By 7. Why this nurse broke the visiting rules
There are occasions when breaking the visitation rules is the right thing to do—when a soldier or sailor has just arrived from overseas to visit a very sick relative, for example, or when the patient’s condition would benefit from such a “special” visit.
In one of the ICUs where I worked, we had a patient who was so ill with cancer that we couldn’t stabilize him enough to get him home, even under hospice care. Yet his heart’s desire was to go home and sit with his dog down by the pond.
At the time, there were two agency RNs on staff. One happened to have a SMALL dog—the kind you can fit into a tote bag. In an informal nurse’s station conference, those of us who would be on duty the next weekend decided to help arrange a “special” visit.
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