I recently read an article on ValpoLife about Porter Hospital temporarily altering their visitor policy and asked myself the question: what is the cost of prevention?

The flu season is in full swing and from the looks of things it is spreading very quickly. With the the current flu flare-up and the threat of the swine flu hovering around us all of the time Porter decided it was in the best interest of their patients and the community to disallow children under the age of 18 to visit patients in the hospital.

A quote from Taffy Arias, Porter’s Chief Nursing Officer:

“Children and young adults are particularly vulnerable to this new flu, and we know from seasonal flu that children are often the source of influenza outbreaks,” explains Taffy Arias, Porter’s Chief Nursing Officer. “By limiting child visitors, we are attempting to protect vulnerable patients from exposure to H1N1 and thereby complicating their hospital stay.”

I don’t have a particularly strong feeling on this subject either way, but do feel that this is a bit much. I believe that asking all visitors to wear masks and to sanitize their hands before entering a patient’s room would be sufficient. I am not sure that stopping a few cases of the flu is worth banning children from the hospital especially if the patient is the parent or guardian of a child that simply wishes to see their loved ones.

I can see that this could be a polarizing debate and would love to hear what you have to say about it. Leave a comment below to discuss your thoughts.

Thanks to ValpoLife for bringing this article to my attention. If you don’t already follow them on twitter @valpolife I suggest you start.