When COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March of 2020 by the World Health Organization and the Trump administration, I began to witness patients’ rights stripped away, and the ethical principles and oath I promised to abide by became compromised. It all started with isolating people in their homes or the hospital. The decision to remove family members and visitors from the patient’s bedside placed them in a type of isolation by reducing their interaction with others and lowering the standard of patient care.
For example, a nurse averages five patients in the hospital and twelve in a nursing home. They cannot be everywhere at once. Having a visitor at the bedside is another set of eyes, ears, and hands. They would immediately notice if the patient started talking funny, which could be a stroke sign requiring immediate attention. Or encourage the patient to eat, shower, or walk. They can also make a huge difference in their mood. People lose the will to survive when they’re isolated.
Nurses rely on the help of family and friends to encourage, support and facilitate their recovery. Another set of ears in the room when a doctor makes his rounds and informs the patient on the medication changes, tests ordered, a new set of instructions, etc., can be invaluable for reducing medical errors. A physician could have just left the room telling the patient they were going to discontinue a particular medication, and a nurse could be bringing it in. The visitor could tell the nurse the doctor’s updated treatment plan. In the nursing world, that is considered a “near miss” and a reportable medical error. There are a million reasons why prohibiting a visitor at the bedside, no matter the circumstance, was a horrible idea…
