A study on nurses’ viewpoint about methods of free visit in intensive care units in hospitals of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, 2015-2016

In spite of the evidence of advantages of visitation, the ban on visit in Iran's intensive care units (ICUs) is still underway and this issue is always a challenging topic that encounters different behaviors in dealing with the phenomenon of visiting. The purpose of this study was to investigate the barriers and strategies for establishing a free visit system in ICUs from the viewpoints of health care providers.

In this descriptive study, 100 nurses working in ICU were evaluated. The data were collected using a demographic information registration form and a questionnaire on attitudes and views about visit in special units which were analyzed by SPSS software using t-test and chi-square test.

33.3% of cases were men and 66.7% of them were women. Most of the cases (67.9%) were married. The shortest work experience in the ICU was 5 months and the longest was 132 months. The average work experience of the cases in the ICU was 60 months.

The majority of nurses believe that free visit can interfere with nursing cares. This interference involves direct intervention, more time spent explaining to the patient's family, and creating a busy environment that is the cause of the errors. The time of the visit is largely regulated by healthcare providers, their attitudes towards the topic, as well as their concerns about this issue.