Perceptions of Intensive Care Nurses Regarding Open Visitation Policy in Türkiye: A Qualitative Study

Objective: Patients’ families cannot stay with their relatives in intensive care units (ICUs). Consequently, patients and patients’ families experience many problems such as insomnia, anxiety, depression. Due to these situations, the recovery period of patient is prolonged and the quality of life of patients’ relatives is decreased. To prevent these problems, open visiting policy in ICUs is recommended. Open visiting policy gives patients’ families the opportunity to visit their relatives at any time. This policy is recommended by studies, but is not widely implemented in Türkiye. Some reasons are responsible for not applying this policy. The study was conducted to determine the perceptions of intensive care nurses about an open visitation policy. Methods: The study group consisted of 14 intensive care nurses selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview form, and the interviews were recorded with a voice recorder. Data analysis was performed by content analysis. Results: Based on the research results, “opportunity to feel family presence,” “barriers to open visitation,” and “facilitators of open visitation” themes were identified. Participants generally evaluated the open visitation policy positively. However, it was noted that certain arrangements were needed for the implementation of open visiting policy. Conclusion: Overall, participants favored open visitation; however, consistent with the literature, successful implementation requires structural (single rooms, privacy), staffing and policy arrangements.