I was wondering when the involvement of the family in

[midnight]

hospital situations, and doctor visits became more of an intrusion instead of a matter of care?

[Warpy]

1. It was more so in times gone by

I saw a huge difference over the 25 years I was a nurse. We just slowly discarded the notion of visitor's hours unless we saw a family member who was exhausted and really needed to go home to get some rest or we had a family member who was a total pain in the ass. I'm pleased to say the second case was very rare.

Families became our allies as short staffing became dangerous. They were often our first indication that something was going awry with the patient because they'd notice very subtle changes in behavior.

If you've got a doctor or hospital reacting negatively to your presence, ask why.