Limiting Hospital Visitations During COVID Not in Patients’ Best Interests

Here we go again…COVID-19 community transmission rates are high, and healthcare systems in our areas and across the country are responding with policies designed to protect healthcare workers and patients. The current trend of “no visitor” policies in healthcare settings is bad for the well-being of patients, healthcare workers, and patients’ family members. Rather than limit hospital visitation, we believe hospitals should facilitate safe visitation.

Each of us has professional and personal experiences that highlight the importance of patients being able to see family members.

Dr. Milner’s daughter is an ICU nurse. During the Omicron wave she described an elderly patient who spent the entire 12-hour shift with her husband at the bedside only to be told the next day she could have no visitors. The patient was inconsolable. The nurse offered to help with a video call with the patient’s husband. The patient said that was not the same thing as her husband at the bedside holding her hand.