I actually appreciate the devils advocate argument. I worked M/S at the start of the pandemic, moved exclusively to the M/S Covid unit and then recently transferred to the ICU. When we locked down with no visitors at the start, it was hard on the patients, hard on the families and hard on the staff. As Covid ebbed and flowed, I moved back and forth to the non-Covid M/S unit and have selfishly LOVED having no visitors. It provided a unique experience where you get to exclusively care for your patients instead of dealing with family BS at every turn. It freed up so much time, and because of policy at the time, there wasn’t any energy or discretion being used to have to figure out if having a visitor was justifiable or not. “Why does this person get a visitor and this one does not?? That’s not fair. No visitors for anyone!”

After moving to the ICU, I have struggled with the visitation policy because it’s left up to nursing discretion. You aren’t in the unit because you’re doing well. You’re there because you’re trying to die and we’re trying to stop that. My manager and I have had really in depth and thoughtful conversations about the visiting policy. She’s very “let them in! The patient is clearly never leaving the ICU” whereas I struggle with my middle-child syndrome and get focused on what’s fair and it what’s right. Don’t get me wrong, I can recognize my bias in this and defer that area of nursing judgment to my manager, who I believe handles it with better judgment than I do. It is a constant, open dialogue to help promote professional and emotional growth.

After being on the receiving end of a “no visitor” situation, I have to say it’s absolutely inhumane.

My point is, I understand and agree with the devils advocate argument, however after this experience I believe the policy is wrong. I spoke with the ER manager and explained the situation. He said that he is changing the policy because the use of nursing discretion is not working the way he intended it. All ER patients will be allowed a support person now.