Access to intensive care units: a survey in North-East Italy

The factors associated with policies for allowing visitors into intensive care units (ICUs) are a debated issue in the nursing literature. The aim of this survey was to describe visiting policies in the ICUs of North-East Italy and to verify the hypothesis of an association between attitudes regarding accessibility to visitors and environmental, organisational or logistic variables. Data were collected by means of questionnaires sent by mail to head nurses of ICUs. The questionnaires were completed for 104 of the 110 ICUs contacted (94.5%). Visiting hours were generally less than 4h a day (86%) and only 14% of the ICUs reported imposing no restrictions. Children under 12 years old were rarely admitted (22%). Twenty-one percent of the ICUs reported always allowing exceptions, while 77% did so only under 'particular' circumstances. Visiting times were not associated with logistic and organisational factors, but rather with the type of ICU (p=0.000), city setting (p=0.009), exceptions to rules (p=0.029), allowing more than one person (p=0.016) and opening to children (p=0.001). Restrictive visiting policies emerged; paediatric units were generally more flexible. The association between the variables regarding visiting policy, such as visiting times and exceptions to rules, or allowing more than one person or children, seem to confirm how the rules are influenced mainly by the staff's attitude, which could be changed by continuing professional education.