Allegheny Health Network Announces Changes To Patient Visitation Policy Due To Coronavirus
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Allegheny Health Network has announced new, temporary restrictions on patient visitation at its hospitals.
The new policy will limit the number of visitors for a patient to one at a time in the patient's hospital room.
The restrictions come in response to the growing Coronavirus outbreak in addition to the presence of influenza.
"We are asking our families to protect themselves and the patients that we are taking care of in the hospital," says Chief Nurse Executive Claire Zangerle.
AHN is also asking individuals who may be ill themselves or experiencing symptoms such as fever, cough, or sore throat, not to visit the hospital unless they are seeking medical treatment.
AHN is reminding visitors that the best methods of preventing the spread of illness is to exercise proper hand washing and sanitizing when entering and exiting patient rooms.
"At a time of heightened public health concerns related to both COVID-19 and a particularly severe influenza season, it is critical that we take every step possible to protect our patients and caregivers from the risk of exposure to infectious disease," said Brian Parker, MD, AHN's Chief Quality Officer in a press release.
"Patient and caregiver safety is our highest priority and we greatly appreciate the support and cooperation of visitors in the efforts we are making to minimize health risks to their loved ones," said Parker.
Dr. Parker said in a press release that AHN is also discouraging large groups of visitors for individual patients at this time to further promote the safest environment possible across the entire hospital, including waiting rooms, lobbies and other common areas.
Digital methods of making contact such as FaceTime and Snapchat are being recommended as options for connecting with loved ones during their stay at the network's hospitals.
Allegheny Health Network owns eight hospitals. Two are outside of Pittsburgh in Erie and Grove City. The others are located in the city where thousands of visitors are in and out of their facilities every day. On Wednesday, about 1,800 patients are in beds there.
"So we are limiting visitors to one per patient, unless it's in labor and delivery or it's an end of life situation, then we are allowing two per patients to come in," says Zangerle.
Zangerle says the hospital is not using the word "enforce" when it comes to the new visitation guidelines. Instead, they will gently ask families to comply.
These new rules will stay in place until they get clearance from the World Health Organization.
UMPC says there are signs in all of their facilities asking visitors who are ill or have cold symptoms not to visit patients.
