Analysis of Visiting Hours in Intensive Care Units and the Incidence of Delirium in Hospitalized Patients

Delirium is an acute disturbance of attention and cognition frequently observed in patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs).It may be associated with adverse outcomes, such as prolonged hospital stays, long-term functional and cognitive decline, and increased mortality, thereby leading to a decline in the patient's quality of life and higher healthcare costs.Among the strategies for preventing delirium in ICU patients, family involvement in care stands out; this can be influenced by the visiting policies adopted in ICUs.Objective: To evaluate, through a literature review, the effectiveness of extending visiting hours in ICUs in reducing the incidence of delirium in hospitalized patients.Methodology: This study conducted an integrative literature review to investigate whether extended visiting hours in ICUs reduce the incidence of delirium.Articles published in the last ten years were searched in national and international databases, resulting in the inclusion of five studies.Results: The results were heterogeneous: three studies demonstrated an association between extended visiting hours and a lower incidence of delirium, while two studies found no significant difference in the reduction of delirium when comparing extended visiting hours to restricted visiting hours.Despite the lack of consensus regarding the reduction of delirium, the studies pointed to several additional benefits of extended visiting hours, such as improved anxiety and depression in patients and family members, greater family engagement in delirium prevention strategies, and no increase in staff burden or hospital infection rates.Conclusion: In light of this, it is concluded that extended visiting hours have the potential to improve patients' emotional and cognitive parameters and strengthen family bonds; however, more robust studies with larger sample sizes and longer intervention periods are still needed to confirm the impact of extended visiting hours on the incidence of delirium in patients admitted to ICUs.