You shouldn't be visiting this ICU patient if . . .

[Rabid Response]

you haven't seen him since high school, and you are in your late fifties!

a few weeks ago i intercepted a visitor who had somehow gained access to our oh-so-permeable icu. he was wandering near the unit assistant's desk (vacant! who buzzed the guy in?) and looking lost and confused. when i asked if he needed help, he told me he was there to visit a friend. "what's your friend's name?" i asked. the fact that he couldn't even come close to pronouncing the very common last name alarmed me somewhat. "wait here, and i'll ask his nurse if it is okay to visit right now."

the patient was very sick and could barely speak, but he was a&o x 3, and his wife was at the bedside when i popped in to ask about this visitor. "what????" the patient was horrified. "i went to high school with that guy." (the patient was 57). needless to say, this patient--cachectic, jaundiced, dyspneic, nauseated, and barely able to hold his head up--was in no mood to reunite with an old high school acquaintance. the rest of our conversation can be distilled down to: holy crap keep that freak away from here.

i went back to the visitor. "sorry, but i can't let you in to visit. we are only allowing family to visit."

the visitor was non-plussed. "but i drove all the way from ___. can you at least tell me how he's doing?"

"sorry. you will need to contact his family if you want information."

"but i don't have their phone numbers. i don't even know them!"

"if you don't know his family and haven't seen him in years, how did you even know to come here?"

"somebody sent a group email mentioning that he was in this icu, so i came to check it out.":eek:

i wish i could say that that was the first or only time that something like that has happened with a visitor, but you know i cannot.

feel free to contribute your own

you shouldn't be visiting this icu patient if . . .

[KJStarling]

Sorry- I think it's kinda sweet. If the dog is well behaved, and well contained, a lot of my patients would do a lot better if thier four footed family members could come in for a visit. I'm not saying it's for every paient, or every pet, but I see as many pictures of dogs and cats on my patients walls with " missing you" captions as I do children and grand children. I see my grandchildren a couple of times a mos, I see my doggy every day- and I know she loves me as much as any soul can love another. For some of my patients the closest thing they have to a loving family member to provide support is "Fluffy".

I smuggled our pomerainian in to see my spouse after a week in the hospital- not ICU, but they both cheered up afterward.

You know what? I've arranged for family to bring Fido in to visit, I'm not anti-dog, I'm anti-sneaking! BTW it wasn't the Pt.s pup... Just his Sisters living accessory! So maybe I should have said "you shouldn't be visiting this ICU patient if the dog in your purse isn't theirs! :o"

Take care!

[RNforLongTime]

I don't think the pets belong in the ICU...wait till the patient is out of the unit before you bring Fido in to see them. I'm all for pet visitation but not when the pt is in ICU.

Some people are highly allergic to animal dander/fur......I'm one of them. I don't need to be sent into a sneezing frenzy because Granny wants to see fluffy/Fido while she's intubated on a vent.

You shouldn't be visiting this ICU patient if you haven't seen the patient in 10 years....but you are their only living NOK and are set to inherit several thousand dollars once grandma/grandpa dies and how long is it gonna take for her/him to die because I have a flight back home tomorrow and I'll need to speak to her/his lawyer about when I'll get my money. A local friend was this patients legal POA not the NOK who lived on the other side of the country.

YOU SHOULDN"T BE VISITING THIS ICU PT IF:

---if you are sniffling/sneezing/coughing/hacking or exibiting any type of URI...stay home!!

---please don't bring your two month old to introduce to gramma on the vent for the first time!! Infants do NOT belong in the unit

--if you are just gonna be a general PITA, at the nurses station every 5 seconds each time the patient breathes and makes the monitor alarm...you should not be visiting pt's in the ICU. If the monitors upset you that much, please wait to visit until granny is out on the floor and feeling better.

[Mrs.Rollins, ASN, RN]

If you come to the nursing station looking for a patient named "John," and when asked what John's last name is you say, "Well, I don't know. But he's one of my best friends!"

[MaryAnn_RN]

Not ICU but on an HDU (ICU step down unit) relative states he absolutely must stay overnight at the bedside. Not a problem until about 9pm he opened a can of beer and then said 'oh sorry, did you want one too?' Advised that no, you cannot drink alcohol here, he decided that he would be much more comfortable at home, and off he went.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

you shouldn't be visiting this icu patient if . . . .

. . .you've come in to shoot him up since the doctors won't give him "the good stuff."

. . . you don't know him from adam but thought he looked good and maybe he'd like to be your boyfriend. (yes, really happened!)

. . . if you've come to get him to sign your divorce papers . . .

. . . if he's your boyfriend and your husband is looking for you to kill you for cheating on him. (true story)

. . . if you're really bored, i mean really really bored and you cannot refrain from taking things apart to "see how they work."

. . . if the reason you're visiting is to go through the needle box and see if you can find anything to shoot up with.

i have more, but hopefully this is enough to revive the thread!

[traumalover, RN]

if you plan on having them insert an appendage in you or vice versa. Or show up when ur hubby's had a massive MI is on a IABP and scream "where are the god!@# drugs?"

[XingtheBBB, BSN, RN]

How about if you haven't seen the pt for so many years that when your mom calls you to tell you your sister is in Rm 10 of the local ICU, you go to room 10, hold her hand, cry, and apologize for a hour... before a nurse comes in and checks the name band and you realize you've been sitting in Rm 10 of the wrong ICU. You didn't realize that you didn't recognize this woman at all?? It's been that long?? Vented, semi-sedated pt looked confused by the comforting stranger.

[kessadawn, BSN, RN]

You should not be visiting in my PICU if you are the one that caused this child to be here.