For Visitors

Visiting Hours

At Valley Presbyterian Hospital, we permit visiting 24/7 to provide healing and comfort to patients. Family and friends may visit at any time, as appropriate to the patient's care and privacy. General visiting procedures and unit-specific guidelines are below.

General Visiting Procedures

Please follow these procedures when planning your visit. Additional guidelines are found below for specific hospital units.

  • Our patients, if able, determine who visits them and when. If the patient wishes, visitors and families are welcome 24 hours a day.
  • One (1) visitor is allowed at a time for each patient, unless otherwise indicated in the unit-specific guidelines below.
  • Children under the age of 16 must be accompanied to the patient's room by an adult who is not the patient.
  • Please obtain a visitor ID badge from the concierge or security in the hospital lobby (main lobby, west lobby or Emergency entrance lobby).
  • Visitors are asked to sign in and disclose any present signs of illness that may pose a risk to the patient. To protect our patients' health, as well as your own, we ask that loved ones avoid visiting if they are sick.
  • The nurse caring for the patient, in collaboration with the attending physician and/or nurse administrator, may alter the visitation policy.

Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU)

  • One (1) member of a patient's family may be permitted to visit a pediatric patient, upon the discretion of the nurse taking care of the patient.

Same Day Surgery (SDS)

  • Two (2) visitors at a time per patient are permitted and upon the discretion of the nurse taking care of the patient.

Acute Care Services (Medical/Surgical and Telemetry units)

  • Children 4 years of age and older are permitted to visit.
  • No more than four (4) visitors are permitted to visit a patient at any given time.
  • For hospice and deceased patients, the number of visitors permitted is at the discretion of the nurse taking care of the patient.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)

  • Parents or guardians are required to show proof of immunizations for all visiting noninfectious siblings prior to the visit.
  • No more than three (3) visitors are permitted at the bedside, one (1) of which may be a sibling.

Pediatrics (PEDS)

  • One parent is encouraged to stay with the patient during the night. Please speak with the patient's nurse to make arrangements.

Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)

  • One (1) parent is encouraged to stay with the patient during the night. Please speak with the patient's nurse to make arrangements.
  • No more than two (2) visitors are permitted at the bedside, one (1) of which may be a sibling.
  • Siblings or other children over the age of 12 are permitted to visit with parental permission, based upon the acuity of the patient, and at the discretion of the nurse caring for the patient.
  • Visitors should be healthy and free from exposure to communicable diseases within the last three (3) weeks.
  • Visitors must wear footwear at all times.

Intensive Care Unit (ICU)

  • One (1) to two (2) visitors at a time per patient are permitted and at the discretion of the nurse caring for the patient.
  • Children under the age of 16 require prior approval by the charge nurse and/or nursing management.

Maternity / Women's Services

General Guidelines

  • The father of the baby or the significant other, designated by the baby's mother, has 24 hour visiting privileges.
  • Overnight accommodations are available for one (1) support person to spend the night. Our family birthing suites offer the comforts of home, including a sleeper chair.
  • All visitors need to be free from contagious illness and colds.
  • Children under 16 should always be accompanied by an adult and are not permitted to stay overnight.
  • When not in the patient's room, all visitors should return to the designated waiting areas of the hospital, not wait in unit hallways or block unit doorways.
  • All visitors must wash their hands before holding or touching a newborn.
  • In order to maintain a clean and hygienic environment, we ask that you eat and drink only in designated waiting areas, and place all trash and debris in the appropriate trash can.
  • In order to ensure patient privacy and a smooth transition from one shift to the other, visitors will be asked to wait in the designated waiting rooms during shift report times (7:00 - 7:45 a.m. and 7:00 - 7:45 p.m.)
  • For the safety of our patients, latex balloons are not allowed.

Additional Guidelines

Non-Stress Tests (NST)

  • All visitors and children will be asked to remain in the designated waiting area during the NST procedure; one support person may be allowed the ultrasound (dependent on patient condition).

Obstetrical Triage (OBT)

  • A maximum of one (1) visitor at a time (no children allowed in this area).

Antepartum & Maternity (AP / PP)

  • A maximum of four (4) visitors at a time (in single-occupancy rooms).
  • A maximum of two (2) visitors at a time (in double-occupancy rooms & 2E Maternity rooms)

Labor & Delivery (L&D)

  • A maximum of two (2) visitors at a time during labor (visitors can rotate as desired by patient).
  • A maximum of two (2) support persons during a normal delivery (no rotation will be allowed at this time).
  • A maximum of one (1) support person during a cesarean delivery and the recovery period (no rotation will be allowed at this time).

The Golden Hour (Women's)

  • During the "Golden Hour," the first hour of a new baby's life, all visitors will be restricted in the birthing suites. This will be a time for establishing mother-father-baby bonds, regulating the newborn's body temperature, and assuring neonatal stability.

Daily Quiet (Women's)

  • In order to help our mothers and babies get the proper rest they need prior to being discharged, there is a Daily Quiet Time in all of Women's Services. Daily Quiet Time is between the hours of 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. each day.
  • A system for visitors to leave notes for a new mother is available should visitors arrive during Daily Quiet Time hours.

Special Conditions for Visitation

  • All visitors chosen by the patient or representative will have full and equal visitation privileges consistent with the wishes of the patient or representative. The patient or representative has a right to withdraw such consent to visitation at any time.
  • Law Enforcement Officers or Investigators wishing to speak with a patient need to be cleared through Administration, Risk Management. Security also needs to be notified. Access to the patient's medical record is not included in the approval for the Officer's or Investigator's visit.
  • Individuals (including attorneys) who have no family or business contact with the patient may not visit the patient except at the patient's request. Requests from physicians, family or significant others that visitors be screened will be honored.
  • Any visitors who have been identified as a threat to the patient's safety or wellbeing will not be allowed to visit the patient.
  • Visitors of any age must not exhibit any signs of infection or communicable disease.

Visits to Patients with Isolation Precautions

  • Visitors to a patient on isolation precautions must check with a nurse for specific instructions, prior to entering the patient's room.
  • Visitors should wear personal protective equipment described on the isolation precaution sign on the door to the patient's room and as outlined in policy.