Abstract

Background: Patients’ rights arise from their expectations of the healthcare system, which are rooted in their needs. Visitation is seen as a necessary need for patients and families in intensive care units. Objectives: The authors attempted to design, implement, and evaluate a new visiting policy in the intensive care units. Research design: This study was an action research, including two qualitative and quantitative approaches. Participants and research context: The viewpoints of 51 participants (patients, families, doctors, nurses, and guards) on how to change the limited visiting policy were explained through semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The new visiting policy (contractual visitation) was designed, implemented, and evaluated with the involvement of participants. Ethical considerations: The hospital ethics committee approval was gained and the informed consent was obtained from all the participants. Findings: The content of interviews was analyzed and classified into four categories: advantages and disadvantages of visiting policies, and barriers and facilitators of changing the limited visiting policy. After implementation of the new policy (contractual visitation), a significant difference observed in satisfaction status before and after the changes (p value < 0.001). Discussion: Nowadays, many countries’ clinical guidelines recommend flexible visiting policy, which is consistent with the results of this study. Conclusion: Changing the limited visiting policy was a necessary need for patients and families that established with the involvement of them and staff.