Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital

Visitor guidelines

Visitors play an important role in helping patients recover. To maintain a healing environment and enable patients to rest, however, we ask that family and friends honor the following hours and guidelines for visits.

Please note that visiting hours and policies may vary by unit. Please check with the care team on the unit for any specific guidelines. These policies were developed to maintain the health and safety of all patients at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital (CDH). We appreciate your cooperation by following these policies.

• Respect patient privacy: Visitors may be asked to wait outside the patient's room while the medical team provides care.
• Check before you bring food or flowers: Some patients may have dietary restrictions, so talk to the unit nurse before bringing food. Also, keep in mind that flowers and plants are not permitted in some hospital areas, such as the intensive care unit. You may bring balloons as long as they do not contain latex.
• Don’t smoke: CDH is a smoke-free environment. All smoking materials are strictly prohibited on the hospital campus.
• Keep your hands clean: Wash or sanitize your hands when entering and leaving the patient’s room. (You may use soap and sanitizer in patient rooms). Clean your hands after sneezing, coughing, touching your eyes, nose or mouth; after using the restroom; and before and after eating and drinking. Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue or your sleeve. Do not sit on patient beds or handle equipment.
• Be respectful of other patients: While in the hospital, we ask that you and your guests conduct yourselves appropriately, speak quietly and keep noise to a minimum.
• Stay home if you are sick: Do not visit the hospital if you—or any guests or children who accompany you—are sick or have had any ill symptoms within the last three days, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever, uncontrolled cough or rash.
• Keep a close eye on children: If you bring children, don’t let them play on the floor or bed. Have them wash their hands as they enter and leave the room.

Guidelines for specialized care areas

Please review the following guidelines if you are visiting a specialized care unit.

• Intensive Care Unit (ICU): Patients in the ICU have serious and sometimes life-threatening medical needs that could be jeopardized by too many visitors. Only immediate family and clergy are permitted to visit patients in the ICU.
• Special precautions: If the person you are visiting is on “isolation precautions,” talk to the nurse before entering the room to find out what steps you will have to take, such as wearing a mask or other protective clothing.
• Women and Children’s: Family and other visitors must check in at the Guest Services desk, which is staffed at all times of the day or night. To protect the health of our newborns, children under the age of 12 are not allowed on the Mother/Baby unit unless they are siblings of the newborn.

The Quiet Program

To help patients rest and recover, Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital has developed the Quiet Program, which includes keeping patient doors closed, talking quietly in hallways, keeping hallway lights dim and minimizing overhead paging.

When you visit a patient, please keep your conversations at a reasonable level and shut the patient’s door.