Your Stay
What to Bring
You should bring with you those possessions for your personal comfort, including pajamas or nightgown, bathrobe, slippers, toothbrush and other personal effects you use every day.
Please bring all medication from home that you are currently taking. We will need to compile an accurate list of your medications utilizing the information listed on the bottle during the admission process. However, we will ask you to send the medication home after we have completed the admission process. Your nurse will indicate when it is appropriate to send the medication home. If you are unable or uncomfortable with bringing your medication to the hospital, we ask that an accurate list be provided that includes all medications you are currently talking. Any list with your medications should always contain the specific dosage that you take as well as the times you take the medication. Your nurse will provide instruction if any information is incomplete or unclear. We encourage you to keep this list with you at all times and update it regularly with your physician(s).
In some cases it may be necessary for medication to be kept at the hospital. Your nurse will explain the reasons when this situation exists. In order to protect your safety, all medications will be stored at the nursing station and administered to you as directed by your physician.
Treatment Consents
We will ask you to sign appropriate consent and release forms that authorize hospital personnel to provide the services your physicians has ordered for you.
Identification Bands
You will be required to wear an identification band during your stay. This helps ensure that you will receive the proper tests and medications.
Your Accommodations
The hospital offers private and semi-private accommodations of your choice. However, accommodations are always subject to occupancy factors. Private rooms must be scheduled and assigned on a first-come, first-serve basis or according to medical necessities. Please let your needs be known, and we will do our utmost to comply.
You will notice that you have a lavatory and full bath for your use, subject to your physician's orders. Each room also has individual temperature controls. Please do not attempt to adjust these yourself. Ask the staff to do so for you. Your bed is designed for your comfort and safety. You can electrically raise and lower the height of the entire bed or elevate the head or foot. The nurse-call system is located on the bed rail. The call button is a large orange, lighted square. The call system allows you to push a button and talk to the personnel at the nursing station. They will relay your requests to the appropriate staff member. Should your request be urgent please relay that information to those answering so they may communicate efficiently with the staff.
In the wall adjacent to your bed there are connections for such items as oxygen, suction and lighting. Side rails are on your bed for your safety. The nurses have been instructed to place them in the up position, especially in the evenings when patients may have had sedatives or other medications. Never try to lower them or to climb over them. If you need assistance, please use your nurse-call system. Should you notice any safety issues or concerns, please notify any available staff member and your nurse as soon as possible.
Safety Precautions
Most patient accidents within the hospital are caused by falls. Unless you have been told it is permissible to do so, it would be best not to get in or out of bed by yourself. Please ask your nurse to help you.
If the rails on your bed are in the up position, they are there for your own protection and to assist you in turning. Also, please do not try to get in and out of a wheelchair by yourself.
For safety measures, we discourage the use of electrical appliances that have been brought from home. This would include such items as electric shavers, hair dryers or curling irons. If you feel the use of such an item is necessary, please check with the nurse in charge. Maintenance personnel will check the item for safety and approve its use.
Inquires About You
We believe your health is a personal matter. Therefore, diagnostic and other confidential information about you will not be released to others. We urge you to tell your friends and relatives that they should contact a member of your immediate family to inquire about your progress. If relative or friends call the hospital, only a general report can be given after obtaining your permission.
Lost and Found
For items that are lost and/or found during your stay, please notify your patient advocate or your nurse. Unclaimed lost and found items will be turned in to our environmental services department where they may be identified and claimed. To inquire about lost items, please call (601) 443-2534.
Overnight Visitors
Occasionally, it is necessary for a relative to remain overnight. These situations may occur at the request of the patient, family or physician. For your safety and the safety of others, we ask that overnight guests be limited in number. For the comfort of those staying after normal visiting hours the hospital will provide available linen and comfort items upon request.
For patients who are under the age of 16, it is required that an adult, preferably a parent or guardian, remain with the patient.
During your hospital stay, it may become necessary for tests and procedures to be conducted outside your assigned unit. In those cases, family and parents are asked to remain in the patient's room unless otherwise directed by staff.
Private Duty Nurses
Your physician will determine if you need a private duty nurse. All nursing personnel who practice in the hospital must be approved by the hospital nursing office. Should your physician require that you have private duty nursing care, the nursing office can provide current available resources to assist you in securing this service.
Mail and Flowers
Mail will be delivered to your room by volunteers every day except Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. Gifts will be delivered to your room when they arrive. Plants and flowers are not permitted in the critical care units or the isolation rooms.
Telephone and Television
A telephone and television set is available in every patient room. Their use should be guided by a concern for others around you. Patients may receive calls between 7:30 a.m. and 9 p.m.
Calls placed outside the local area must be placed collect or charged to your home phone number or credit card number. Local calls can be dialed at no additional charge. To call most local exchanges, first dial 9, then dial the local number including area code. For long distance calls, dial 0 to reach the hospital operator. The hospital operator will ask if you need an in state or out of state operator. The hospital operator will then connect you to an outside operator.
Valuables
Valuables and/or money should not be kept in your room, as the hospital cannot assume responsibility for personal property. If a relative is present, you are encouraged to send such items home with that relative. If not, we encourage you to place such items in a valuables envelope, which we provide for you, to be kept in the business office safe.
Valuables may be obtained between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, with the presentation of the valuables ticket to the business office. Once valuables are returned to you, the hospital is no longer responsible for their safety.