The influence of COVID-19 visitation restrictions on patient experience and safety outcomes: a critical role for subjective advocates.

Research has found that families and caregivers play a key role in identifying and preventing patient safety events.  Based on a national sample of hospitals, this study explored the impact of hospital visitation restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic on patient experience and safety outcomes. Results indicate that hospitals with closed visitations experienced larger performance deficits across measures of medical staff responsiveness, fall rates, and sepsis rates.