Hospital bed curtains

[CurtainsAllowed]

Is it frowned upon to keep them shut?

Just had surgery, was in a LOT of pain (thankfully being managed now) and I am constantly being asked if I want my curtains around my bed opened.

I feel and look horrendous and am absolutely not ready to be having a chat with anyone else on the ward.
I just want to be left alone

In ICU (the nurse is literally sat touching your bed) so not a problem, in HDU they won't let you but on a normal ward I keep them closed. I've been in all of them a lot and usually manage to bag a private room when not in ITU.

People saying they find it antisocial well quite frankly tough.
I'm not in hospital to talk to you and make sure you have someone to chat.
I'm in hospital because I need to be. And therefore if I want want my curtains closed and you feel it is rude well get over it

I've been seriously ill and the loss of dignity and privacy was one of the most traumatic things about it.

In that case you were very lucky.

I am an ardent supporter of the NHS, and happy to pay extra tax to support it, but I want that money spent on medical facilities and staff, not on extra healthcare assistants running around opening and shutting curtains at the whim of patients.
If you want a private room, pay for it yourself.

'If you want a private room, pay for it yourself.'

It's not always an option to pay for it yourself

So we should accept little to no privacy if we can't afford it?
I think not.

I would happily pay for a private room. Whatever the cost tbh.
When I was admited with HG and put on a drip a large family arrived to visit the woman next to me and cooked a meal on a gas burner. It smelled very strong and made me extremely ill. One man kept repeatedly coming into my cubicle and making vomiting noises and telling me I was disgusting and shouting at me. I rang the buzzer but the nurse said he had the right to be there and there was nothing she could do.

I was recently in for a week and every time I someone came past I asked them to pull my curtains. They’d get opened again for drug rounds/lunch etc and then I’d ask the next HCA I saw to close them. In the end the nurses started closing them behind themselves after drugs so it was obviously allowed but less favourable.

Hope you feel better soon

Ah yes, only people with money get to have dignity and use a clean toilet, us plebs can be kept up all night and go to a loo encrusted with someone else's shit and walk through piss on the floor to get there, if it's even available as it's shared between at least 6 patients.
Nice.

'When I was admited with HG and put on a drip a large family arrived to visit the woman next to me and cooked a meal on a gas burner. It smelled very strong and made me extremely ill. One man kept repeatedly coming into my cubicle and making vomiting noises and telling me I was disgusting and shouting at me. I rang the buzzer but the nurse said he had the right to be there and there was nothing she could do.'

Fucking hell! And therein lies a huge part of the problem, allowing all and sundry to visit at all hours and do whatever the hell they please. It's mind-blowing, even from an infection-control standpoint.

You'll have to pull your drip with you which will go through the piss on the floor and spread it across the ward, as will your shoes, and I have probably asked to get help to put my shoes on taking up nurses time.

Freaklikemeee The other patients around her were shouting encouragement and one said loudly, "We'd better see a baby after all this."
To hell I go for laughing at this!

Oh, and the visitors using the toilet, too, Brillo, so it's eternally occupied.

I don't get why large family groups all turn out to wards, outpatients or A&E like it's a day at the funfair. They should be stricter about this.

I once had to hold in a wee for two hours on a ward as no one came to help me and the loo was too far away.
With my own room and my oxygen on an extension, not the case, I could go myself.

Ditto showers btw.
No need for help so long as my oxygen reaches.

Snugly - I used to be strict about this. Which is why I got punched in the face and called a stupid f**g white b**h.

Have now left nursing for good, didn’t bother renewing my registration in Jan.

I've been seriously ill and the loss of dignity and privacy was one of the most traumatic things about it.
In that case you were very lucky.

How is that lucky to be more distraught than someone else who might be more casual about it? It just means that of 2 people with the same medical issue, one will suffer even more due the lack of dignity. Where's the luck in there?

AgedKnees, that's awful. I understand what you mean, I remember working in paeds outpatients and these large extended families were often very intimidating people.

Yes it's frowned upon to keep them closed, because the nurses need to keep an eye on you. If you slipped quietly into unconsciousness or started fitting/vomiting/behaving strangely its better they notice immediately. Keeping them closed also blocks their view of other patients.

In all the hospitals I've worked at patients are encouraged to keep their curtains open or partially open, unless they're being examined/using a bedpan/having a wash or getting dressed. Privacy is important but safety comes first.

It also helps stop patients getting isolated. A ward is a bit like a community. When I was in hospital I liked being able to see what was going on. You don't have to chat. If you're in the middle of a bay and the patients either side have their curtains closed all the time, you can feel quite hemmed in. It also blocks the light.

Wanting to shut yourself away is natural when you're in pain or ill, but in a shared ward you need to consider the impact on others. I used to draw my side curtains about half a metre, so my face was screened from the ladies either side but the nurses could see everyone.

When I was admited with HG and put on a drip a large family arrived to visit the woman next to me and cooked a meal on a gas burner.

Sorry but I don't believe this. Not in a UK hospital.

How is that lucky to be more distraught than someone else who might be more casual about it?

Because when you are fighting for your life, you realise that someone else seeing your foof or hearing you fart isn't the end of the world.
If you have the energy to be worried about such things then you aren't as ill as you could be.

So yes, lucky if that's the worst that ever happens to you.

'A ward is a bit like a community. '

If that's the mentality then something has to be done about these ridiculous visiting hours and hordes of people turning up to visit and seriously compromising patients' safety (the example of someone using a gas burner in a ward) and infection control.

When I'm in hospital I don't like being exposed, and even if you don't have to chat, people can and will attempt to get talking to you, even coming into your space and touching you to get you to talk. Yep, it's happened to me.

I think the time when these wards were created has changed vastly. There are now more patients with varying conditions and needs (I've been in wards with people who have advanced dementia and were up and about at all hours of the night, coming into other bays, waking patients, screaming or howling, I was in one in which a patient's partner was found in the toilet shooting smack and then kicked off when the police came to drag him out) and times needs to account for that.

'Sorry but I don't believe this. Not in a UK hospital.'

If you believe someone is lying or trolling, you report the post to HQ.

To hell I go for laughing at this!

We were all laughing as was the patient when it was over and done. All on a ward with life-threatening conditions. :-)