 floors housing pediatrics, L&D, NICU, and Family Maternity Care totally secured--alarm doors, etc.

That might be the argument to use--I do hope you did an incident report re: the above cited episode--w/ the recommendation for a locked unit AND improved staffing to deal w/visitors to prevent future problems. That's dangerous! Good Luck!!

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We have tried all of this. It has become a power thing for our director to flex her muscles. Our medical director even demanded that we get a lock and she arranged for his contract to be "reviewed" and later, not renewed so she could do away with the power struggle. We have lost 8 fully qualified nurses off of this very small unit in the last 9 months due to her power trips. I am the only night shift full time staff person left and as of July 30th I am heading to greener pastures too. After I leave I hope she has to come work some night shifts.

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