If the patient is on a ventilator then we have one nurse for each patient on a ventilator. If family members want to spend the night they can. Routine patient families are not encouraged to stay over night, for critical patients, the family is allowed to stay overnight. We sometimes bring in a mattress bed that fits in the room. We have had many people stay overnight in the patient lounge.
Family is very important.
We do everything we can to make the families feel welcome and important. We are like coaches, we break the process up into smaller more easily handled, segments. For example the stay for an average donor transplant is 6 weeks. Getting through that soreness may be the first day. The second day may be getting your first chemo therapy dose.