Isolation Precautions for Visitors

Publication Date: July 1, 2015

Last Updated: September 2, 2022

Recommendations

All visitors should perform hand hygiene prior to entering a patient room and immediately after leaving the room.

Notes:

Either hand washing with soap or water and proper use of an alcohol-based hand rub are acceptable means of hand hygiene.
Institutions should ensure that sinks and alcohol-based hand rub stations are easily accessible to visitors.
Visitors should be educated on the importance of frequent hand hygiene in the hospital setting and on the available options and proper techniques for performing hand hygiene.

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For parents/guardians/visitors with extended stay in a patient’s room including overnight visitation, isolation precautions may not be practical. The risk of infection for parents/guardians/visitors is likely reduced if they practice good hand hygiene and any additional benefit of wearing gowns and gloves in these scenarios of prolonged exposure is unclear.

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In special situations, in which patients acquire new transmissible infections after admission to the hospital, protection of parent/guardian/visitor by the use of isolation precautions may be considered.

Notes:

Examples of such scenarios could include parents of children with hospital onset of C. difficile infection or colonization/infection with extensively antibiotic-resistant Gram negative bacilli (e.g. Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase [KPC]).
If parents or other visitors are assisting health care personnel (HCP) with providing care, standard precautions should be utilized, including the use of gowns and gloves, if contact with blood, body fluids, or non-intact skin is anticipated.

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In situations in which heightened horizontal transmission is detected (e.g. outbreak or increased baseline rates) or a novel, potentially virulent pathogen is suspected or identified (e.g. Ebola virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-coV), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), etc.), enforcing isolation precautions among visitors (including parents/guardians/siblings) should be prioritized.

Note: Hospitals should consider restricting non-essential visitors, limiting the number of visitors at any one time, as well as developing policies and infrastructure to monitor and enforce adherence to appropriate isolation precautions among visitors in these circumstances.

Isolation Precautions for Visitors

Recommendations

Overview

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Authoring Organization