A descriptive study of visiting rules in medical and/or surgical intensive care units

A descriptive, exploratory study was conducted in order to determine how the visiting policies of adult and mixed adult/pediatric medical and/or surgical intensive care units differ in the five states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Subjects were randomly selected from the AHA Guide: American Hospital Association Guide to the Health Care Field, 1985 edition, hospital-sin-the-United-States-by-state lists. Of the 150 questionnaires mailed in envelopes bearing the notation "Attention Head Nurse Medical and/or Surgical Intensive Care," 88 were returned (58.7%). All of the hospitals surveyed had restrictive visiting policies, although many indicated that they are flexible in enforcing them. The majority allowed two visitors at one time and visits of 5-30 minutes duration at a frequency of 3-7 times/day. The majority of respondents indicated that nursing has the authority to set visiting policies. Asked if, in their opinion, their current visiting policies should be changed, 39.8% responded yes. Although most of the head nurses asserted that nursing research could be of help in the formulation of the visiting policies, only a few (18.2%) indicated that they currently utilize research as a source for their visiting policies. From the review of the literature and the suggestions made for further research by the respondents, the author concluded that experimental research is needed in order to establish what pattern of visitation is most beneficial to patient, family, and ICU functioning.