Inpatient Guide

Visiting Hours

Visiting Patients at CMMC

Central Maine Medical Center encourages visiting on its various nursing units. Visits from family and friends can be beneficial for patients and their loved ones alike. However, each patient’s healthcare needs and right to privacy must be respected.

Patients have the right to control visitation. Because no policy can anticipate the circumstances of every patient stay, CMMC has a flexible visiting policy that is adaptable to each patient’s situation. The guiding principle is that a patient’s health must come before all else, and so the patient’s physician or nurse may sometimes limit visitation. If patients have any questions or specific directions regarding visitors, they should talk with their nurse.

General visiting hours extend from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sometimes the nursing unit’s charge nurse or the patient’s assigned nurse may limit the frequency, duration, and number of visitors to a particular patient. Such a decision is usually based on the patient’s need for rest and recuperation. In semi-private rooms, visitation may be limited in order to balance a patient’s needs and the needs and privacy of the other patient sharing the room.

Overnight Visitors

A visitor may stay overnight if the patient is in a private room (or in a semi-private room with no roommate) and the visitor’s presence will not interfere with the care process. If there is a second patient in the room, the visitor may stay overnight in the nearest waiting room.

Concerning Minor Children

Because the maturity of minors varies with the individual and is difficult to assess in a short period of time, CMMC offers the following general guidelines concerning younger visitors:

• An adult should accompany minors between the ages of 13 and 15
• Minors 16 and 17 years of age may visit unaccompanied by an adult.
• Minors visiting minor patients must be accompanied by a supervising adult who remains present.
• Minors are not allowed to stay with or be responsible for minor patients.
• Minor children cannot spend the night with adult patients, unless the patient is a breastfeeding mother and another adult is present to assist with the infant.

Mentally or Physically Challenged Visitors

Mentally or physically challenged visitors should not be left unsupervised with patients; there must be a supervising and accompanying adult at all times, preferably a family member.