Several Quebec health care institutions are considering the idea of allowing 24/7 hospital visiting hours — a trend that seems to be gaining steam across the country.
The brand-new CHUM superhospital, which is due to open this fall, will have round-the-clock visiting hours, and some other Montreal-area hospitals are reportedly considering the idea.
Well-known patients' rights advocate Paul Brunet welcomes the idea, saying the idea is to make a patient's hospital stay a lot brighter.
"Finally, hospital administrators are beginning to understand that hospital belongs to the patients and the community," he says. "Because it's good for the patients. It's therapeutical."
The notion that visitors could show up at a patient's room outside pre-set visiting hours is a relatively new one. On Tuesday, a report by the the Canadian Foundation For Healthcare Improvement listed a number of healthcare institutions across the country that either have or are exploring the idea of implementing a "family presence" policy.
"Research into the benefits of family presence shows: improved patient outcomes and experience of care; fewer medication errors and falls, better informed medical assessments and care planning; reduced lengths of stay, readmissions and emergency department visits," the statement from the CFHI reads.
"When you have close friends and family around you, of course you live better and you feel better about life. That's what life is all about," Brunet says.
It says aside from the CHUM, three other Quebec regional health agencies are considering 24/7 hospital hours — in the eastern Montérégie, the Outaouais and the Mauricie-Centre-du-Québec regions.
Brunet suggests within the next few years, more hospital administrators will sign on to the idea.
"Young administrators are understanding that," he says. "Doctors used to say, 'we know what's good for you, and you just shut up, and we'll take care of the patient'. Now, there's more interaction between the patient and the staff."
He suggests, too, that progress on that front could be slow, because Quebec's hospitals don't have the resources they would like to have for the moment — but he adds, a good way for hospitals to become even more family-friendly would be to drop its sometimes astronomical parking rates.