Critical Care Unit Guidelines

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Patient Inquiries
Visiting Policy
Visitors Lounge
Equipment
Gift of Life
Helpful Hints

Patient Inquiries

The nurse will accept inquiries from your designated caller 24 hours a day. In accordance with the law, intensive care units (ICU, CICU, NICU) staff cannot give any patient information, except for the patient’s room number, location, and general condition (e.g., fair, serious, etc.) over the phone. Any additional information over the phone can only be given to a verified personal representative of the patient (Reference: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). This is done to protect your privacy and reduce interruptions to the nurse caring for you. There are no phones in the patient rooms. Telephone calls will be transferred to the visitors lounge. Calls can be made directly to the family line/lounges.

Visiting Policy

We ask that you adhere to the following:

• Only two members of the patient’s immediate family (spouse, parents, children, siblings, grand-parents, significant other, or chosen alternative) may visit at a time.
• Family members may be asked by staff to wait in a waiting room when patient care and/or procedures are warranted.
• No children under the age of 10 may visit. Children over the age of 10 must be accompanied by an adult.
• While visiting, please stay in the patient’s room. In order to maintain patient privacy, please do not stand in the unit hallways. Please do not sit on the floor in hospital hallways/corridors.
• Visiting is allowed around the clock except 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Nursing report takes place at these times. This allows for a smooth transfer of patient care and helps maintain patient confidentiality. The automatic doors will be locked during this time and during any emergency treatment and/or procedure on either unit. When this occurs, visitors will be asked to step out of the Critical Care Unit to the visitors lounge.

In the event a patient is very unstable, critical or dying, exceptions to these guidelines may be made at the discretion of the patient’s nurse.

Visitors Lounge

The visitors lounge is available to all families and friends of patients in ICU, CICU and NICU/NSDU. The visitors lounge for ICU and CICU is located on the West Wing of the hospital. The lounge for NICU and NSDU is located south of the entrance to NSDU. The lounge is open 24 hours a day. Volunteers are periodically available to answer your questions. Coffee, hot water and public phones are available in the visitor lounge. Family members are not allowed to eat in the patient rooms. We ask that family members please use the phones in the visitors lounge, not at the nurse’s station. Cell phones cannot be used in the hospital.

Bathrooms for visitors are located in the elevator hallway. Please do not use bathrooms identified as “staff only.”

Family members who wish to spend the night must sleep in the visitors lounge. We ask that your family go to the lounge after their visit if they wish to remain longer or wait for the physician.

Equipment

For patients’ safety, we have placed video cameras in rooms which cannot be directly seen from the nursing station. These cameras are for patient monitoring and do not make a tape recording. To provide privacy for patients during personal care and procedures, the camera is turned off.

Gift of Life

All actual and imminent deaths will be reported to Michigan’s designated organ and tissue procurement organization, Gift of Life Michigan (Reference: Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. government, Conditions of Participation). An informational brochure is available.

Helpful Hints

Here are some helpful hints to assist us:

• Rest: We encourage your family to go home at night to rest.
• Valuables: We strongly urge your family to take valuables home. They also can be stored in a hospital safe.
• Staff: The unit is staffed by registered nurses which have specialized training in the needs of critically ill patients. Nurses may change shifts two to four times per day.
• Hallways: We ask that family remain in the waiting room when not visiting a patient. We need to keep the hallways clear and provide privacy for all patients in the unit.
• Photographs: We welcome photographs of loved ones in the patient’s room. This can have a very positive effect.
• Flowers: No live plants or flowers are allowed in the CICU, ICU and NICU as patients are at risk of infection. Although space is limited, cards, balloons and silk flowers are allowed and help brighten a patient’s room.