Visitation Restriction Policy
Questions & Answers
October 9, 2009
On October 5, hospitals in the Dayton region collectively implemented visitation restrictions as a precautionary measure for the 2009 – 2010 flu season. These restrictions include:
- No visitation by anyone who is ill with any respiratory symptoms including coughing, fever, chills, headache, vomiting, sore throat, muscle aches or diarrhea.
- No visitation by anyone under age 14 even if they have received the seasonal flu vaccine or receive the H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available.
The health and safety of patients is of the utmost concern to GDAHA hospitals as the region’s acute care providers. We ask that you, our patients and their family members, respect the need for hospitals to control the healthcare environment to ensure patients in our hospitals receive the highest quality care.
Q: Why was the visitor restriction policy implemented in Dayton area hospitals?
A: Due to an increase in patients with flu-like symptoms, as well as the local presence of the seasonal flu virus and the H1N1 virus, the region’s hospitals have opted to implement the visitation restrictions as precautionary measures in order to protect hospital patients. Hospitals may institute more restrictive visitation policies if they serve specific patient populations such as pediatric, burn, transplant or ICU patients. Hospitals will continue to monitor the presence of seasonal and H1N1 flu viruses and reserve the right to implement additional restrictions should the health and safety of patients determine that such action is necessary.
Q: Which adults will not be permitted to visit patients in the hospitals?
A: Anyone exhibiting signs of a respiratory infection – including coughing, fever, chills, headache, vomiting, sore throat, muscle aches or diarrhea – should not expose patients and hospital employees to their symptoms due to the increased local presence of the seasonal and H1N1 flu viruses.
Q: Which children will not be permitted to visit patients in the hospitals?
A: Children under the age of 14 are restricted from visiting patients in the hospitals because the presence of the seasonal flu and H1N1 viruses in the regions’ school systems. With the presence of seasonal and H1N1 flu viruses in schools, children run a higher risk of exposure and contracting either virus, and parents may not know their child is ill until he or she begins exhibiting symptoms.
Q: How does this policy apply to all of the different areas of the hospital?
A: All in-patient areas of the hospital are restricted as per the visitor restriction policy. Hospital in-patient areas are clearly marked with signs asking visitors to avoid those areas if they exhibit any symptoms of a respiratory infection or are under 14 years of age.
Outpatient areas, waiting rooms and emergency departments will also be closely monitored by each hospital. Individuals that exhibit signs of respiratory illness and children under 14 years of age may be asked to wear a mask provided by the hospital.
Q: What if I don’t want to wear a mask or don’t want my child to wear a mask in the emergency department or outpatient areas of the hospital?
A: Hospitals are committed to preventing the spread of germs during this year’s flu season and are taking efforts to protect patients from increased exposure to the seasonal and H1N1 flu virus very seriously. If you are asked to wear a mask in the emergency department or an outpatient area, please do so to protect yourself and those around you.
Q: Will hospitals permit children under the age of 14 to visit if my child’s pediatrician can provide a note stating my child is healthy?
A: No. Hospitals must protect the health and safety of their patients. A note from a pediatrician does not verify that a child is not carrying the seasonal or H1N1 flu virus. A child may appear to be perfectly healthy, but could be carrying the seasonal or H1N1 flu virus without exhibiting symptoms at the time he or she is seen by a pediatrician.
Q: I have a healthcare appointment at a hospital. Can I bring my child under the age of 14 to my appointment with me?
A: No. We recognize that this may be an inconvenience for some families, but hospitals must protect the health and safety of all patients that are there to receive healthcare services. Additionally, children may not be left unattended in any area of the hospital, including waiting rooms.
Q: Our family is preparing for the death of a family member and would like our child under the age of 14 to visit this individual in the hospital to say goodbye. Can any exception be made?
A: Each hospital will work with patients and their families to ensure that the final stages of a patient’s life are treated with respect and sensitivity. Hospitals will help families make arrangements for a child under 14 to visit a family member in the hospital for the last time. Each situation may require hospitals, physicians, nurses and other employees to make alternate accommodations to protect the health and safety of the patient and other patients nearby.
Q: I am having a baby during flu season this year. Why can’t my child under the age of 14 come to the hospital to meet his or her sibling?
A: Newborn infants and their mothers may have weakened immune systems and must take extra precaution during the flu season. Hospitals are especially concerned with protecting mothers and newborn infants in their care during flu season, and so children under the age of 14 and anyone exhibiting signs of a respiratory infection will be restricted from visiting the nursery, neonatal intensive care unit, the labor and delivery units, as well as post—partum and ante-partum units of hospitals.