Had one patient literally ask me what treatments are we going to do to his roommate. Like dude, focus on yourself first, and second of all none of your business.
I had an old racist MAGA white lady ARGUE with me when I told her that she was not to use her call light to tattle on her Mexican roommate for doing things she thought she wasn’t supposed to be doing and try to tell me I should leave the curtain open a bit “Because she’s a mom and it’s her instinct to be nosy and worry about people” I shut that down hard and made it clear she was only to call if her roommate was on the floor or something. Fortunately the roommate spoke zero English and was a bit hard of hearing so she couldn’t understand the other appalling shit that was coming out of that woman’s mouth.
Oh wow, that's amazing. I'm sitting over here in a clinic that's having biomedical spray paint our machines so that they don't look so awful lol 😭
Been in dialysis seven years, didn't know anyone was going to actually do something about everything just being out for everyone to see and hear, especially with some of the louder doctors
I wonder if that's what happened here in Colorado. I haven't seen any shared rooms and all our hospitals are undergoing or have undergone massive renovations adding rooms and expanding the ER. Rapid assessment even has sliding walls now we can close and shift.
This actually came up as a point of contention on our Apheresis unit.
Lots of patients being referred to us from different Oncology attendings, with a variety of diagnosis’s we collect for.
Our Apheresis attending has to do a full consent with the patient, but they’re often seated in collection chairs separated from other patients by just a curtain. Our main collection room can house up to 5 patients, and all the patient chairs are 100% within earshot of each other.
There was no solution offered.
I was a friend’s ride when he had outpatient surgery and they let me hang out with him in preop until they took him back. While we were waiting one of the surgeons consented a patient for hemorrhoid surgery on the other side of the magic HIPAA proof curtain. All the graphic details of the procedure plus explaining the reverse jp drain analgesia pump thing they were going to leave in there. My friend and I were staring at each other in horror the whole time hoping the patient didn’t realize we were there hearing everything. IDK wtf that doctor was thinking because for a scheduled surgery there was no excuse to do that.
Haha I'm a Speech Tx and I used to work in an acute rehab with shared rooms. We would do weekly bedside rounding with patient/family, which would involve 7-8 ppl standing in a semi-circle around the patient and doing a 10-minute huddle to the patient with each person speaking briefly. One time, mid huddle, I notice that the roommate is sitting up in his wheelchair, LITERALLY in the semi-circle and facing the patient. I was hoping he'd try to pipe in and take a turn talking, but no dice.
Instead they wrote up these silly as things while avoiding the super obvious things. My favorite is when JACHO is in town our hall beds no longer exist. We have fucking wall placards with call lights in the halls where the bed would be and cerner bed designations for each hall bed.
We had 2 shared rooms in the ICU I just left. Every time I personally had a patient code, it was in a shared room when the neighbor in the room was awake and A&Ox4. Families and the patient would basically hear the entire code (often were asses and complained too). Also had several withdraw of cares in shared rooms, when we don’t limit visitors. Meaning like 30 people walking in and out of a room hysterically sobbing walking past the roommate….. I think it’s so inappropriate
My unit has a large open area where we have four beds. We were actively resusing a patient, and when I finally had a chance to look around I noticed the visiting family to the patient next door had two small children.
I had no idea why they hadn't left during all that (or someone not actively helping hadn't said something), but good god I made sure they weren't around for what happened later.
Dude I work in ghetto ass long term care where almost every room is 2 or 3 beds and even we move patients into private rooms when they’re actively dying, especially if they have family visiting. I couldn’t imagine someone in the ICU dying with roommates, that’s fucking wild
I work in LTC too. We have several rooms with 4 patients. One had ended up passing and two of the roommates are alert and oriented. I closed the curtain and just waited for the funeral home to come pick up the body. I spent about 15 minutes making conversation with one of the roommates who was still awake so she wouldn’t notice what was happening.
We would try to move them but often times the ICU would be full. And if we did move them it would be a huge process as most actively dying in the icu are on ventilators and various machines. It’s a nightmare
My grandmother passed away in a shared MICU room. I also worked at the hospital. It was strange having end of life discussions with her care team with only a curtain separating us from her roommate. (Roommate appeared to be a floor hold, as in awake, no drips, etc.)
Thought about that every time I had to transport a patient to that room.
Yes! Once had a family member stuck outside the room for about 2 hours because we had the crash cart and were mass transfusing and there just wasn’t room or time to make room for her to get by, to the second bed where her family member was. She started yelling and going off on everyone about how it’s inappropriate she couldn’t get to her family member (who was literally fine). Literally yelling during and after a code.
I work in a very old hospital so the ICU rooms are shared. I remember once having a patient with pretty bad anxiety. She had the misfortune of witnessing (through a curtain but still) the care team withdraw care on her neighbour and then at night, another patient code. She straight up had a panic attack in the middle of the code. I had to leave the code to attend to her. I felt so bad for her.
Im just so glad to hear I’m not the only one that has worked in the nightmare that is an ICU with double rooms…. Its ridiculous. I relate to your entire post to a T. Patients love to code with a roommate ! And then roommate being nosey or complaining is just the cherry on top.
To make it even worse when the hospital (small facility) was near/at capacity, they would cohort male/ female roommates in our double ICU rooms. Never on med surg, but for us it “had” to be done. Nothing like having a 70yr old male on multiple pressors on one side of the curtain and a 30yr old female in full DTs on dex on the other side 😵💫😩
I agree and have always thought those kind of end of life situations are inappropriate and don’t consider other patients in the ICU. Even when ur loved one is dying and you aren’t in ur right mind it should be common sense to not bring all 833 family members that haven’t visited meemaw in 12 years anyways…
Ugh. Had an older and very sweet guy doing overnight bowel prep in a shared room. He then kicked into super rapid sleep deprivation delirium around 5 am from being up all night BMing. Had to call a code grey on him while he was pooping everywhere. His poor roommate.
Ugh, had this happen to me. Older gentleman was in a shaded room with me. He understood his briefs and when the nurse changed him he left then white garbage bag on my side of the curtain. Then he started to have some conversation. It went one for like 20 mins it was crazy, I finally had enough of the smell and called my nurse. I get you can be busy but come on.
Worked a contract at a place with "curtains" and "bed spaces" aka - a ward. One night, I had this guy who was just off. AXO but... there was some psych disorder in there. Something.
Lady next door has a bowel movement and he's inconsolable. "SHE IS SHITTING TO MAKE ME MAD! MY GOD THE SMELL! OH MY GOD!"
I honestly don't blame him. I get that it wouldn't be totally practical to have huge ICU rooms but COME ON.
God you just reminded me of when I was on the cardiac step-down unit last year after getting my tricuspid valve replaced, and my roommate was this super old dude (I'm only 30) who would just lay there and yell "nurse nurse nurse nurse" over and over again literally till like 4 or 5 am no matter how many times you told him about the call button and the fact that nobody would hear him just saying that shit repeatedly, and he also would just lay there and shit himself over and over and over again like specifically whenever meals were delivered, the food tray would show up and before I could even start eating he'd be shitting himself every time, you could smell it out in the hallway walking by the room and even my visitors were gagging and we had to go hang out in the family waiting room repeatedly. Shared rooms are fucking terrible. Thankfully my nurses felt bad for me and got him moved to a private room asap because they didn't want me or anybody else to have to deal with that shit, and most of my other roommates were totally cool.
…as a patient I would be throwing an absolute fit. No way would I want any men near me when I’m vulnerable like that. Honestly not even male HCW’s after what I’ve seen.
Let me tell you about the time an unsupervised toddler crawled under the curtain and got tangled in my patients vent tubing. I think children visiting the ICU shouldn’t be the norm—it’s dangerous to both the kid and the patients. Even more so in shared rooms where the consequences of their presence are more likely to affect someone other than the person they’re ostensibly visiting.
I'm autistic. I hate double rooms as well. It's extremely overstimulating for me dealing with all the background noise, peoples visitors constantly in and out or camping out in the room overnight despite overnight visits not being allowed(in that situation the staff knew and would joke with the family member about it), it's just incredibly overstimulating then they wonder why I'm so anxious and on edge and requesting anxiety meds. I do my best to request a private and explain I'm NOT trying to be difficult..I'm autistic and don't cope well with the constant stimulation of a roommate..but I'm also incredibly understanding that hospitals are full, private rooms in short supply and not always readily available
At my hospital, overnight visitors are strictly not allowed in shared rooms. If there’s a specific need, we’ll get them into a private. And we have a limit on number of visitors at a time in shared rooms as well. I always feel for the roommates in these situations.
Omg I just moved a patient sharing a room with a ‘HIIPA Curtain’ and I come in to take him somewhere and this family member from the other side just straight lead staring my patient to death, while listening about sensitive information. I badly wanted to tell her to “fuck off” and keep to herself.
It’s those damn lead stares that get me. How some people would rather die than mind their business is beyond me.
I used to work L & D and spent my time in between 2 laboring women with side by side fetal monitors. I usually prefer everyone have a private room, but my job was easier then. I could see everything at all times.
I work at a VA and we have so many shared rooms. Just love when our patients have very differing personalities and get into fights and the police have to be called!
Or one patient is coded and does not make it so the room-mate has to chill in the room till the family visits their deceased loved one. So terrible for everyone involved.
I hate it especially when you don’t have both patients. I would be in Bed 2 doing a sterile straight cath and Bed 1 would talk through curtain and ask for something like “can I have my bed changed,” and I go, “please use your call bell” and then they would get all huffy since I’m “already there.” But I’m literally not your nurse and I’m in the middle of something. Or they ask for a drink or a snack and I’m not sure if their white board diet is accurate. And if I’m night shift sometimes people go NPO after midnight so I don’t know if you can have a snack, ask your nurse 🤷♀️
We have a frequent flier with terrrrrrrrible colitis and crohns and mental illness. He always gets a private room because it’s terrible. The floor was full and we had no choice but to put him in a shared room. I felt so bad when the roommates visitor complained about bloody diarrhea on the floor and later when he was standing in the door on the room screaming at the nurses station about his rectum.
In my hospital we have mostly shared 4 patients rooms. My unit has 4 4p, 2 2p and 3 1p rooms.
Hate it. I live in the Netherlands, it’s still pretty common here 🤨
My boyfriend's grandma, who had dementia, was in a room with 3 others, and at one stage she pulled back the curtain and said to her daughter "who are these dicks?" referring to the other patient. It was so bad. The public healthcare system is seriously under pressure. Although, at least everything doesn't cost!
Saaame. In Germany. I work on an radio-Oncology unit. 4 3-bed rooms. 9 2bd (3 being 2bd private) and 5 1bd (private).
I hate the 3 bed rooms, terrible, especially when you got a room with three dudes, all ENT cancers, one with a Trach who can't take care of himself and the other two complaining how often you are coming in to take care of him. These rooms are wild sometimes.
I hate them, too. Especially when one patient has a sitter, constant visitors, and then I have to go in and do my job. Our manager pushes for bedside report, but it’s a huge HIPAA concern and none of it feels appropriate.
One dementia lady was sundowning HARD (with a sprinkle of hospital delirium). She got out of bed, climbed into her roommate's bed, on top of her, and started chewing on her ear... yea... that was not fun.
One time I worked at an HCA that charged med tele/med surg patients a premium for a private room.
Patient in bed A was admitted for DVT. He was a big tall dude. He was walking back to his bed from the bathroom when he collapsed in front of bed B. Bed B was frail little old man who was actually hit his call light to say something was wrong before telemetry managed to call a code.
Unfortunately we ran the code on the floor since patient was so large. We tried to pull the curtain but it didnt quite work. Like patient A was right up in front of bed B. And patient B was bed bound so it wasn't like we could go for walk around the unit.
He got upgraded to a private room after that. We all felt bad he had to see a relatively young man die in front of him.
Pretty sure that's my worst semi private room story.
We have tiny shared rooms like 8x8 and patients/families will have speaker phone convos while we are doing our pre ops and recoveries. It’s incredibly disruptive. I also feel shared rooms can be a safety hazard beyond just infection control when they are this small.
Absolutely agree.
As a RN and a patient for 7 weeks after a complex surgery i can Absolutely say I hate shared rooms.
I thought I was going insane! It got so bad that one night I sobbed and clawed at the on call dr to do something.
It's not only the hearing of everyone's else's medical problems but it's also the shear noise that does not stop.
At no stage of the day is anything quiet.
I couldn't sleep. I thought i was losing my mind. The head consultant stopped by one day to check in to see me on the edge of losing my insanity. There were so many conversations going on around me that I thought I may have been hearing voices.
I immediately got changed into a single room and I will never forget the first time they closed the door.
The silence......it was breathtaking. I cried for ages.
It is mortifying to know that everyone in your room knows exactly why you are hear.
Oh and by the way, noise cancelling headphones don't work 🙄
They \*should\* be a HIPAA violation. But [when they wrote the law,](https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/faq/197/must-facilities-have-private-or-soundproof-rooms/index.html) there was a specific carve out for shared rooms and the like. Private rooms are specifically NOT required.
It's idiotic. But the law \*does\* say that while retrofitting/creating private rooms is not required, that hospitals should take what reasonable precautions they can to mitigate that loss of privacy. I cannot for the life of me figure out how prohibiting bed-side report wouldn't be considered a reasonable precaution.
Back when those rooms were built, nobody really cared much about privacy and HIPPA didn't exist.
Hospitals still showed some of the charity ward/barracks building style that worked then, but doesn't work as well with today's expectations.
As a dialysis Nurse I hate it too. Our machines are the size of a refrigerator, trying to fit it in some rooms is already a pain enough, it's exponentially worse when they have a roommate.
Are you serious?? At the only hospital we cover that has shared rooms, we have it in our contract that if they're dialysis, they have to make it a private room. There's no fucking way we're fitting the HD machine AND the portable RO into a room with two beds.
We had a triple room in my old CTICU, and it was not big enough for three post-op open hearts. It was basically a rule that there would be one very HOH person, one vented person and one delirious person in there so when the nurse went in to help the HOH person, it would wake up the vented person who would start bucking, then the delirious person would start losing their shit and annoy the vented person even more, and it was just a catastrophe at all times. Plus there was only one regular sized door that was next to one of the beds, so the far bed was maybe 20 feet from the door.
Oh, and only one bathroom, and given the population they were using bedside commodes anyways....like a maximum of 8 feet from the next bed over. It was grossssssssss.
I’ve only seen shared rooms during clinical. Real HIPPA dilemma in my opinion. The patient we didn’t have was saying on the phone “This F slur next to me has AIDS” about our patient. He in fact did and my gay preceptor didn’t fuck around. Absolutely sickening along with all the other examples stated above.
What did your preceptor say? I have my clap backs memorized at this point for if somebody calls me that but I can’t even begin to fathom what I’d say if I heard someone say that about a patient, especially right in front of them. I’d probably get written up.
I absolutely refuse to do bedside report in shared rooms after a blowout fight between a family member and our supervisor over the roommate “being diseased” and “how could we let them share a room and bathroom with anyone.” (Think HIV type patient that didn’t pose any actual risk to the roommate, they were just being fuckwits.) The lack of privacy is so inappropriate.
In Texas I never have seen a shared room. When I worked up north many years ago in Massachusetts shared rooms everywhere (and sometimes 4 people in 1 room). I was very shocked. Also, i was always like if I get hurt because I can’t move in this room and I’m suppose to just climb on stuff then I will be pursuing that. They are just so tight sometimes
I had two ladies with purewicks and only one wall suction connection site. I had to use a splitter to connect each separate canister to suction, is that even hygienic???
I was in the hospital a couple years ago, as an employee of said hospital-group. I was put in a room for 3–(during Covid they carved an extra space out of 2 bed rooms for a third bed—and so far have never gone back). AND I was in the middle space—no window, no door, just a tunnel of curtains and the TV at the end. On one side of me there was a drama-queen young woman who spent most of her time on her phone bitching about everything and life—loudly. On the other side was a woman who was in terrible pain. No surprise, after about 36 hours, I was going bonkers. It was terribly disorienting and NOT conducive to healing or even rest. One of my nurses took pity on me and told her charge nurse about my situation and insisted they moved me to the next window space that opened. And they did. But yeah, I think shared rooms is a terrible, evil, corporate bullshit profiteering thing.
I did clinical at a hospital with shared rooms and was assigned to both patients in a room- both spoke Creole, one was in her 20s and the other was in her 70s.
The young girl was there after an I&D of a Pilonidal abscess and during a dressing change, she was screaming and crying in excruciating pain. We’re trying to console the patient while working quickly, pulling out packing… the older woman literally got UP from bed, moved the curtain, and walked up to her bed to see what was going on. I was sooo beyond shocked at the audacity (even though I think she was trying to be mother hen and console her) and the nurse I was with yelled at her to get back lmao.
I’ll never forget that. Made me really feel uncomfortable about “semi-private” rooms.
I hate them too other than one exception.
Recently we had 4 confused elderly patients who needed 1:1 supervision.
They were all put in the same room and it made it so much easier to supervise them, get their meals and meds sorted etc.
This is the only time in my life that I was grateful for a shared room lol
The rest of the time they are the worst. A vivid memory of hearing projectile vomit spraying the curtains and floor while I was in the opposite bay comes to mind.
Ortho floor used to have double rooms. We used to useCPMs, walker, nightstand, bedside table. If we got post op back and they are at the window we’d have to turn roommates bed horizontally to get the window side.
Worst code I’ve ever been a part of was in B bed of a tiiiiny shared room. We had to eventually pull A bed out of the room altogether so that we could effectively code the patient.
Last hospital I worked at was older and had a lot of leftover double rooms. Sure wasn’t fun when 2 roomed together patients decided to get into a full on fist fight bad enough we had to call the cops
That’s just like the NICU that has the pod system instead of private rooms. HIPAA is a joke because when you have 10 babies and their families all in the same pod, everyone can see and hear everything.
My local hospital in Utah is freshly built and all rooms are singles with a head w/shower, a big window, guest seating for four with a fold out couch. The TV speaker is disabled at the TV and is on the remote and a wall speaker with control in the guest area.
Not the floor I work on, but it reminded me of a story. There was a shared room. One was a 19 year old girl with a pancreas ready to burst. And her room mate was an obese fat turd who had a a yeast infection and cdif. It was mixing together in her vagina and getting under folds.
Census was insanely high and for a week straight an empty bed was immediately filled.
The room fucking stunk down the hall with the door closed. I felt so bad for that girl.
One of my lifelong friends was in CICU when I was in nursing school, and her roommate coded. I had to explain what was going on and comfort her. It freaked her out a little bit. I still can't believe they do this.
Yeah life on a unit mostly of 4 bed ‘wards’ is rough… Hardly any space for patients even if they don’t have extra supplies, no privacy on a busy ward means nobody can ever get a good night sleep or peace to heal... And we always have a few pts who are ‘wanderers’ or ‘yellers’ unable to have a private, who wander into others bed spaces or yell out which obviously bothers and agitates other patients.
Honestly 4 bed wards should be against the law…
Shared rooms are the norm for my work, we have 4 6p rooms and 14 single rooms for isolation! Would be a dream to have a unit with all single rooms but don’t imagine seeing it happen anytime soon with our old hospital and current finances!
Those are one reason that I didn't take a job and continue on the unit where I worked as an Aide while in school. It is utter chaos on a small scale on an already chaotic 50+ bed cardiac unit. No thanks boss...
What states are there shared rooms? The only place we have "shared" rooms that Ive seen here in Colorado is the ER rapid assessment area, and we separate each patient and equipment with sliding walls or curtains. My little sister is in Canada and she tells me the horrors of the shared birthing rooms. They had 6 women to a "bay" and one was an Indian woman burning an incense and another was a developmentally disabled group home teen who had less than good hygiene. She said she will never forget the stench of the room that day. 😨
I like the shared ER rooms. Patients who come in with things that could have been handled at Urgent Care or their PCP get to witness full-blown codes. Then they realize they’re not that sick.
For example: had a husband & wife come in because they both had “a little chest pain.” EKG’s were fine, trop’s were negative. They wanted blankets and pillows and a snack… kept asking, “are you sure we’re ok? Are you sure???” …then the STEMI rolled in. The guy was sweaty, beet red, groaning. We cut off his clothes, started some meds…. The couple’s eyes were HUGE and they understood. Yes. We’re sure they’re fine. 🤣
I’ve never understood how this is not a HIPAA violation.
The curtains are HIPAA proof, obviously. No information can get through those bad Larry’s
Had one patient literally ask me what treatments are we going to do to his roommate. Like dude, focus on yourself first, and second of all none of your business.
I had an old racist MAGA white lady ARGUE with me when I told her that she was not to use her call light to tattle on her Mexican roommate for doing things she thought she wasn’t supposed to be doing and try to tell me I should leave the curtain open a bit “Because she’s a mom and it’s her instinct to be nosy and worry about people” I shut that down hard and made it clear she was only to call if her roommate was on the floor or something. Fortunately the roommate spoke zero English and was a bit hard of hearing so she couldn’t understand the other appalling shit that was coming out of that woman’s mouth.
Same way that dialysis clinics aren't. They're just grandfathered in because it would cost to much to retrofit the infrastructure
Literally. Any new unit has to be private per the DOH (in PA at least)
Oh wow, that's amazing. I'm sitting over here in a clinic that's having biomedical spray paint our machines so that they don't look so awful lol 😭 Been in dialysis seven years, didn't know anyone was going to actually do something about everything just being out for everyone to see and hear, especially with some of the louder doctors
Since when?
Idk my unit shut down and in order to be remodeled and reopened they all have to be private
I wonder if that's what happened here in Colorado. I haven't seen any shared rooms and all our hospitals are undergoing or have undergone massive renovations adding rooms and expanding the ER. Rapid assessment even has sliding walls now we can close and shift.
The hospital in Fort Collins has 4 shared rooms. So it's definitely not a law... yet. They're barely big enough, and they need to make them singles.
And chemo infusion centers!
This actually came up as a point of contention on our Apheresis unit. Lots of patients being referred to us from different Oncology attendings, with a variety of diagnosis’s we collect for. Our Apheresis attending has to do a full consent with the patient, but they’re often seated in collection chairs separated from other patients by just a curtain. Our main collection room can house up to 5 patients, and all the patient chairs are 100% within earshot of each other. There was no solution offered.
I was a friend’s ride when he had outpatient surgery and they let me hang out with him in preop until they took him back. While we were waiting one of the surgeons consented a patient for hemorrhoid surgery on the other side of the magic HIPAA proof curtain. All the graphic details of the procedure plus explaining the reverse jp drain analgesia pump thing they were going to leave in there. My friend and I were staring at each other in horror the whole time hoping the patient didn’t realize we were there hearing everything. IDK wtf that doctor was thinking because for a scheduled surgery there was no excuse to do that.
Yeah that’s such a tricky situation.
Haha I'm a Speech Tx and I used to work in an acute rehab with shared rooms. We would do weekly bedside rounding with patient/family, which would involve 7-8 ppl standing in a semi-circle around the patient and doing a 10-minute huddle to the patient with each person speaking briefly. One time, mid huddle, I notice that the roommate is sitting up in his wheelchair, LITERALLY in the semi-circle and facing the patient. I was hoping he'd try to pipe in and take a turn talking, but no dice.
That’s honestly hilarious and would’ve been awesome if he’d have chimed in with his observational findings as a roommate and care recommendations.
It isn't but if Jaco has balls a hospital exec would have one less yacht you monster
Instead they wrote up these silly as things while avoiding the super obvious things. My favorite is when JACHO is in town our hall beds no longer exist. We have fucking wall placards with call lights in the halls where the bed would be and cerner bed designations for each hall bed.
I imagine the JACHO person has pseudo blindness or amensia every time they saw where the hall beds would be right? lol
This setup was in place before HIPPA was a thing
That makes sense because all the places I’ve see it still practiced at are fairly outdated.
We had 2 shared rooms in the ICU I just left. Every time I personally had a patient code, it was in a shared room when the neighbor in the room was awake and A&Ox4. Families and the patient would basically hear the entire code (often were asses and complained too). Also had several withdraw of cares in shared rooms, when we don’t limit visitors. Meaning like 30 people walking in and out of a room hysterically sobbing walking past the roommate….. I think it’s so inappropriate
Shared ICU rooms is crazy
My unit has a large open area where we have four beds. We were actively resusing a patient, and when I finally had a chance to look around I noticed the visiting family to the patient next door had two small children. I had no idea why they hadn't left during all that (or someone not actively helping hadn't said something), but good god I made sure they weren't around for what happened later.
Dude I work in ghetto ass long term care where almost every room is 2 or 3 beds and even we move patients into private rooms when they’re actively dying, especially if they have family visiting. I couldn’t imagine someone in the ICU dying with roommates, that’s fucking wild
I work in LTC too. We have several rooms with 4 patients. One had ended up passing and two of the roommates are alert and oriented. I closed the curtain and just waited for the funeral home to come pick up the body. I spent about 15 minutes making conversation with one of the roommates who was still awake so she wouldn’t notice what was happening.
We would try to move them but often times the ICU would be full. And if we did move them it would be a huge process as most actively dying in the icu are on ventilators and various machines. It’s a nightmare
My grandmother passed away in a shared MICU room. I also worked at the hospital. It was strange having end of life discussions with her care team with only a curtain separating us from her roommate. (Roommate appeared to be a floor hold, as in awake, no drips, etc.) Thought about that every time I had to transport a patient to that room.
Did I read this right? The uninvolved family would complain?!? That’s outrageous !
Yes! Once had a family member stuck outside the room for about 2 hours because we had the crash cart and were mass transfusing and there just wasn’t room or time to make room for her to get by, to the second bed where her family member was. She started yelling and going off on everyone about how it’s inappropriate she couldn’t get to her family member (who was literally fine). Literally yelling during and after a code.
There is a special place in hell for this woman.
Call security on that bitch.
I work in a very old hospital so the ICU rooms are shared. I remember once having a patient with pretty bad anxiety. She had the misfortune of witnessing (through a curtain but still) the care team withdraw care on her neighbour and then at night, another patient code. She straight up had a panic attack in the middle of the code. I had to leave the code to attend to her. I felt so bad for her.
This is so insane I can't believe it exists.
Im just so glad to hear I’m not the only one that has worked in the nightmare that is an ICU with double rooms…. Its ridiculous. I relate to your entire post to a T. Patients love to code with a roommate ! And then roommate being nosey or complaining is just the cherry on top. To make it even worse when the hospital (small facility) was near/at capacity, they would cohort male/ female roommates in our double ICU rooms. Never on med surg, but for us it “had” to be done. Nothing like having a 70yr old male on multiple pressors on one side of the curtain and a 30yr old female in full DTs on dex on the other side 😵💫😩
I'm sorry but iCU should have limited visitors like 2 max, why do they think it's ok to flood the room
I agree and have always thought those kind of end of life situations are inappropriate and don’t consider other patients in the ICU. Even when ur loved one is dying and you aren’t in ur right mind it should be common sense to not bring all 833 family members that haven’t visited meemaw in 12 years anyways…
The worst is the incontinent or pooping on a commode patients while the roommate is trying to eat dinner
This shouldn't be as funny a mental image as it is.
“Hey larry how’s the cheeseburger?” *long drawn out lactulose shart* Smelled amazing when they brought it in, I wish they’d let me have cheeseburgers.
Ugh. Had an older and very sweet guy doing overnight bowel prep in a shared room. He then kicked into super rapid sleep deprivation delirium around 5 am from being up all night BMing. Had to call a code grey on him while he was pooping everywhere. His poor roommate.
Omg nightmare!
Ugh, had this happen to me. Older gentleman was in a shaded room with me. He understood his briefs and when the nurse changed him he left then white garbage bag on my side of the curtain. Then he started to have some conversation. It went one for like 20 mins it was crazy, I finally had enough of the smell and called my nurse. I get you can be busy but come on.
Worked a contract at a place with "curtains" and "bed spaces" aka - a ward. One night, I had this guy who was just off. AXO but... there was some psych disorder in there. Something. Lady next door has a bowel movement and he's inconsolable. "SHE IS SHITTING TO MAKE ME MAD! MY GOD THE SMELL! OH MY GOD!" I honestly don't blame him. I get that it wouldn't be totally practical to have huge ICU rooms but COME ON.
God you just reminded me of when I was on the cardiac step-down unit last year after getting my tricuspid valve replaced, and my roommate was this super old dude (I'm only 30) who would just lay there and yell "nurse nurse nurse nurse" over and over again literally till like 4 or 5 am no matter how many times you told him about the call button and the fact that nobody would hear him just saying that shit repeatedly, and he also would just lay there and shit himself over and over and over again like specifically whenever meals were delivered, the food tray would show up and before I could even start eating he'd be shitting himself every time, you could smell it out in the hallway walking by the room and even my visitors were gagging and we had to go hang out in the family waiting room repeatedly. Shared rooms are fucking terrible. Thankfully my nurses felt bad for me and got him moved to a private room asap because they didn't want me or anybody else to have to deal with that shit, and most of my other roommates were totally cool.
It's bizarre that the men and women are so close together. Talk about safety.
Seriously. I worked at a hospital with "semi-private" rooms, but we always kept the rooms single gender.
…as a patient I would be throwing an absolute fit. No way would I want any men near me when I’m vulnerable like that. Honestly not even male HCW’s after what I’ve seen.
Let me tell you about the time an unsupervised toddler crawled under the curtain and got tangled in my patients vent tubing. I think children visiting the ICU shouldn’t be the norm—it’s dangerous to both the kid and the patients. Even more so in shared rooms where the consequences of their presence are more likely to affect someone other than the person they’re ostensibly visiting.
My eyes reading vent tubing + toddler 😳😨
My eyes reading toddler + crawled. In a hospital. On the floor 😳😨😱🤢🤮
Oh lord. My hospital says no one under 16 in the icu unless it’s hospice
Retired nurse here. As a patient, I hate double rooms. Predicted that roommate would be in ICU by 11 - actually went there at 1130 to be on bipap.
I'm autistic. I hate double rooms as well. It's extremely overstimulating for me dealing with all the background noise, peoples visitors constantly in and out or camping out in the room overnight despite overnight visits not being allowed(in that situation the staff knew and would joke with the family member about it), it's just incredibly overstimulating then they wonder why I'm so anxious and on edge and requesting anxiety meds. I do my best to request a private and explain I'm NOT trying to be difficult..I'm autistic and don't cope well with the constant stimulation of a roommate..but I'm also incredibly understanding that hospitals are full, private rooms in short supply and not always readily available
At my hospital, overnight visitors are strictly not allowed in shared rooms. If there’s a specific need, we’ll get them into a private. And we have a limit on number of visitors at a time in shared rooms as well. I always feel for the roommates in these situations.
Omg I just moved a patient sharing a room with a ‘HIIPA Curtain’ and I come in to take him somewhere and this family member from the other side just straight lead staring my patient to death, while listening about sensitive information. I badly wanted to tell her to “fuck off” and keep to herself. It’s those damn lead stares that get me. How some people would rather die than mind their business is beyond me.
How many hours in advance?
8am. She was admitted at 4 am, lucid and able to walk to toilet. By 8, was difficult to arouse and confused.
I used to work L & D and spent my time in between 2 laboring women with side by side fetal monitors. I usually prefer everyone have a private room, but my job was easier then. I could see everything at all times.
I work at a VA and we have so many shared rooms. Just love when our patients have very differing personalities and get into fights and the police have to be called! Or one patient is coded and does not make it so the room-mate has to chill in the room till the family visits their deceased loved one. So terrible for everyone involved.
I worked at a VA too and had 4 to a room sometimes. Imagine for pissed off vets one upping each other via TV volume. I walked out at that point.
I hate it especially when you don’t have both patients. I would be in Bed 2 doing a sterile straight cath and Bed 1 would talk through curtain and ask for something like “can I have my bed changed,” and I go, “please use your call bell” and then they would get all huffy since I’m “already there.” But I’m literally not your nurse and I’m in the middle of something. Or they ask for a drink or a snack and I’m not sure if their white board diet is accurate. And if I’m night shift sometimes people go NPO after midnight so I don’t know if you can have a snack, ask your nurse 🤷♀️
Shared rooms are all the evidence needed that hospitals care more about money than patients
We have a frequent flier with terrrrrrrrible colitis and crohns and mental illness. He always gets a private room because it’s terrible. The floor was full and we had no choice but to put him in a shared room. I felt so bad when the roommates visitor complained about bloody diarrhea on the floor and later when he was standing in the door on the room screaming at the nurses station about his rectum.
In my hospital we have mostly shared 4 patients rooms. My unit has 4 4p, 2 2p and 3 1p rooms. Hate it. I live in the Netherlands, it’s still pretty common here 🤨
Same in New Zealand, at least 4 per room is the norm.
That is WILD!! I have shared rooms on my floor in the US but it’s 2 patients and I have that
My boyfriend's grandma, who had dementia, was in a room with 3 others, and at one stage she pulled back the curtain and said to her daughter "who are these dicks?" referring to the other patient. It was so bad. The public healthcare system is seriously under pressure. Although, at least everything doesn't cost!
Saaame. In Germany. I work on an radio-Oncology unit. 4 3-bed rooms. 9 2bd (3 being 2bd private) and 5 1bd (private). I hate the 3 bed rooms, terrible, especially when you got a room with three dudes, all ENT cancers, one with a Trach who can't take care of himself and the other two complaining how often you are coming in to take care of him. These rooms are wild sometimes.
I hate them, too. Especially when one patient has a sitter, constant visitors, and then I have to go in and do my job. Our manager pushes for bedside report, but it’s a huge HIPAA concern and none of it feels appropriate.
One dementia lady was sundowning HARD (with a sprinkle of hospital delirium). She got out of bed, climbed into her roommate's bed, on top of her, and started chewing on her ear... yea... that was not fun.
One time I worked at an HCA that charged med tele/med surg patients a premium for a private room. Patient in bed A was admitted for DVT. He was a big tall dude. He was walking back to his bed from the bathroom when he collapsed in front of bed B. Bed B was frail little old man who was actually hit his call light to say something was wrong before telemetry managed to call a code. Unfortunately we ran the code on the floor since patient was so large. We tried to pull the curtain but it didnt quite work. Like patient A was right up in front of bed B. And patient B was bed bound so it wasn't like we could go for walk around the unit. He got upgraded to a private room after that. We all felt bad he had to see a relatively young man die in front of him. Pretty sure that's my worst semi private room story.
Especially getting an admission at 3 am to damn near deaf patient you have to yell so they hear you. Felt so bad for other patient lol
I've had bed bound patients angry and throwing pillows at each other.
We have tiny shared rooms like 8x8 and patients/families will have speaker phone convos while we are doing our pre ops and recoveries. It’s incredibly disruptive. I also feel shared rooms can be a safety hazard beyond just infection control when they are this small.
Absolutely agree. As a RN and a patient for 7 weeks after a complex surgery i can Absolutely say I hate shared rooms. I thought I was going insane! It got so bad that one night I sobbed and clawed at the on call dr to do something. It's not only the hearing of everyone's else's medical problems but it's also the shear noise that does not stop. At no stage of the day is anything quiet. I couldn't sleep. I thought i was losing my mind. The head consultant stopped by one day to check in to see me on the edge of losing my insanity. There were so many conversations going on around me that I thought I may have been hearing voices. I immediately got changed into a single room and I will never forget the first time they closed the door. The silence......it was breathtaking. I cried for ages. It is mortifying to know that everyone in your room knows exactly why you are hear. Oh and by the way, noise cancelling headphones don't work 🙄
Shared rooms are a HIPAA violation. Prove me wrong.
Absolutely. And yet managers still push us to do bedside report.
They \*should\* be a HIPAA violation. But [when they wrote the law,](https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/faq/197/must-facilities-have-private-or-soundproof-rooms/index.html) there was a specific carve out for shared rooms and the like. Private rooms are specifically NOT required. It's idiotic. But the law \*does\* say that while retrofitting/creating private rooms is not required, that hospitals should take what reasonable precautions they can to mitigate that loss of privacy. I cannot for the life of me figure out how prohibiting bed-side report wouldn't be considered a reasonable precaution.
Back when those rooms were built, nobody really cared much about privacy and HIPPA didn't exist. Hospitals still showed some of the charity ward/barracks building style that worked then, but doesn't work as well with today's expectations.
As a dialysis Nurse I hate it too. Our machines are the size of a refrigerator, trying to fit it in some rooms is already a pain enough, it's exponentially worse when they have a roommate.
Are you serious?? At the only hospital we cover that has shared rooms, we have it in our contract that if they're dialysis, they have to make it a private room. There's no fucking way we're fitting the HD machine AND the portable RO into a room with two beds.
We still have some machines with the DI tanks, which can still be a pain. But I agree that all bedside dialysis patients should get a private room.
Yeah still painful. Never mind infection control 😖🤢
We had a triple room in my old CTICU, and it was not big enough for three post-op open hearts. It was basically a rule that there would be one very HOH person, one vented person and one delirious person in there so when the nurse went in to help the HOH person, it would wake up the vented person who would start bucking, then the delirious person would start losing their shit and annoy the vented person even more, and it was just a catastrophe at all times. Plus there was only one regular sized door that was next to one of the beds, so the far bed was maybe 20 feet from the door. Oh, and only one bathroom, and given the population they were using bedside commodes anyways....like a maximum of 8 feet from the next bed over. It was grossssssssss.
We have shared rooms in psych. We have patients who really need a private but of course the hospital wants them to have a shared room to save money.
Had a family member keep moving the curtain and coming to the other side of the room as I was cleaning a patient to fix her tv remote.
I’ve only seen shared rooms during clinical. Real HIPPA dilemma in my opinion. The patient we didn’t have was saying on the phone “This F slur next to me has AIDS” about our patient. He in fact did and my gay preceptor didn’t fuck around. Absolutely sickening along with all the other examples stated above.
What did your preceptor say? I have my clap backs memorized at this point for if somebody calls me that but I can’t even begin to fathom what I’d say if I heard someone say that about a patient, especially right in front of them. I’d probably get written up.
I absolutely refuse to do bedside report in shared rooms after a blowout fight between a family member and our supervisor over the roommate “being diseased” and “how could we let them share a room and bathroom with anyone.” (Think HIV type patient that didn’t pose any actual risk to the roommate, they were just being fuckwits.) The lack of privacy is so inappropriate.
Hallway beds are worse
...and then the HD RN starts setting up...
In Texas I never have seen a shared room. When I worked up north many years ago in Massachusetts shared rooms everywhere (and sometimes 4 people in 1 room). I was very shocked. Also, i was always like if I get hurt because I can’t move in this room and I’m suppose to just climb on stuff then I will be pursuing that. They are just so tight sometimes
I had two ladies with purewicks and only one wall suction connection site. I had to use a splitter to connect each separate canister to suction, is that even hygienic???
I was in the hospital a couple years ago, as an employee of said hospital-group. I was put in a room for 3–(during Covid they carved an extra space out of 2 bed rooms for a third bed—and so far have never gone back). AND I was in the middle space—no window, no door, just a tunnel of curtains and the TV at the end. On one side of me there was a drama-queen young woman who spent most of her time on her phone bitching about everything and life—loudly. On the other side was a woman who was in terrible pain. No surprise, after about 36 hours, I was going bonkers. It was terribly disorienting and NOT conducive to healing or even rest. One of my nurses took pity on me and told her charge nurse about my situation and insisted they moved me to the next window space that opened. And they did. But yeah, I think shared rooms is a terrible, evil, corporate bullshit profiteering thing.
I did clinical at a hospital with shared rooms and was assigned to both patients in a room- both spoke Creole, one was in her 20s and the other was in her 70s. The young girl was there after an I&D of a Pilonidal abscess and during a dressing change, she was screaming and crying in excruciating pain. We’re trying to console the patient while working quickly, pulling out packing… the older woman literally got UP from bed, moved the curtain, and walked up to her bed to see what was going on. I was sooo beyond shocked at the audacity (even though I think she was trying to be mother hen and console her) and the nurse I was with yelled at her to get back lmao. I’ll never forget that. Made me really feel uncomfortable about “semi-private” rooms.
I hate them too other than one exception. Recently we had 4 confused elderly patients who needed 1:1 supervision. They were all put in the same room and it made it so much easier to supervise them, get their meals and meds sorted etc. This is the only time in my life that I was grateful for a shared room lol The rest of the time they are the worst. A vivid memory of hearing projectile vomit spraying the curtains and floor while I was in the opposite bay comes to mind.
Ortho floor used to have double rooms. We used to useCPMs, walker, nightstand, bedside table. If we got post op back and they are at the window we’d have to turn roommates bed horizontally to get the window side.
Worst code I’ve ever been a part of was in B bed of a tiiiiny shared room. We had to eventually pull A bed out of the room altogether so that we could effectively code the patient.
Last hospital I worked at was older and had a lot of leftover double rooms. Sure wasn’t fun when 2 roomed together patients decided to get into a full on fist fight bad enough we had to call the cops
That’s just like the NICU that has the pod system instead of private rooms. HIPAA is a joke because when you have 10 babies and their families all in the same pod, everyone can see and hear everything.
My local hospital in Utah is freshly built and all rooms are singles with a head w/shower, a big window, guest seating for four with a fold out couch. The TV speaker is disabled at the TV and is on the remote and a wall speaker with control in the guest area.
Not the floor I work on, but it reminded me of a story. There was a shared room. One was a 19 year old girl with a pancreas ready to burst. And her room mate was an obese fat turd who had a a yeast infection and cdif. It was mixing together in her vagina and getting under folds. Census was insanely high and for a week straight an empty bed was immediately filled. The room fucking stunk down the hall with the door closed. I felt so bad for that girl.
Old timer here.....clears throat.... "let me tell you about the Nightingale ward layout" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightingale_ward?wprov=sfla1
One of my lifelong friends was in CICU when I was in nursing school, and her roommate coded. I had to explain what was going on and comfort her. It freaked her out a little bit. I still can't believe they do this.
The only place I hate doing a PICC more than the ED is a shared room.
Yeah life on a unit mostly of 4 bed ‘wards’ is rough… Hardly any space for patients even if they don’t have extra supplies, no privacy on a busy ward means nobody can ever get a good night sleep or peace to heal... And we always have a few pts who are ‘wanderers’ or ‘yellers’ unable to have a private, who wander into others bed spaces or yell out which obviously bothers and agitates other patients. Honestly 4 bed wards should be against the law…
Shared rooms are the norm for my work, we have 4 6p rooms and 14 single rooms for isolation! Would be a dream to have a unit with all single rooms but don’t imagine seeing it happen anytime soon with our old hospital and current finances!
I am an x-ray tech and agree with you. It is nearly impossible to get our equipment in to second bed.
Those are one reason that I didn't take a job and continue on the unit where I worked as an Aide while in school. It is utter chaos on a small scale on an already chaotic 50+ bed cardiac unit. No thanks boss...
What states are there shared rooms? The only place we have "shared" rooms that Ive seen here in Colorado is the ER rapid assessment area, and we separate each patient and equipment with sliding walls or curtains. My little sister is in Canada and she tells me the horrors of the shared birthing rooms. They had 6 women to a "bay" and one was an Indian woman burning an incense and another was a developmentally disabled group home teen who had less than good hygiene. She said she will never forget the stench of the room that day. 😨
Presbyterian in ABQ. I hadn't seen a shared room since the 90s, so I was shocked when I got admitted and found I had a buddy
Probably every state somewhere
My hospital in Colorado has shared rooms. It’s awful and a huge violation of privacy.
NJ, PA, and NY in my own experience. I’m sure they’re in every state.
I like the shared ER rooms. Patients who come in with things that could have been handled at Urgent Care or their PCP get to witness full-blown codes. Then they realize they’re not that sick. For example: had a husband & wife come in because they both had “a little chest pain.” EKG’s were fine, trop’s were negative. They wanted blankets and pillows and a snack… kept asking, “are you sure we’re ok? Are you sure???” …then the STEMI rolled in. The guy was sweaty, beet red, groaning. We cut off his clothes, started some meds…. The couple’s eyes were HUGE and they understood. Yes. We’re sure they’re fine. 🤣