Enabling patient communication for hospitalised patients during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. No commercial reuse. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. INTRODUCTION As COVID-19 spread across the globe, hospitals restricted visitors to protect patients and healthcare providers. The absence of inperson visitors, who play a central role in patient wellbeing and clinical decision making by clarifying medical histories and bridging linguistic and cultural divides, left patients vulnerable to social isolation, delirium and fragmented clinical care. With ongoing COVID-19 infections, health systems continue to grapple with how to support patients and loved ones during visitor restrictions. Many technologydriven innovations emerged during COVID-19 to conserve personal protective equipment, protect healthcare workers and prevent nosocomial transmission, but, to our knowledge, this was the first programme designed by medical trainees with the specific goal of connecting patients with their loved ones. Here, we describe the design and early impact of an inpatient videoconference telehealth initiative, and we provide a model for health systems interested in designing similar telehealth programmes to connect patients and loved ones. The objective of this initiative was to reconnect patients with their loved ones during COVID-19related visitor restrictions across diverse hospital settings to improve patient experience and care delivery.