A RYANAIR approach should be adopted by people visiting patients in hospital, so that the number of items taken onto wards is kept to a minimum, experts working to prevent the spread of infection said yesterday.
Rosena Hanniffy, assistant director of nursing and midwifery at Dublin’s Coombe Hospital, said flowers and gifts can be welcome for patients, but visitors should minimise the number of items they take into hospitals as too much clutter causes problems for cleaning staff.
Ms Hanniffy was speaking at the publication of a policy document by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) on how visitors to hospitals can play their part in the control of infections.
“As people are aware, we’re very stuck for space in hospitals and the less that people bring in the better . . . sometimes you’d nearly want to adopt a Ryanair approach,” she said, in reference to strict limits the airline places on the amount of baggage customers can take on board its aircraft.
The RCPI policy document also says people should visit patients during scheduled visiting hours only and visits should be kept to 20 minutes. There should be no more than two visitors per patient at a time.
“Also, visitors should not normally roam from ward to ward visiting multiple patients. This practice increases the risk of spreading infection from one ward to another,” it adds.
Before leaving home, visitors should wash their hands. They should also use alcohol hand gels available at the entrance to hospitals to decontaminate their hands when they arrive.
They should not visit patients if they themselves feel unwell.
Visitors should also refrain from sitting on the patient’s bed, should not use patient bathroom or toilet facilities or touch any medical device or equipment and they should not touch wounds.
Ms Hanniffy acknowledged that it was a challenge trying to ensure visitors didn’t sit on patient beds or trolleys, particularly in crowded emergency departments where chairs can be scarce.
Meanwhile, the document also stresses the importance of hand hygiene for patients going home with a medical device such as a urinary catheter in situ.
It says that before leaving hospital, the patient should be advised about who to contact should any concerns arise at home.
Up to 10 per cent of patients admitted to acute hospitals will develop a healthcare-associated infection such as MRSA.
Dr Brian O’Connell, medical director of the national MRSA reference laboratory, said there was no data on the extent visitors to hospital contribute to the spread of infection.
However, there had been instances reported where outbreaks of infection in hospital may have been started by visitors, with potentially serious consequences for vulnerable patients, he said.