Why and how to open intensive care units to family visits during the pandemic

 

Why and how to open intensive care units to family visits during the pandemic

 

by Giovanni Mistraletti, Alberto Giannini, Giuseppe Gristina, Paolo Malacarne, Davide Mazzon, Elisabetta Cerutti, Alessandro Galazzi, Ilaria Giubbilo, Marco Vergano, Vladimiro Zagrebelsky, Luigi Riccioni, Giacomo Grasselli, Silvia Scelsi, Maurizio Cecconi and Flavia Petrini 

 

Critical Care volume 25, Article number: 191 (2021) 

 

Since the lockdown because of the pandemic, family members have been prohibited from visiting their loved ones in hospital. While it is clearly complicated to implement protocols for the admission of family members, we believe precise strategic goals are essential and operational guidance is needed on how to achieve them. Even during the pandemic, we consider it a priority to share strategies adapted to every local setting to allow family members to enter intensive care units and all the other hospital wards.