Should patients all patients in every unit have to wear masks while in the hospital?

[DesiDani]

Including those on ICU units. On my M/S unit they only have to wear them while being transported or if they are ambulating on the unit.  What about if they are in their rooms and they are in a shared room? We don't require masks in those situations for the patients, only the staff has to wear them.  What about when people are sleeping? I don't want to get cursed out for waking up a big dude at 3am in the morning if their mask slips off?.

[JadedCPN, BSN, RN]

At my current hospital, a mask is required all the time that you are outside of your room for both the patient and the families. We also request that a mask be worn by patient and family when a staff member enters the room. Half of the people are compliant with this, the other half don't both putting their mask on. There definitely is not an expectation for people to wear masks while sleeping.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Since we test all patients prior to being admitted to the floor we don't require masks when they are in the room.  There have been some isolated cases where someone tested negative and ended up positive but not sure this would warrant a policy of them all having to wear masks inside their rooms.

Some patients will put on their mask when I enter the room.  When they are admitted I let them know it's their choice but not mandatory since they tested negative.

A couple of weeks ago we just started allowing visitors and they are to wear a mask at all times.  So far this hasn't been an issue when I've worked.  People here in the county I live in Florida are pretty mask compliant.  We have a 3% positivity rate which is low compared to some other areas of Florida that are 10% or higher.  

I personally feel pretty safe with this policy.  Patients are more apt to catch it from staff bringing it in than visa versa.

[MarkMyWords]

There is no definite answer for all hospitals and units. It depends on your location and the situation. I am inclined to say yes, wear the face covering, but there are many exceptions, based on the patient and close proximity to other patients and staff or visitors, if there are any.