Visiting regulation in intensive care units. Review of English-language literature 1984-98

This review analyses the Anglo-American nursing literature of the past 15 years that focuses on the subject of visiting policies at intensive care units. It is the aim of this paper to prepare a scientific base for discussion on ICU visiting policies in German nursing literature. Part 1 describes three visiting models whose concepts can be clearly differentiated. This is followed by the argumentation of the described models. Part 2 puts the focus on studies that have investigated visiting needs of patients as well as studies, in which the effect of visits and visiting models on patients has been researched. Transferability of results to the situation in Germany seems to be difficult for two reasons. First, all studies took part in a different cultural context. Secondly, most studies are limited by small size and convenient samples. Nevertheless, some studies indicate trends and support each other through similar findings. While reviewing the literature, it turned out that there has been an intensive debate about ICU visiting policies in Anglo-American nursing journals. This debate can not be held without involving and questioning nurses' professional understanding of patient care. Requirements for nurses as a result of possible changes of the visiting policies are presented and discussed. The article ends with suggestions for future research in Germany.