Development of Nursing Practices Unit, Valais Hospital, 86, Avenue du Grand-Champsec, CH-1951, Sion, Switzerland.
Social Affairs and Human Resources Specialist, Valais Hospital, 86, Avenue du Grand-Champsec, CH-1951, Sion, Switzerland.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2023 Sep 19;23(1):1008. doi: 10.1186/s12913-023-10013-9.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, most countries introduced temporary visiting restrictions on the relatives of acute care hospital patients, whether or not they were infected with SARS-CoV-2. This affected relatives' psychological and emotional states and how closely they could be involved in their loved one's hospitalization.
Investigate relatives' experiences of visiting restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic's first wave and the support offered by Valais Hospital's healthcare staff.
Relatives and patients who had been discharged between February 28 and May 13, 2020, were asked to complete a patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) questionnaire, whether or not they had been infected by SARS-CoV-2. Relatives were asked about how visiting restrictions had affected them, their perceptions of the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, the quality of communication concerning their loved ones' health status during their hospitalization, and the information received from healthcare staff. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed.
Of 866 PREMs questionnaires returned, 818 were analyzable, and 543 relatives had experienced visiting restrictions to their loved ones: 92 relatives (87%) of COVID-19 patients and 451 relatives (66%) of non-infected patients, with heterogenous effects on their psychological and affective status. Overall, whether or not relatives were subjected to visiting restrictions, they perceived themselves to be well treated, well informed, and that communication with hospital healthcare staff was satisfactory. However, relatives subjected to visiting restrictions reported significantly lower scores on the quality of communication than other relatives. The relatives of patients in gynecology/obstetrics and internal medicine wards were significantly more affected by visiting restrictions than were the relatives of patients in other wards. Numerous relatives subjected to visiting restrictions reported regular communication with their loved ones or with healthcare staff, at least once a day (n = 179), either via videoconferences using FaceTime®, WhatsApp®, Zoom®, or Skype® or via mobile phone text messages.
Visiting restrictions affected relatives differently depending on the wards their loved ones were hospitalized. Healthcare institutions should investigate the utility of visiting restrictions on patients, how they affect relatives, and how to improve personalized patient-relative communications. Future research should attempt to develop reliable, validated measurement instruments of relatives' experiences of acute-care visiting restrictions during pandemics.
在 COVID-19 大流行期间，大多数国家对急性护理医院患者的亲属实行了临时探视限制，无论他们是否感染了 SARS-CoV-2。这影响了亲属的心理和情绪状态，以及他们与住院亲人的亲近程度。
调查 COVID-19 大流行第一波期间亲属的探视限制体验，以及瓦莱州医院医护人员提供的支持。
在 2020 年 2 月 28 日至 5 月 13 日期间出院的亲属和患者被要求填写一份患者报告体验测量（PREMs）问卷，无论他们是否感染了 SARS-CoV-2。亲属被问及探视限制对他们的影响，他们对 COVID-19 大流行严重程度的看法，他们在住院期间对亲人健康状况的沟通质量，以及他们从医护人员那里获得的信息。进行了描述性和推论性统计。
在返回的 866 份 PREMs 问卷中，有 818 份可分析，其中 543 名亲属对其亲人的探视受到限制：92 名亲属（87%）为 COVID-19 患者，451 名亲属（66%）为非感染患者，对他们的心理和情感状态产生了不同的影响。总的来说，无论是否受到探视限制，亲属都认为自己得到了很好的治疗和信息，与医院医护人员的沟通也很满意。然而，受到探视限制的亲属在沟通质量方面的评分明显低于其他亲属。妇产科/产科和内科病房患者的亲属比其他病房患者的亲属受到探视限制的影响更大。许多受到探视限制的亲属表示，他们与亲人或医护人员保持定期联系，至少每天一次（n=179），通过使用 FaceTime®、WhatsApp®、Zoom®或 Skype®的视频会议，或通过移动电话短信。
探视限制对不同病房的亲属产生不同的影响。医疗机构应调查探视限制对患者的实用性，以及对亲属的影响，以及如何改进个性化的患者-亲属沟通。未来的研究应尝试开发可靠的、经过验证的测量工具，以衡量大流行期间急性护理探视限制对亲属的影响。
