Beginning Monday, October 12, visitation for inpatients at Nationwide Childrens Hospital will be restricted to immediate family members 12 years of age and older, provided they are flu-free (no fever with cough or cold). Visitation to the Neonatal Intensive Care and Bone Marrow Transplant units has already been restricted to patients/guardians and grandparents only for about four weeks, and will remain in place.
While Nationwide Childrens Hospital maintains a philosophy of family centered care and usually encourage siblings of any age to visit inpatients if the siblings are free of colds or other illnesses, there is evidence that children under 12 years of age are more likely to carry and spread viruses. Because the Central Ohio area is experiencing higher than usual levels of influenza at this time of year and a high number of inpatient admissions, and because many hospitalized patients are at higher risk if they are exposed to influenza and respiratory illnesses, the hospital has determined it is necessary to implement these visitor restrictions at this time.
Nationwide Childrens Hospital normally implements visitor restrictions to some degree during each influenza season. The hospital will continue to monitor the spread of influenza this season and expand its visitor restrictions if necessary. Additional H1N1 information is available at www.nationwidechildrens.org/h1n1.
Media Alert: Nationwide Children's Implements Visitation Restrictions October 12
October 8, 2009
About Nationwide Children's Hospital
Named to the Top 10 Honor Roll on U.S. News & World Report’s 2024-25 list of “Best Children’s Hospitals,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of America’s largest not-for-profit free-standing pediatric health care systems providing unique expertise in pediatric population health, behavioral health, genomics and health equity as the next frontiers in pediatric medicine, leading to best outcomes for the health of the whole child. Integrated clinical and research programs, as well as prioritizing quality and safety, are part of what allows Nationwide Children’s to advance its unique model of care. Nationwide Children’s has a staff of more than 16,000 that provides state-of-the-art wellness, preventive and rehabilitative care and diagnostic treatment during more than 1.8 million patient visits annually. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s physicians train the next generation of pediatricians and pediatric specialists. The Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded free-standing pediatric research facilities. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org.