PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Collier, Aileen
AU  - Balmer, Deborah
AU  - Gilder, Eileen
AU  - Parke, Rachael
TI  - Patient safety and hospital visiting at the end of life during COVID-19 restrictions in Aotearoa New Zealand: a qualitative study
AID  - 10.1136/bmjqs-2022-015471
DP  - 2023 Dec 01
TA  - BMJ Quality & Safety
PG  - 704--711
VI  - 32
IP  - 12
4099  - http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/32/12/704.short
4100  - http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/32/12/704.full
SO  - BMJ Qual Saf2023 Dec 01; 32
AB  - Background Visiting restrictions were enacted in Aotearoa New Zealand to reduce transmission of COVID-19 and protect the healthcare system. This research aimed to investigate the experiences of families and clinicians of hospital visiting for people with palliative and end-of-life care needs during restrictions.Methods Semistructured interviews were completed between March and October 2021 with family members and clinicians who had personally experienced enactment of visiting restrictions during pandemic restrictions. A critical realist ontology was used to approach data analysis, sorting and coding to generate themes.Results Twenty-seven participants were interviewed, 13 being families who had experienced bereavement of a family member during the restrictions: seven nurses or physicians and seven being non-bereaved family members. Four themes were generated: patient safety—(re)defining the ‘Visitor’; the primacy of SARS-CoV-2—patient safety and negotiating risk; dying alone: enduring harms; and agency, strategies and workarounds.Conclusion Visitor rights and visitor policy at the end of life require greater protection during a pandemic. Transparent, coherent, publicly available evidence-based guidelines that key stakeholders, including patients, families and ethicists, are included in producing, are urgently required. We want to avert a legacy of disenfranchised grief in future pandemics.No data are available.