Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation and
School of Nursing, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Hosp Pediatr. 2021 Jun;11(6):e83-e89. doi: 10.1542/hpeds.2020-005772. Epub 2021 Mar 18.
To examine visitor guidelines among children's hospitals in the United States in response to the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
A retrospective assessment of visitor guidelines in 239 children's hospitals in the United States.
In this study, we present an analysis of 239 children's hospital visitor guidelines posted to hospitals' Web sites during 1 week in June 2020. Of the 239 hospitals, only 28 did not have posted guidelines for review. The guidelines were analyzed and grouped by how the guidelines were updated in response to COVID-19. Parental visitation was restricted to 1 parent in 116 of the posted guidelines (49%). There were no obvious similarities among guidelines associated with their geographical (eg, state or local) location. As of February 2021, 33 of 55 (60%) randomly selected hospitals had not changed their visitor policy since our initial review.
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered changes in publicly reported visitor guidelines across the majority of children's hospitals. With our findings, we suggest wide variation in policies and practices in how guidelines were updated. More work is needed to understand how to optimize public safety and preserve family-centered care and parental authority in times of crisis.
调查美国儿童医院针对 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行发布的访客规定。
对美国 239 家儿童医院的访客规定进行回顾性评估。
在这项研究中，我们分析了 2020 年 6 月 1 周内在医院网站上发布的 239 家儿童医院的访客规定。在 239 家医院中，只有 28 家没有发布供审查的规定。根据这些规定如何针对 COVID-19 进行更新进行了分析和分组。在发布的规定中，116 项（49%）规定限制 1 名家长探视。与地理（例如州或地方）位置相关的规定之间没有明显的相似之处。截至 2021 年 2 月，在随机选择的 55 家医院中，有 33 家自最初审查以来尚未更改其访客政策。
COVID-19 大流行引发了大多数儿童医院发布的访客规定的变化。根据我们的发现，我们建议在更新指南时，政策和做法存在广泛差异。需要做更多的工作来了解如何在危机时期优化公共安全并维护以家庭为中心的护理和父母权威。
