Visiting and Communication Policy in Intensive Care Units during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Survey from South Asia and the Middle East

Gunjan Chanchalani; Nitin Arora; Prashant Nasa; Kanwalpreet Sodhi; Maher J Al Bahrani; Ashraf Al Tayar; Madiha Hashmi; Vinod Jaiswal; Sandeep Kantor; Ahsina J Lopa; Bassam Mansour; Anushka D Mudalige; Rashid Nadeem; Gentle S Shrestha; Ahmed R Taha; Melda Türkoğlu; Dameera Weeratunga

doi:10.5005/jp-journals-10071-24091

Visiting and Communication Policy in Intensive Care Units during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Survey from South Asia and the Middle East

Indian J Crit Care Med. 2022 Mar;26(3):268-275. doi: 10.5005/jp-journals-10071-24091.

Authors

Gunjan Chanchalani¹, Nitin Arora², Prashant Nasa³, Kanwalpreet Sodhi⁴, Maher J Al Bahrani⁵, Ashraf Al Tayar⁶, Madiha Hashmi⁷, Vinod Jaiswal⁸, Sandeep Kantor⁹, Ahsina J Lopa¹⁰, Bassam Mansour¹¹, Anushka D Mudalige¹², Rashid Nadeem¹³, Gentle S Shrestha¹⁴, Ahmed R Taha¹⁵, Melda Türkoğlu¹⁶, Dameera Weeratunga¹⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Cumballa Hill Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
² Department of Intensive Care, University Hospitals Birmingham, Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom.
³ Department of Critical Care Medicine, NMC Specialty Hospital, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
⁴ Deep Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.
⁵ Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman.
⁶ Department of ICU, Security Force Hospital, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Ziauddin University and Dr Ziauddin Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
⁸ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Amina Hospital, Ajman, United Arab Emirates.
⁹ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman.
¹⁰ Department of Intensive Care Unit, MH Samorita Hospital and Medical College, Tejgaon, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
¹¹ Department of Pulmonary Medicine and Critical Care Medicine, Zahraa Hospital University Medical Center/Lebanese University, Faculty of Medical Science, Beirut, Lebanon.
¹² Department of Critical Care Medicine, North Colombo Teaching Hospital, Ragama, Sri Lanka.
¹³ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Dubai Hospital, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
¹⁴ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Lalitpur, Nepal.
¹⁵ Department of Critical Care Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
¹⁶ Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Critical Care, Gazi University, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
¹⁷ Department of Critical Care Medicine, National Hospital of Sri Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Abstract

Purpose: The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had affected the visiting or communicating policies for family members. We surveyed the intensive care units (ICUs) in South Asia and the Middle East to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on visiting and communication policies.

Materials and method: A web-based cross-sectional survey was used to collect data between March 22, 2021, and April 7, 2021, from healthcare professionals (HCP) working in COVID and non-COVID ICUs (one response per ICU). The topics of the questionnaire included current and pre-pandemic policies on visiting, communication, informed consent, and end-of-life care in ICUs.

Results: A total of 292 ICUs (73% of COVID ICUs) from 18 countries were included in the final analysis. Most (92%) of ICUs restricted their visiting hours, and nearly one-third (32.3%) followed a "no-visitor" policy. There was a significant change in the daily visiting duration in COVID ICUs compared to the pre-pandemic times (p = 0.011). There was also a significant change (p <0.001) in the process of informed consent and end-of-life discussions during the ongoing pandemic compared to pre-pandemic times.

Conclusion: Visiting and communication policies of the ICUs had significantly changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Future studies are needed to understand the sociopsychological and medicolegal implications of revised policies.

How to cite this article: Chanchalani G, Arora N, Nasa P, Sodhi K, Al Bahrani MJ, Al Tayar A, et al. Visiting and Communication Policy in Intensive Care Units during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Survey from South Asia and the Middle East. Indian J Crit Care Med 2022;26(3):268-275.

Keywords: Communication barrier; Do not resuscitate orders; End-of-life care; Family communication; Informed consent; Informed consent document; Patient visitors; Terminal care; Visitors to patients.