Visitor Guidelines
Definitions
Caregiver – relative, partner, or friend of the patient (or parent/guardian) who chooses to provide assistance with transportation, rehabilitation, psychosocial support, and/or cognitive needs of the patient.
Current Guidance
- Patients and Caregivers must adhere to hospital masking requirements. Hospital staff will supply an appropriate mask as needed.
- Caregivers should be free of all upper respiratory virus symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms and should be fever free within the prior 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing substances.
All visitors and caregivers are expected to adhere to all NHCH policies, public health, and infection control procedures, to include:
- Visitors and caregivers should be free of all upper respiratory virus symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms and should be fever free within the prior 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing substances.
- Adhere to hospital policy concerning wearing of medical masks withing patient care and and clinic areas.
- Perform hand hygiene immediately upon entering and leaving the patient room.
- Caregivers with a current or recent COVID-19 infection, should not accompany patients until they are past the CDC recommended isolation period (currently 5 days unless immunocompromised), have improving, or resolved symptoms, and adhere to mask wear recommendations of the institution.
Specific Care Environments
Visitors and caregivers to patients who are on isolation status for COVID-19
- Two adult caregivers ≥ 18 years of age are authorized to accompany a patient who is identified as COVID positive. Unit staff will assist by providing proper PPE
- Visitors to the Medical Treatment Facility acknowledge their potential risk of exposure to and acquisition of COVID-19 infection while in the clinical setting.
- COVID-19 patients are prohibited from movement to other areas of the Medical Treatment Facility except as necessary for transit to and from the treatment room.
Outpatient Services