A new state law is in effect, allowing hospitalized patients to have at least one healthy visitor (18 years or older), except in emergency departments. To align with these new guidelines, we’ve updated our Visitor Policy.
Important Note: If the attending physician deems it unsafe, they can restrict a COVID-19 or other infectious hospitalized patient from having a visitor (e.g., the in-person visit could lead to infectious disease transmission, posing a serious community health risk). For these cases, use the following workflow:
Write In-Person Visitation Restriction Order (Providers)
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ED providers: When a bed request for a COVID-19+/PUI patient is placed, you’ll be prompted to complete an in-person visitation restriction order (titled Disaster Visitation Restriction) on behalf of the admitting physician.
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For further instruction, review the Disaster Visitation Restriction tip sheet for ED providers.
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For direct admissions: Admitting physicians will be prompted to complete the order. Note: APPs can place the order.
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The order restricting visitation expires on day five. On the fifth day, all care team providers will receive a Best Practice Advisory (BPA) to extend the no-visitation order. Note: APPs can extend the order.
Provide Daily Updates to Restricted Visitors (Providers)
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The new law requires us to provide a daily update on the patient’s condition to all restricted visitors who are:
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Individuals authorized by the patient, or
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The patient’s legally authorized representative (surrogate decision maker) if the patient is incompetent
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To provide daily updates, use the SmartForm in the Navigator tab in Epic.
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Any of the patient’s care team providers can complete the SmartForm update to trigger text messages to authorized individual(s) who are restricted visitors.
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After it’s completed, authorized individual(s) will receive text messages about the patient’s status.
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Complete this form and/or provide a verbal update daily to all authorized individuals who are restricted visitors.
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Each care team provider will receive a BPA every day reminding them to provide an update.
Send Daily Text Message Updates (Automatic)
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ED registration staff, IP nursing and UAAs/PCAs will complete the Visit Contacts field in Epic so the automatic, daily text messages can be sent to individuals authorized by the patient.
