July 2018 – Patient Visitation Update – Patient Support Person

A Patient Support Person is:

An adult family member, friend or other individual, designated by the patient, orally or in writing, that supports the patient during the hospital stay.
This person can change during the hospital stay if the patient’s wishes.
This person may or may not be the decision maker.

UM Shore Regional Health believes that visitation is integral to the patient’s experience. The family and the Patient Support Person are valued partners in patient care and are a respected part of the care team.
Families and the Patient Support Persons are asked to work together with staff so that their presence does not limit staff access to the patient at any time.
The Patient Support Person may visit with the patient, and may also exercise a patient’s visitation rights on behalf of the patient with respect to other visitors, when the patient is unable to do so.
The CMS standard recognizes that “Although visitation policies are generally considered to relate to visitors of inpatients, “visitors” also play a role for outpatients who wish to have a support person present during their outpatient visit”. The UM Shore Regional Health Visitation policy is a system policy and applies to all care settings: Inpatient, Emergency and Outpatient.