boy, do i long for the days when visiting hours were 2-4 and 6-8!! just when did this ridiculous idea of "free for all" visiting based on having family and friends around for faster healing get so out of hand??
in my facility the hours are 0800-2100 hrs. there are no restrictions as to age/number of visitors/how long they can stay...etc...it is a free for all and i can not stand it. i spend a good part of my day working around visitors, answering and re-answering questions from visitors, asking visitors to step out of the room and then getting nasty comments from those visitors about my request.
patients have no privacy and the embarrassment that many have to endure because of visitors is unacceptable. preps/procedures have to be done with a parade of people in and out all day. am care and adls have to be accomplished with an audience of strangers. curtains are pulled for privacy only to have visitors pull them open or worse yet, step in anyway and then berate us for "keeping them out."
children are brought in and allowed to crawl on the floor. babies are in strollers and are not kept quiet or removed.
visitors want to know everything from soup to nuts about what is being done to their aunt, uncle, minister, neighbor, friend down the street. when we cite hipaa they raise the roof.
visitors ignore precaution /isolation signs and then bad mouth us when aunt tilley gets sicker. and then we wonder why mrsa and c-diff are spreading like wildfire.
please, someone....stop this madness! we can not do our jobs properly anymore...all in the name of patient satisfaction! hogwash! :angryfire
My favorite combo is the little old 75+ year old man with his little 75+ year old wife who is nuttier than a fruitcake and anxious as all get out. She is there, asking every inane question, trying to "help," and literally following behind you in a cramped 10 x 10 space around the bed.
Once you're done giving meds and basic care, then start the requests for "hot tea" or cold water, or his snacks, or his snacks warmed up, extra blankets, pillows, extra pads, extra this, extra that. God help you if anymore family members come in to "relieve" mom.
I had one woman the other day, bless her heart, who would walk right out and say, "Ok, let's turn him now because it's been 2 hrs" -- right in the middle of me doing whatever else for the rest of my patients. I felt badly as her father was dying, but her anxiety was off the charts and she just could not grasp that I had other patients to care for.
The worst, though, are the hostile adult children who usually live with mom or dad in the basement, are totally useless and have neglected mom or dad for years, yet come into the hospital, guns blazing, DEMANDINIG to know what's up next for mom or dad because (usually HE) has to get back to his job, or whatever else he does all day in the basement, living at home with mom and dad. I've faced down these nutcases more than once and it was downright scary.
Specializes in Med- surg, Amb. Surgery, Recovery Room.
It certainly appears to be unanimous that something needs to be done about the visitor situation. I honestly do not know when the idea of an unending stream of people all day, everyday being a positive part of the healing process came about.
Yes, I agree, visitors are certainly an integral part of the road to wellness, but 12 to 14 hours per day; especially when you feel like garbage? No, it shouldn't be like that. It's like going from the sublime to the ridiculous.
I have been a patient. I know what it's like to be in the bed to have a steady stream of people in and out, either for you or your roommate. You have to pee? Get out of bed and undo the IV, find your slippers, get your robe, all while trying to keep your gown closed so your butt doesn't hang out....not easy. Feel sick? Maybe puke in front of a room full of people visiting your roommate and or course you feel worse and they start making comments. Have to have a colonoscopy prep? Can't make it to the bathroom? Yeah, let's use the commode on the other side of the curtain that doesn't close all the way. Then stink up the room!
I still am an advocate for the patient. The patient needs rest. The patient needs care. The patient really doesn't want others knowing all their business. It's a free for all and it's got to stop.
I liked the sign to put up that one member mentioned. Any other ideas as to how to change the policy in the hospital to limit the hours /numbers/age of children?
i hate visitors that stay for hours on end. they get in the way, and i have to work around them. they're usually bitchier than the patient. some of them walk in and think they know everything and what's best...
It's become all about Press Ganey and making the "public" happy. Happy families will come to your hospital when they are ill. I also feel, in some cases, nurses utilize family to keep patients occupied so they aren't on the call light so much. I'm a nurse, don't shoot me, I haven't done floor nursing in more than 10 years, but that is my observation when I bring my PACU patients to the floors at times.
I once brought a patient to a med surge floor who had had a cyst removed from her sinuses, when the cyst was removed, cerebral spinal fluid began leaking out. The doctor made an incision in order to bring her face down so he could get to the area easier, and she had a metal plate in her head, that was never mentioned to anyone, surprise! Anyway, due to these complications, the surgery took appprox 2 hours longer than planned. The woman was in a lot of pain, had a hemovac and a jackson pratt drain coming out from under her dressings, and her entire head was encased in a dressing. She looked terrible, and felt terrible. Foley, Iv's, bleeding, etc...
I bring her to the floor, and we asked the 7 or so family members to please wait in the hall while I give report and settle the patient, and we got a dirty look. The family doesn't need to hear things like estimated blood loss, urine output, narcotics given, low sats, etc... Suddenly the charge nurse bursts into the room and says "her son wants to bring her grandchilren in because they have to get home and get to bed, wrap this up." As she left the room , the family all filtered in with smug looks on their faces. So I fininshed report out side of the room. Mind you, this was after 2200!
So, even the charge nurse was more concerned with the "family" than the patient. Happens all the time.
I agree, the sick do need to rest, and family should not be allowed all hours of the day and night. I sincerely doubt things will change though.
Could we start with asking a patient on admission, in private, if they are A/O, if they would like to limit the number visiting them at one time? We could put a sign on the door and enforce limits as part of the treatment plan if that's what the patient wants for rest and healing. I know it's far from ideal, but at this point anything at all would help.
I work in ob and thank goodness we have locked doors, but that still doesn't help! We have family ringing the annoying door bell constantly, and if we don't answer right away they literally LAY on the bell so it buzzes continously. Or when a G1 "thinks she is in labor" they bring the whole family plus the neighbors with them and get mad when we kick half the room out. I work night shift and luckily the other nurses I work with agree on a 2-3 visitor limit during labor, but then they want to change people all the time. Not too long ago we had a pt come in at night for an induction..she is a G1, and when the nurse checked her she is 1cm and high. she had about 8 ppl with her and they asked for more recliners because they were all spending the night. mind you the pt is only 17 or 18 and 6 out of the 8 ppl are friends. so when we told them they couldn't stay, the went to the car got sleeping bags and pillows and thought they were going to camp out in the lobby...the main lobby. our night nurse supervisor put that to a quit stop!
okay first off I have to say that this made me feel horrible! I had no Idea that the things I was doing were prolly driving my nurses nuts. My fiance was in the hospital for 6 days with a significant head wound. They had a lot of trouble intubating him so he had a really sore throat and we brought popsicles, but they were locked in this room the nurses had so evry time we needed one i had to ask. I was also told by the very first docotor I talked to ( while in APU after surgery) that I would have to learn how to do all the dressings myself ( for the next 3 months). So I am sure I barraged them with questions.We did have one person in the room at all times me or his dad that flew down from jersey, but we did try to limit everyone else. I can honestly say that it is not always the family. We had a huge amount of people, people from his work, pastors of people we knew, none of these people were asked to come so we kinda had to develope a way of quickly kicking them out. I would have been very releived if a nurse had given us the option of not allowing any other visitors. Sorry Sorry Sorry!
Wait a minute- you were doing things FOR THE PATIENT. That's GREAT!!! If you had been asking for popsicles for yourself, or asking questions about yourn own medical care we would have been frustrated, but anything the family can do for the patient is AOK with me.
could we start with asking a patient on admission, in private, if they are a/o, if they would like to limit the number visiting them at one time? we could put a sign on the door and enforce limits as part of the treatment plan if that's what the patient wants for rest and healing. i know it's far from ideal, but at this point anything at all would help.
when i was a patient in my own hospital (scheduled surgery) i brought a huge hunter-orange "absolutely no visitors" sign with me for the door. my small family knew it didn't mean them, and all my co-workers who "had to visit" were politley but firmly steered away by my nurse. i didn't want to chat with co-workers (or anyone else) with dirty hair, a vomit streaked gown, dead racoon breath, and in pain. if i had been in a semi-private with a roomate's visitors, someone else would have been an inpatient via the er for severe injuries from a beating with an iv pole.:argue:
We are keeping to the open visiting policy meaning no restriction on hours, but ONLY 2 AT A TIME. Guess what ???? Our pt satisfaction scores have gone up. We also have decreased noise complaints.
I personally have a hard time with a family or friend of a critically ill head bleed who keeps shouting at them to show them 2 fingers because they saw the staff do that and the pt didn't do it. Now they think they need to encourage the pt to do this never mind the elevating BP agitation, bucking the vent , and increasing ICP. I have kicked those visitors out. I also have to ask them to leave when they start asking a vented pt to talk to them. This is usually after many gentle reminders that the pt cannot talk since he is on a vent to help him breathe and the tube prevents him from talking to them. I had this happen with a dying pt one night. This was before we terminally weaned him. The visitor clearly tanked kept telling "John don't you hear me man? Why won't you talk to me?" . After many nice explinations he wouldn't quit so I made him leave.
I can only hope for things to get better with our continued study as to how visitors affect patients ICP. Should be common sense right?
So i guess the question is what is the actual problem, is it the guy who's wife wants to be there the whole time or the people that feel like the whole family to include the dog should be there. It seems like limiting the number of visitors would help greatly. Plus no one sick or otherwise can really entertain 5 or 6 people. It was just me and my fiance at the hospital and I tried to do everything i could, the nurse's would tell me what i needed to have him do every day and i would make sure we did it wether it be a bath or to walk around the nurses station a couple times ( He had trouble walking it wasn't just me walking in circles). I also did the dressing changes and scrub out his abrasion ( they had us treat it like a burn) on his arm under the supervision of the nurses. So am I correct in asuming that you dont mind one visitor who helps, it is just the crowd that is the problem. can I also say that his nurse prolly didn't mind me being the one who held him while he went to the bathroom since he didn't have the balance not to fall off the pot. lol
nope, one family member that helps keep my patient safe, happy and tended to while i'm caring for others is golden to me, never a nuisance. never-ever-never. as long as your priority is the patient, not the tv, the equiptent, your dinner that i should provide as well as 125 personal calls to our desk, our goal is the same.
i love visitors that help me nurse-take care of loved ones, when it becomes all about you- we have issues and you're out.
my priorities are clear, if only family shared the same ones as well. you my friend are the exception----unfortunately.
me
so i guess the question is what is the actual problem, is it the guy who's wife wants to be there the whole time or the people that feel like the whole family to include the dog should be there. it seems like limiting the number of visitors would help greatly. plus no one sick or otherwise can really entertain 5 or 6 people. it was just me and my fiance at the hospital and i tried to do everything i could, the nurse's would tell me what i needed to have him do every day and i would make sure we did it wether it be a bath or to walk around the nurses station a couple times ( he had trouble walking it wasn't just me walking in circles). i also did the dressing changes and scrub out his abrasion ( they had us treat it like a burn) on his arm under the supervision of the nurses. so am i correct in asuming that you dont mind one visitor who helps, it is just the crowd that is the problem. can i also say that his nurse prolly didn't mind me being the one who held him while he went to the bathroom since he didn't have the balance not to fall off the pot. lol
DanFNP
39 Posts
Families/visitors is a main reason I had to get out of bedside nursing. They would drive the Pope to commit murder.