Relatives' experiences of visiting restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic's first wave: a PREMs study in Valais Hospital, Switzerland.

Visiting restrictions affected relatives differently depending on the wards their loved ones were hospitalized. Healthcare institutions should investigate the utility of visiting restrictions on patients, how they affect relatives, and how to improve personalized patient-relative communications. Future research should attempt to develop reliable, validated measurement instruments of relatives' experiences of acute-care visiting restrictions during pandemics.