A recent NJ.com article http://www.nj.com * noted: “When Caldwell resident Alan Metzger, 71, spent two days at Morristown Medical Center recovering from a bicycle accident earlier this month, he
worried that his daughter, a mother of four, wouldn’t be able to make the visiting hours based on her hectic schedule. Instead, he was pleasantly surprised.”
“Thanks to a recently-instituted 24/7 visiting hour policy at the Morristown hospital, she was able to visit after 9 p.m. and help arrange for her father’s discharge.”
In a time of stricter healthcare policies and regulations, Morristown Medical Center’s move from more rigid to round-the-clock visiting hours last spring turned the tables on an industry-wide culture that Morristown Medical Center president David Shulkin, M.D. described as “paternalistic, with doctors and hospitals creating rules that they felt protected the patient because they knew best,” he said.
“It’s my belief that if we’re designing a better and safer approach to patient well-being, patients and families must be fully engaged in the care, so anything that broadens choices and brings patients and families together is the goal.”
“Even staffers, whom Shulkin feared would object to the new system, have sung its praises.”
“We thought that doctors and nurses might want to maintain the previous visiting hours because that reprieve from families allowed them time to provide patient care, but they’ve shared that not only do families not get in their way, but that they help calm and keep an eye on patients. They see family members as part of the team and care plan,” he said.
* to read the full NJ.com article “Patients and their families love hospitals’ 24/7 visiting hours” by Susan Bloom, highlight and click on open hyperlink http://www.nj.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2014/04/patients_and_their_families_love_hospitals_247_visiting_hours.html