At 04:21 PM 21/04/2004 -0400, you wrote:
>Customer service is the key at our hospital and that is why we have liberal
>visiting hours.

A few years ago we ran focus groups of parents to design the visiting hours
for the maternity ward. They are MUCH stricter than any of us expected.
There was almost total agreement among parents that, due to the short
period of time they are in hospital, visitors should be received later at
home and not in hospital and they requested very short visiting hours. We
had nursing students sit at the door to the ward for a few weeks to explain
the change. We had press coverage and there is a large display at the door
explaining what the hours are and why. The hours do not apply to support
people. We have not had any complaints from patients. We also have signs
for the patients' doors saying no visitors please see the nurse.  But even
better there are white boards on the doors and patients can write messages
to their visitors. This has gone over very well. The move to change the
visiting hours came from asking why moms were asking for their infants to
be taken to the nursery overnight. It was tied to fatigue. Why were they
tired? They told us it was too many visitors... The focus groups were
great, they provided ammunition that was local, and very very clear. We
followed the groups recommendations then took the new policy back to the
groups for ratification. We do customer satisfaction focus groups at least
twice a year and have nothing but support for the restricted hours.

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