How strict are hospital visiting hours? http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032 Warrior Bard Thankfully I've never had personal experience with this (knock on wood!!!) so I hope you guys can enlighten me. I always see this in TV shows, when someone's in the hospital and the hospital staff kick them out when 'Visiting Hours' are done with. Is this how it is in real life? What are visiting hours normally, and when they're over, will you actually get kicked out? What if the patient is very seriously injured (as in, possibly close to death) and the visitors are family? Will they get kicked out anyway? If not, and there's also a visitor who's not technically family but who has a very good reason to be there, can the family elect to have that person stay or will they just get kicked out regardless? Insight would be appreciated! Thank you! :) Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:31:30 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1125225 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1125225 Notkieran I've found that immediate family are not as subject to the kick-out rules, especially not spouses or parents. We've not tried anything else. However, I've found that the max number of people in-ward at any time can be very strictly enforced. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:33:08 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1125233 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1125233 Fraust My experience has been about the same as above. When my soon to be exwife was pregnant there originally looked to be quite a bit of security on the maternity ward, but as long as you weren't walking out with a baby under your coat it was pretty unimpressive. I came and went after hours pretty often (course, I was the father of the kid (we weren't married yet, so I didn't have husband status), so that might have been part of it). Now, go a few miles and a whole state south, where my nephew was getting his kidney taken out and the story changes. Patients weren't listed under their real names, the hospital gave you names. And I'm pretty sure his parents were IDed every time they came in. I'm pretty sure they were allowed to stay over night too. Generally immediates, (spouse/parents/children) are, from what I've seen. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:14:13 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1125771 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1125771 Irukazab It depends on the ward your patient is on. Labor and delivery/Maternal wards are restrictive in security and I suppose in the number of people allowed to come through, since infants are a high risk category. ICU I think also has very restrictive rules, about the number of people allowed in the room etc. other than that, rules have eased up considerably. In the olden day you only had a couple of hours in the afternoon to go visit. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:32:48 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1125998 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1125998 WritingGeek97 It depends, I think. Dad's a pastor, and it somebody in our congregation gets sick and goes to the hospital, he's there as soon as he can be even if it's not visiting hours. The nurses let him in. (They know him by sight now...And have learned to not call him "Father". XD) A lot of the people he visits are pretty old, and he goes at almost any time of the day or night. If he didn't have a clerical uniform on and wasn't a family member, he would probably not be allowed in. (Which is why he always changes out of normal clothes into work clothes. Haha.) Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:54:37 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1126150 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1126150 FamilyFriendlyComedy Agreed, in my experience even visiting people with a friend who is a deacon, they'd let us stay a few minutes longer or with people in the room (like family) we'd be allowed to stay a few minutes if the patient wasn't seriously ill. I think it is a lot more dependent on the unit and on the patient. My parents were with me the whole time after I broke my leg as an adult, partly because I've got visual and hearing problems (I wear an aid, but didn't have it on me at the t6ime). But each state's rules are different as far as if anyone can ride in an ambulance, so there are still parts that are pretty strict. But, on those hospital visits I mentioned, we always said at the desk we were from "x" church there to see patient y. the church has a good enough reputation that probably helps a lot. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:02:50 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1126968 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1126968 Winterwind When my father was in ICU, the nurses tended to be very strict about the 2-people-at-a-time rule, especially in the first couple days he was there, when he was still doped up on painkillers and the prognosis was still rather iffy. They lightened up a bit once he got better, and by the time he got released, three or four people could stay with him at a time and have no problems. On the other hand, the hospital was very good about visiting hours, and we rarely got kicked out once the hours were over. Occasionally, my mother would sleep there overnight in one of the chairs, and they had no problem with that. Also, when a friend of mine was in ICU, they let four people into the room with her at a time (the maximum is supposed to be two), and they let a relative sleep over with her at nights. And apparently one night the staff let some of her friends stay late and throw her a (quiet) get-better party. The fact that she was a teenager at the time might also have been factored into this. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:46:49 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1127240 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1127240 Winterwind I forgot to mention: the friend in question was there under a different name, and I got ID'ed when I went to visit her. I never got ID'ed for my father in all my visits to him. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:56:47 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1127271 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1127271 EmmaMayfield Strict unless the person is in a CCU or ICU. My grandfather was there last week. So trust me, I know. :| Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:51:38 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1127403 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1127403 EmmaMayfield Same thing about my grandfather. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:52:24 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1127408 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1127408 Cavaliere Errante I think it depends on the hospital and the nurses in charge. I know when I was in the ICU for a week and a half I was limited to three visitors, who were only allowed to stay for 20 minutes. Of course at that time I greatly resembled rotting hamburger and I was about as lively, so I really don't know why on earth anyone besides my mother would <em>want</em> to stay longer than 20 minutes. The only exception to that rule was my mother, who was allowed to stay the night because I was only seventeen at the time. Also while I was the ICU only family immediate family members were allowed to visit me. My mom did get my best friend Ryan into see me once or twice by claiming he was yet another one of her many sons. Not that anyone really questioned his right to be there because after all, he was the one who found me, rode in the ambulance with me, and contacted my parents before the hospital and/or the police did. Once I was moved out of intensive care the visiting rules were a lot less strict. Er, depending on the nurse who was running the front desk that is. The younger nurses tended to be more tolerant of my less-than-quiet friends, their attempts to sneak me McDonalds, and one younger nurse actually aided my friends in an attempt to "kidnap" me so I could go outside. You get a little stircrazy when you've not even been allowed to get out of bed on your own for three weeks, forget leaving the room or even going outside. The older nurses were a lot less appreciative of my friends and our shenanigans. They were a little more careful to mind the visiting hours and always threatened to get security to remove my friends if they tried to con their way into staying longer. The visiting hours rules never really applied to my immediate family after I was moved out of the ICU. Just applied for my friends, although I can't really blame the hospital staff for being annoyed at a dozen high school seniors making a bit of a ruckus... Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:20:18 -0600 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1127491 http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/reference-desk/threads/50032?page=1#forum_thread_comment_1127491