Intensive Care Unit - Open Visitation
Introduction
Traditionally, concerns over infection and quality of care have led intensive care units to impose restrictive visitation policies, but over the past ten to fifteen years, a shift to open visitation has taken place as evidence continues to show an improvement in patient and family satisfaction when allowed open visitation. The implementation of open visitation will not only increase family satisfaction, it will also reduce anxiety, depression, irritability, and social isolation. Family or support persons can also provide crucial information about the patient which might not be attainable from the patient. Lastly, patient family/support persons often assist in daily cares, relieving the nurse to perform other duties. Open visitation should be the expected practice in all intensive care units with limited restrictions so as to continue to improve patient and family satisfaction while also providing nurses and patients periods of “quiet time”.
Argument
Patient and family satisfaction is an important focus of hospitals across the nation, and particularly so in intensive care units where patients often cannot communicate their needs due to their health circumstance. Family satisfaction with intensive care unit care is often affected by visitation policies and clinician-family communication. In a 2012 study by Sundararajan, Sullivan, and Chapman, several important issues for all ICU families were uncovered including the need for better communication which it was suggested can be improved upon through the implementation of flexible visitation policies. “Evidence shows that the unrestricted presence and participation of a support person can enhance patient and family satisfactio...
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...they do not have to rely solely on their nurse to accommodate their needs. In turn the nurse’s workload can be decreased and made easier with well cared for and satisfied patients.
Conclusion
Although, there may seem to be several counter arguments that support a closed visitation intensive care unit, current research strongly supports the facts of increased patient and nurse satisfaction with open visitation policies. Research involving HIPPA violation, infection, anxiety, and increased workload has been updated and renewed with information supporting factors of more satisfied, less stressed, and overall better cared for patients, relatives, and nurses. The open visitation policies should be universal and accompanied with set quiet times that are beneficial to the patients’ orientation and families’ participation through the duration of the patients’ stay.
Although nurses do not wield the power of doctors in hospital settings, they are still able to effectively compensate for a doctor’s deficits in a variety of ways to assure patient recovery. Nurses meet a patient’s physical needs, which assures comfort and dignity Nurses explain and translate unfamiliar procedures and treatments to patients which makes the patient a partner in his own care and aids in patient compliance. Nurses communicate patient symptoms and concerns to physicians so treatment can be altered if necessary and most importantly, nurses provide emotional support to patients in distress.
This allows the nurse to assess the patient’s pain and suffering related to the treatment plan in place (Settle, 2014). The ability to communicate well is essential for ethical decision making in the NICU (Monterosso et al., 2005). Nurses play a big role in supporting the parents while their child is in the NICU. Showing compassion and demonstrating caring actions when caring for the patient makes it more likely that the parents will trust the nurse and the information the nurse gives them regarding their child’s condition. This trust is important as it helps the parents feel confident in the decisions they are making about their child’s care. When the parents of an ill child in the NICU have decided to terminate treatment palliative care by the nurse and other healthcare providers comes into play. Palliative care is keeping the child comfortable by treating the symptoms and being there for the parents and child physically, emotionally, and spiritually (Eden & Callister, 2010). The patient and family should be placed in a private room that is dimly lit and has minimal noise. There should be enough room to accommodate other family members as well. All unnecessary medical equipment such as ventilators and monitors should be removed from the patient. IV access should remain in place to give adequate medication for pain. Supplemental
Nurses have a considerable amount of responsibility in any facility. They are responsible for administering medicines and treatments to there patient’s. While caring for there patients, nurses will make observations on patient’s health and then record there findings. As well as consulting with doctors and other healthcare professionals to plan proper individual patient care. They teach their patients how to manage their illnesses and explain to both the patient and the patients family how to continue treatment when returning home (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014-15). They also record p...
Treating the patient and family as one, can have improved outcomes, decrease hospital stays, increased patient satisfaction, and improved reimbursements for the hospital. Developing a relationship with not only the patient, but family as well, can pay off in the long run by providing better communication, better quality of care, and trust. The patient and family can be strong advocates for improved performance improvement efforts. Including family in the treatment of the patient treats the “whole” patient through their hospitalization. Involving the family can enhance the patients care.
...staff would not be required to put in the overtime to compensate for the lack of workers. Patients would no longer have to suffer the neglect of the staff because he or she was too busy. Making sure the patient gets the best quality care reduces the time spent for recovery. Reducing the time spent for recovery increases the organization’s finances. Providing a safe facility also reduces the expenses on the private hospital’s budget. Ensuring a patient is safe can reduce potential use of ongoing treatment and services. Hiring the appropriate nursing staff needed can save the organization money. Instead of cutting back on staff, more staff needs to be hired to fulfil the needs of the patient. In the economy today, private hospitals need to focus on the overall long term effects of each action opposed to quick reactions resulting in financial strain for the facility.
The health care system of today will be invaluable without the help of well-trained registered professional nurses. According to Wilkinson, Treas, Barnett, Smith (2016) registered nurses in today’s health care have the training required to develop a care plan with other health care workers that is specific for each patient in their care, instead of the same general approach for every patient. This is known as patient centered care because each patient is different from the other and the registered nurse role includes developing a good plan for every patient they care for. In performing such duties, registered nurses tend to create a strong bond with their patients by caring for their patients by all means possible. By caring for their patients, they tend to gain their patients and their families trust. According to Wilkinson et al. (2016) There are many support systems for patients in our communities that have good intentions of assisting sick people and those in need. Most of them are not known by the patient or their families. The registered nurse is the one who is in the position to inform the patient or family about such resources that may be very helpful for them if they are interested. By doing so, the patient knows that the nurse really cares about him/her and that feels very comforting and may help the patient get well
The reason for selecting this topic is that being an enrolled nurse in an acute mental health inpatient unit for the past 7 years, I have found myself in the situation where I have been a participant in placing a patient in seclusion on numerous occasions and I have conflicting views as to its appropriateness.
The many concepts are very complex and have many dimensions. Concepts developed by Leininger, Watson, Gaut, Benner and Wrubel, Ihde, and many more were discussed and how they relate to ICU nurses and their caring practices. It is stressed in this article that ICU nurses have an important role of making sure they have insight into their specific behaviors so that nursing practices can be developed. Once these nursing practices are developed, ICU nurses can successfully care for their critically ill patients. Wilkin (2003) claims that caring is a, “dual component of attitudes/values and activities, which create an ongoing challenge for the ICU nurses” (p.
As a nurse, it is important to address the needs of a patient during care. These needs are unique to each individual and personalizing it, enable the patients to feel truly cared about. It is important to be educated about these needs as the patients and their families look to you as a guide; therefore, education on things w...
The patient is more likely to focus all their questions and concerns to the nurse. When then the
Hodge, M. B., Romano, P. S., Harvey, D., Samuels, S. J., Olson, V. A., Sauve, M., & Kravitz, R. K. (2004). Licensed Caregiver Characteristics and Staffing in California Acute Care Hospital Units [Electronic version]. The Journal of Nursing Administration, 34(3), 125-133.
them to help their clients. Adding on when nurses are self-aware they are able to adapt to, or
In less stressful environment, nurses able to incorporate caring relationship, improve interactions between patient and a nurse, and develop understanding of the other person’s perspective (Nicely, K, Sloane, D., Aiden, L., 2012).
Lautrette, A., Darmon, M., Megarbane, B., Joly, L. M., Chevret, S., Adrie, C., et al. (2007). A Communication Strategy and Brochure for Relatives of Patients Dying in the ICU. The New England Journal of Medicine, 356(5), 469-478.
Particularly in medical and nursing settings, privacy is recognized as a basic human right. Should be noted, it’s essentially complex and vague to define while being reviewed. It’s defined in the context of four aspects [solitude, intimacy, anonymity and reserve] but overall recognized in two forms; autonomy and confidentiality. Little attention paid to privacy patients in many medical centers. It’s essential to observe privacy, to establish an effective medical team-patients relationship; patient serenity. Today, with technology available, observing privacy and confidentiality should be more acute. Patient satisfaction levels have been identified as major indicators of quality of care and are influenced by a range of factors (Nayeri & Aghajani, 2010).