Excela, Western Pa. hospitals tighten visitation rules to slow spread of coronavirus

Allegheny Health Network, Excela Health and UPMC facilities have tightened their visitation policies to help prevent the spread of covid-19.

Excela Health announced on Monday that visitors are limited to one adult per patient in the ER and other areas of the hospital. For obstetric patients (new or laboring mothers), one visitor is permitted and must be the only visitor throughout the course of the admission.

“If you have a cough or show other signs of illness, please do not enter the building,” Excela Health said in a statement.

“Presenting to the emergency room with mild symptoms taxes our resources and only serves to expose yourself and others to multiple types of infectious conditions. Please contact your (primary care physician) for advice,” Excela Health said.

Allegheny Health Network announced late Sunday that all visitors will be screened at all hospital entrances, effective immediately, by being asked if they have traveled domestically or internationally in the past two weeks and if they have a cough or fever.

If they answer yes to either question, they will not be permitted to enter the facility, AHN said.

Our new visitor screening policy ensures that the tactics of physical distancing & limiting exposure to care givers and patients are leveraged to further prevent the spread of respiratory illness in the hospital. For more on our coronavirus response: https://t.co/OHosfwm6Oc pic.twitter.com/luKLtNBXZJ

— AHN (@AHNtoday) March 16, 2020

UPMC announced changes to their visitation and volunteer policies Sunday, effective immediately.

Inpatients being tested for or diagnosed with covid-19 will not be permitted visitors. Non-covid-19 inpatients and outpatients will be limited to one visitor per patient, and those visitors must be 18 years of age or older. People who are ill, sick, frail, elderly or at-risk will not be allowed, UPMC said.

People visiting patients in the obstetrics, pediatric, labor and delivery, and NICU wards will be limited to two support persons per patient, such as a parent, guardian, partner or caregiver. All will be screened before they are allowed to enter, UPMC said. Visitors to those patients also must be 18 years of age or older. People who are ill, sick, frail, elderly or at-risk will not be allowed.

Visitors to UPMC Senior Communities long-term care facilities, including skilled nursing, personal care, assisted, and independent living settings and hospital transitional care units will only be allowed in special circumstances, such as end-of-life visitation, and must be approved by the facility administrator or a designated manager. Approved visitors will be screened at the designated facility entrance by a staff member, asked four specific questions, and be asked to document their name and “yes” or “no” responses on a sign-in log.

Those questions include whether they have any signs or symptoms of a respiratory infection, if they have had contact with someone with covid-19 or with a respiratory illness in the last two weeks, if they’ve gone anywhere abroad that has sustained community transmission of covid-19 in the last two weeks or live in an area where community-based spread of covid-19 is occurring. If visitors answer yes to those questions or appear to be ill, they will not be allowed to enter the facility and will be directed to see a doctor.

Employees of UPMC Senior Communities will be asked to self-screen with the same questions, using a separate log, when they arrive for work. Should they answer yes to any of the questions, they will be directed to go home, UPMC said.

Volunteer activities in all UPMC hospitals and facilities also have been temporarily suspended.

“UPMC will continue to evaluate the future use of volunteers as this situation evolves,” the health care provider said on its website.

AHN said its new screening policy is meant to ensure the tactics of physical distancing and limiting exposure to caregivers and patients are leveraged to further prevent the spread of respiratory illness in a hospital setting, as well as keep people who may be sick themselves from visiting a hospital for non-medical reasons.

The network also is reducing the number of entrance points at each of its hospitals to help manage the new screening policy.

“With the first documented cases of covid-19 in our region this week, we continue to look at every opportunity to further safeguard our patients and caregivers during this challenging time for our community,” said Dr. Brian Parker, AHN’s chief quality officer. “It is abundantly clear that one effective way to prevent the spread of illness in a health care facility is to limit the number of people who are visiting patients and interacting with caregivers.”

AHN last week began limiting the number of visitors for a patient to one at a time in the patient’s hospital room. The network said exceptions are being made for patients who are receiving end of life care and for patients in the labor and delivery suites and NICU. Two visitors at a time are permitted for patients in those areas, the network said.