At the Bedside

Being surrounded by those who love and support you is an integral part of every patient’s recovery. Due to the vulnerable nature of our ICU patients, we have outlined a few key points so that we can all work together to ensure patients’ stay on the unit is as beneficial, and short, as possible.

Wash your hands

Help to protect your loved one from the transmission of bacteria by helping to prevent the spread of infection.

There are a few key moments for hand hygiene. We ask that you please wash your hands using soap and water, or alcohol-based sanitizer, following or prior to the below scenarios:

• When you enter the ICU
• Before / after giving any care to the patient
• Before you eat or before putting anything in your mouth
• When you leave the patient room
• If you are not feeling well, please do not visit until you are feeling better. Patients who are critically ill are more likely to catch an infection and any infection can be dangerous to their health.

There are multiple hand sanitizing stations throughout the unit and hospital to aid in your diligent hand hygiene.

Communicate with us

Please help us to provide our patients, your loved one, with the best care possible by giving us any information that may help or give us insight into the patient’s care (e.g., medical history, health history, and anything else that might be relevant).

Please tell us if the patient does not speak or understand English well enough to have conversations regarding his/her health or to make medical decisions. We can arrange for an interpreter to help us communicate. You do not pay for this service.

Comfort the patient

Patients may be affected by their medical condition, the environment on the unit, or medication. You can help bring them comfort by:

• Reminding your loved one of the day and time, and events that have occurred.
• Talking about pleasant things, such as family events or fond memories.
• Helping us with your loved one’s personal care, e.g.:
  • Brush or comb the patient’s hair
  • Wash the patient’s face or hands
  • Rub skin lotion on the patient’s hands, arms, feet or legs
  • Give the patient a gentle massage

To further ensure the comfort and wellbeing of our patients in the ICU, we ask the following:

• To decrease stimulation for the patients, we ask that you please turn off/silence cellular phones when you enter the ICU.
• There is no smoking anywhere in the building, or on the surrounding property. “No smoking” signs are located throughout hospital grounds, and are in adherence to the City of Vancouver’s bylaws.
• We ask that you please take all of your loved one’s clothing and valuables home for safekeeping. Prior to doing so, please inform us so that we can record what has been taken, and by whom.
• We understand that you may want to take photos of your loved ones. We kindly ask that you consider what they would like done with these photos before publishing anything online. We would also like to review the photos to ensure that no other patients or patient details are included in them.