title: Visiting policies in the adult intensive care units: a complete survey of Dutch ICUs.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU) is not only very stressful for the patient but also for the family as well. An open visiting policy, defined as a policy that imposes no restrictions on visiting hours, duration of visits and/or number of visitors, seems to fit very well both patient and family needs. The purpose of this article is to give an overview of the current situation of Dutch ICUs visiting policies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nationwide, telephone-based questionnaire survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  (Head)nurses of all ICUs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results of this study show that none of the ICUs have an open visiting policy, defined as a policy that imposes no restrictions on visiting time, duration of visits and/or number of visitors. The majority of the Dutch ICUs (85.7%) has restricted visiting policies. Responses were obtained from 100% of the ICUs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite several international guidelines, research and literature about unrestricted visiting hours on the ICUs, none of the ICUs in this study operates with such a visiting policy. If we take these results into account then the question rises if ICUs are aware of these patients and family needs on the ICUs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Care, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands. afienspreen@kpnplanet.nl
authors.forename: Afien E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Spreen
authors.forename: Marieke J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Schuurmans
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005190:Family; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006276:Health Facility Size; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009426:Netherlands; D009718:Nurse Administrators / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015401:Nursing Administration Research; D016134:Organizational Policy; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014789:Visitors to Patients