Patients & Visitors
Visiting Hours & Rules
Mount Sinai Medical Center’s policy is to respect visitation rights of patients while ensuring the safety of our patients, employees, and members of the public, as well as creating an environment conducive to the provision of quality patient care. Mount Sinai will not restrict, limit, or otherwise deny visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.
General Visitation for Inpatients:
- Patients will be informed of their visitation rights, and any applicable visitation restrictions upon their registration and admission to Mount Sinai.
- Visiting hours are from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Sunday, on the Medical/Surgical and Telemetry units. Hours are subject to change without notice based on emergencies, such as medical emergencies, natural disasters, man-made disasters, etc.
- Visitation is limited to two (2) visitors per patient at a time.
- At the caregiver’s discretion, all visitors will be asked to leave the room when patient care procedures or treatments are being administered in both private and semiprivate rooms.
- Visitors may also be asked to leave the room during emergency situations.
- Visitation for minors under the age of 18 must be arranged and approved by the patient’s nurse and the patient or designated representative prior to the visit. Minors must be supervised by an adult, other than the patient, at all times.
- Patients may withdraw their consent to visitation by a particular visitor or all visitors at any time by speaking to their nurse.
- For safety reasons, we require all visitors to have photo identification and register with Security upon entry into the hospital. Security will print a pass with their name and picture; visitors are required to wear the pass at all times when inside the hospital. Visitors are also required to provide the name of the patient they are visiting.
- Visitation can be denied based on patient’s requests or for safety/security concerns such as violations of our zero-tolerance policy for verbal and physical abuse.
- Animals:
- No pets of any kind are permitted inside MSMC buildings.
- Emotional support animals are not permitted.
- Service animals are allowed to enter once the visitor indicates that the animal is their service animal. The difference between a service and an emotional support animal per the ADA is the following: Animals that “have received specialized training to perform a specific task or tasks for an individual with a disability are considered service animals.”
Visitor Code of Conduct:
For the safety of our facility, patients, visitors, and staff members, all visitors must adhere to the visitor conduct rules as outlined below. This includes being respectful of our environment, our patients, and our staff to promote a healing, family-centered environment.
- We ask visitors to be sensitive to patients’ conditions and their need for rest. Please contact the patient or the patient’s family before visiting.
- To be respectful of our patient care environment and aid in patient healing and the clinical care of the patient, and subject to other visitor restrictions that may apply, permitted visitors are asked to limit themselves to two (2) visitors within the patient room at a time.
- In procedural areas, visitors may be limited to one (1) visitor at a time to protect patient privacy.
- Visitors are asked to promote a safe environment. Disruptive behavior is not acceptable. When a visitor becomes disruptive, Security will escort the visitor from the premises, and restrict visiting rights during the admission. If necessary, local police departments will be called for assistance in enforcement of the restriction or removal.
- We encourage any person with a fever, cold, sore throat, diarrhea, rash, or other communicable illness to postpone visitation until they are without fever or symptoms for 24 hours. Visitors who are coughing or sneezing should ask for a surgical mask to protect others from illness while visiting.
- Visitors are asked to promote our healthy environment by washing their hands or using hand sanitizer prior to entering and exiting our patient care environment.
- Visitors are asked to promote a quiet and healing environment by adhering to our “quiet zones.” Quiet zones are within patient corridors and patient rooms. Visitors are asked to take cellphone and group conversations to the designated Visitor Waiting Areas and/or cafeteria and café environments. Visitors are asked to limit conversations within patient hallways.
- Visitors are asked to stay inside the room to protect the privacy of the other patients. They will not be permitted to wander through the rest of the department’s areas.
- Visitors must check in at the Nursing Team Station prior to entering a visitor’s room in all areas; this is to ensure the nursing team can provide any particular instructions to the visitor(s) if needed.
- To protect the privacy of patients and staff, visitors are prohibited from taking pictures, audio recording, and video recording of employees and patient care situations.
Maternal and Child Unit (General Information):
- Patients will be informed of their visitation rights, and any applicable visitation restrictions upon their registration and admission to Mount Sinai.
- Subject to reasonable restrictions, each patient’s partner/significant other will be allowed to visit 24/7 for the duration of the patient’s admission. Two (2) additional visitors are permitted to visit during applicable visitation hours as indicated below.
- Patients may withdraw their consent to visitation by a particular visitor or visitors at any time.
- Siblings of an infant are allowed to visit regardless of age (including minors) and do not count toward the two-visitor limit.
- At the caregiver’s discretion, all visitors will be asked to leave the room when patient care procedures or treatments are being administered in both private and semiprivate rooms.
- Visitors may also be asked to leave the room during emergencies.
- If, at any time, the hospital staff feels a visitor is being disruptive and/or presents a threat to the care and safety of the patient(s), visitor(s), or hospital employee(s), that visitor will be asked to leave the hospital.
Labor and Delivery:
- There is no “visitation” on Labor & Delivery.
- The patient’s partner and one (1) other adult support person are permitted at the bedside, while the patient is in labor, delivering, and immediately postpartum.
- In addition, the patient may have a certified doula. The doula will need to bring proof of certification and an approval email from management.
- The support person and the patient’s partner are not interchangeable with other visitors.
- All visitors must register with Security upon entry into the hospital and must wear the visitor pass at all times. Minors under 16 are not required to provide an ID.
OB Triage/OR/PACU:
- Only one (1) person is permitted to accompany the patient while the patient is in Triage, OR, Pre-Op, or PACU areas.
- This can be the partner or an adult support person of the patient’s choosing.
- They are not interchangeable with other visitors.
Mother Baby Unit (3 & 8 Blum):
- Visiting hours are 9 a.m. to noonand 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- There will be no visitors during the rest period — noon to 3 p.m.
- The patient’s partner can be at the bedside 24/7.
- In addition to the significant other, only two (2) visitors are permitted at the bedside at any time.
- All visitors must wait downstairs in the lobby waiting area.
- Other children under the age of 18 are NOT permitted to visit, with the exception of siblings.
- Children must be supervised at all times by an adult other than the patient.
- One (1) adult person can stay overnight with the patient. This person MUST be 18 or older.
- Under NO circumstances may any child under the age of 18 stay overnight. This includes siblings. Alternative childcare arrangements must be made.
NICU/Nursery:
- Only parents or persons with the infant identification band may visit, including grandparents.
- Visitation hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- No visitation during the rest periods — 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
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