What part of "isolation" don't you understand?

[beachmom]

Just a little vent here.

I took care of a little girl in the hospital with pain and bloody diarrhea for three days. Sweet little girl. They did all kinds of tests, and when I had her, they weren't sure of the cause yet. We had her in isolation. The stepdad and baby at home had the same thing, but not as bad, so it obviously was contagious. Mom was taking care of the girl in the hospital.

The need for isolation was explained by various nurses, but the mom never got it. She never once used the hand sanitizer when leaving the room. She was constantly trying to go into our kitchen for ice or whatever, and we would have to run to head her off. She said she was "used to doing things for herself." It didn't help to explain we didn't want other patients to become as miserable as her daughter.

Near the end of my shift the mom came out of the girl's isolation room and placed the water pitcher on our nurse's station counter (Argh!) and asked for more water. The CNA said he would get some water from the kitchen and bring it to her room (as we never bring pitchers from pts rooms into the kitchen, isolation or not.) The mom said, "Oh yes, because we have germs" and she gave us a big eye roll.

Good thing my shift was almost over, I was ready to dump a jar of hand sanitizer on her head. :hdvwl:

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

Sometimes you can't do anything about pure ignorance....and when it comes to things like that, now you know why the poor kid was sick to start with.

Pediatric nurses see the same kids come in over and over again....and it's even more of a red flag when they say that "all" of their kids have medical problems.

[suanna]

I am so thankful not to work peds or babys. If a a family member were endangering the patients on an adult unit- we would teach, remind and then expel- by security if necessary. If someone wants to be noncompliant in thier own home- fine that's is there perogative. In the hospital, you are a guest and guests are expected to comply with the local household rules. Don't you just want to ask her:- " is it your intention to deliberately infect every other child on this floor?- how can you be that cruel". and see what her response is. Ignorance is one thing, but that implies a lack of information. This person HAS the information anad chooses not to follow it. That makes her behavior assault or at best negligence. I don't think I could be polite.

[sssrn]

Sometimes you can't do anything about pure ignorance....and when it comes to things like that, now you know why the poor kid was sick to start with.

Pediatric nurses see the same kids come in over and over again....and it's even more of a red flag when they say that "all" of their kids have medical problems.

Worse than ignorance is denial. A hospital I was in had a rash of acinetobacter patients as well as C-Diff. It was frustrating to see a room full of residents without one of them wearing any isolation gear. To make matters worse administration was coming down on the nursing staff because of the high rate of isolation patients and completely denied the possibility that the residents and med students could have anything to do with it. Glad to be out of Cincinnati!

[PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN]

Stupid is as stupid does.

[swirlygirl]

Wow! It's no wonder the entire family is infected.

I used to work in a peds office while I was in nursing school and we kept seeing the same family over and over for scabies. All 3 kids had it, all the time. Kind of makes you wonder....

[FLArn]

"There ain't no cure for stupid!: -- Ron White

[mamamerlee, LPN]

The last 2 hospitals that I have been in recently no longer used pitchers. When fresh water was needed, a large styrofoam cup was brought in, and some smaller ones, if needed. At least twice a day, someone rounded with a cart of frsh cups of ice and water.

I remember years ago, we would collect all the pitchers from all the rooms except the iso rooms, and cart them to the ice machine. How times have changed!

[mcknis]

Yeah, infectious disease would have a riot with this one. Even with all kinds of education, only so much can be done to inform the unedu-ma-catied.

[Pfiesty]

Perhaps as nurses, we could teach them, but that takes time. Does anyone know of any visitor-appropriate teaching videos we could show visitors to help them understand the concepts?

Hmmmmm. Maybe we could get a grant for this. I have family members who do video production.

Thoughts, colleagues?

[AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN]

I remember my days as a tech, when we would prepare a large cart with however many refill liners of fresh water were needed, and go down the hall, one-two-three dispensing them, leaving the other in the hall to be coughed, sneezed, or Lord-knows-what on. The times sure have changed!

[dcampbell]

It seems to me that being a visitor is a privilege and not a right.

By her being noncompliant maybe she should be told to leave. It would be a PR nightmare but what about the other pts? Maybe an extended (healthy) family member could come and sit with the child.

A visitor (even a mother) is expected to be compliant with the agreed upon treatment plan and not interfere with the infection control rules of the hospital.

Seriously, she should have not been given more than four or five warnings before something was done. It sounds like this lady is bored, maybe she needs to go home.

She does not have a right to infect other pts.

If another pt caught whatever it is the poor girl has, I think the innocent pt would have a right to report the hospital for not controling an unruly visitor who was not abiding by the rules.