Recently I have been on a placement working on an inpatient ward at a hospital. The patients are of course allowed visitors during working hours, and, as a result I find myself often walking in to a ward room filled with the patients family and friends. Im sure everyone has been through this. Sometimes it can be very hard to perform a treatment when there are friends and family members present. Most often, family members realize that it would be better if they went for a walk or something, and are pretty good about making themselves scarce, although occasionally this is not the case. Some family members will actually try and participate in the treatment session, often when they are not needed or wanted. It seems to me to be a bit of a grey area as to what we are to do in these situations.
Sometimes visitors have come a long way and really put themselves out to come and see the patient. Sometimes they only have a small amount of time to see the patient before they have to go. And of course, the patient usually is very eager to spend time with any visitors. Patients can often get quite depressed in hospital and therefore the time they spend with their visitors can mean a lot to them. For these reasons I can sympathise with patients and the visitors wanting some time alone.
On the other hand, we have a job to do, and a caseload. Our treatments can be extremely important to the patients’ recovery and strongly affect their length of stay at the hospital. This really is the reason that they are in hospital- so they can receive professional health care. So this is the dilemma.
Different physios seem to have different opinions on this. Some will ask the visitors to leave outright (though politely). Others will allow visitors to participate in a treatment session even if they are not needed, and are even impeding the treatment. I wanted to ask everyone what their opinions and experiences are with this issue, and please give me some suggestions, if you have any, for the future.
Thanks, posted by simon
1 comment:
I think anyone who has been on an inpatient ward can relate to this dilemma!
I too am of the firm belief that patients are in hospital for a reason – to receive medical treatment. However, I think it’s important to ask yourself what the patient will benefit from more…PT treatment or some positive psychological/emotional input?
If there is absolutely no other time in the day that I can treat the patient I tend to approach the situation from a “weekend physio” point of view. Usually the “criteria” for a patient to receive physiotherapy on the weekends is that their condition will decline without it. If it doesn’t harm them to skip a full physio session then I would leave the patient with their visitors, and perhaps depending on the situation just remind them that they should be doing their DB exercises, pumping their ankles and going for walks etc (as appropriate).
Some say that laughter is the best medicine and perhaps being with family/ friends will do them so much emotional/ psychological good that your next treatment session will be more effective as the patient may be happier and more motivated!
Post a Comment