What do you do when you are assigned patient is a someone you know?

[shavsha]

Last week my assignment included a gentleman from my church. A very dear man who I am very fond of. I usually arrive early and when I saw his name I asked if I change assignments because I was concerned about his privacy. My charge nurse reassigned me but, in a way, I felt like I was asking for special favors and perhaps irritating the coworker who was asked to change. He ended up having a major stroke a few days later. The following days when I worked he was not assigned to me. One those days I touched base briefly with the family since they were on my wing and went to see him on my breaks. Well yesterday I was on after several days off. I arrived later that I usually do to work (Just a few minutes before taped report started). My assignment included this gentleman who is now not expected to live. I felt very uneasy about taking him but I didn't want to inconvenience anyone. Some of my coworkers had already started taking their notes off the kardexes. He is now comatose which made it easier for me to care for him (He is incontinent and we changed in 4 times, turned him every 2 hours, gave him some suppositories...) Had he been lucid I'm not sure what I would have done! Furthermore I was very aware of how precarious his health is and it grieved me in a more personal way than it usually would. His family, who had been in the room almost constantly, was not there on my shift which was a mixed blessing because I had four other needy patients. All through the shift I was hoping that he would not die on my shift.

I live in a small town. This situation will most likely come again form time to time. Am I being unprofessional for not wanting to care for people I know? What do you do when your "patient" is a friend?

[rdhdnrs]

I don't think you should take care of family members under any circumstances, but I have taken care of many of the staff and resident docs at my hospital when they were having babies. I took care of one resident's wife when they had an IUFD of one twin at 33 weeks. It was very special to them and to me and we have a neat bond now. I don't know I guess it depends on your personality and whether the patient has a problem with it. Also L&D is a little different than med-surg. I guess it's just a judgement call.

[deespoohbear]

At our small facility it would be almost impossible not to be able to take care of someone you know. I have taken care of people from my church, relative of friends, ministers, fellow nurses and their families. I have pretty much run the gamut on it. I don't really mind. If I think there is going to be a problem, I just get one of the other nurses to switch with me. All the nurses are great about trading assisgnments. Then also at our small facility, we also get are frequent flyers who we become attached to. The hardest part about taking care of people I know and their families is when the patient takes a turn for the worse and I have to talk to the patient or family about treatment and code status if the situation hasn't been addressed beforehand. This is a very interesting subject.

[Joe,RN]

It is policy at my facility that a nurse is not assigned a relative.

In the past, this policy has carried over to include friends. Some nurses want and even expect for their friends or family to be assigned to them. This is a can of worms no matter how you look at it. My opinion is that every situation should be handled under it's own merits, however, I strongly believe, that if a nurse does not wish to have a particular patient assigned to them, then it is in the best interest of the nurse, the patient and the facility to adjust the assignments accordingly. Hopefully, we are all professional in our decisions. I once took care of a friend's mother who was dying. I had known this lady on and off for over thirty years. I knew most of the family and most of them knew I worked at this particular facility. It made sense for me to be the nurse that provided the care. On the other side of this debate, I was once assigned my re-married ex-wife who had been in an auto accident. Needless to say this would have never worked!

[Joe,RN]

"Write it in your heart that everyday is the best day of the year"(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

[nicola]

I've been on the other side of that one... When I was 19 I had my tonsils out. My night nurse was a girl I'd gone to high school with! I had taken a really ugly stuffed animal that my boyfriend had given me to the hospital with me. All I remember is Pam teasing me about it...