Your opinion please

[AngelKissed857]

Last night I spent the evening in a local ER regional trauma center) with a dear friend whose husband had just passed away. He collapsed at home, 911 called, but too late. EMTs did everything they could. Anyway, my friend called and asked me to come sit with her. They were still in a trauma bay, he was partially covered with a sheet, was still intubated, and his face was covered in blood.

Here's my question, do you generally clean a patient up a bit before bringing the family in? It gets busy , I know, but it was distressing for the daughter to see her dad that way. Just wondering what you do in your hospital.

[CCRN2BE]

I can only speak for ICU, as I've never worked ER, but yes we do our best to clean the patient up and make them look the best we can given the circumstances. I'd never want to be further traumatized by seeing my loved one covered in blood or worse.

I once spent a great deal of time combing blood clots from a woman's hair so that her family would not have to see that.

I really try to make it a point to go above and beyond with all my patients when I can....even if they never know, I think the families appreciate seeing that someone took the time to shave their dad's face or braid their mom's hair. I hate seeing a patient end up with a matted rats nest of hair Of course, beauty is not a priority when in the hospital, but it's nice to spend a few minutes of down time providing that extra touch.

[CCRN2BE]

If there's a chance it's a coroner's case then no tubes or lines can be removed until cleared by the M.E., the blood certainly could have been given at least a quick wipe down. If not an M.E. case then we "make 'em like God made 'em" - no tubes, lines, etc. It can get busy in the ER but de-lining and a quick clean up can be done in two or three minutes.

Good point :)

[CamillusRN, BSN]

I haven't worked a trauma resus in a while, but in a trauma of unknown origin/suspected foul play, a coroner was always involved and the body remained "as is" until cleared by the examiner.

[CelticGoddess, BSN, RN]

I can't answer yes/no. If a patient is admitted to the hospital and dies within 24 hours, they are considered a coroners case and we are not allowed to remove anything (ANYTHING) from the body until cleared by the coroner. (This is also true if they fell, and the admission was the result of the fall). We aren't even allowed to let the family in the room.

If the patient is not a coroners case, or has been cleared by the coroner before family arrives, we'll clean them up.

[brownbook]

I'm sorry for your friends loss. If she was not in the trauma room during the code....if the staff brought her in afterwards, then even for a coroners case the blood should have been wiped off the face. Others are correct, tubes cannot be removed per the coroner.

If the wife had been allowed to be in the room during the code (which is commonly done if the family wants to be there) she obviously was already aware of, "use to," the blood and was okay with the situation...maybe she asked to be alone? Maybe she mentioned she had a friend coming and was okay? Hopefully the staff offered someone to stay with her if she wanted it...a social worker, a minister, etc. Then when you arrived, the staff simply let you sit with her, probably not thinking that you might be upset by the condition of the body?

[AngelKissed857, BSN, RN]

The family was not present during any activity, the paramedics even had them step outside at their home. They were in the Family Room at the hospital until after he was pronounced. I understand the Coroner rules, but I really would have expected that at the very least, his body be fully covered by a sheet, and the blood wiped away. It was quite distressing to the daughter in particular (an adult, but Daddy's little girl nonetheless). And the coroner very quickly released him over the phone.

If the ED had been hopping busy, I get that things are difficult to make a minute for, but they were in a calm spell at that point. It's good to know so very many of you WOULD take the time to make someone as presentable as protocol allows so the family doesn't have difficult pictures in their head after all is said and done. Thank you for your kindness and generosity.