When you or a loved one has to go to the hospital you want to it to be a comfortable experience. If it's your first time staying overnight at a hospital you may not know what to expect.
When you choose Lourdes Health System hospitals, be assured that our mission is to ensure you have the safest and most comfortable experience possible. When you arrive, you should receive a copy of our patient handbook that will guide you and your loved ones around our hospitals, and familiarize you with all of our services.
Listen in as Fran Hogan, RN explains that respect and dignity are values of utmost importance to all of us here at Lourdes.
What to Expect During a Hospital Stay
From the Show: Lourdes Health Talk
Summary:
Air Date: 9/8/16
Duration: 10 Minutes
Transcription:
Melanie Cole (Host): When you choose Lourdes Health System hospitals, be assured that our mission is to ensure that you have the safest and most comfortable experience possible. My guest today is Fran Hogan. He's a nurse manager at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center. Welcome to the show, Fran. So tell us what happens when someone has a scheduled procedure. When they first arrive at the hospital, they're nervous, they don't know what to expect. Tell them what to expect.
Fran Hogan (Guest): So, the first thing the patient's going to see when they come in the door is a very smooth transition. When you come in through the emergency room entrance where all of our procedure come through, they will proceed to our third floor where they will be greeted by a person. The person will sign in them very quickly, get them very efficiently taken care of, and then let them have a seat, assure their family that they're going to be taken care of. It is a scary experience, as you said, but we can assure that the patient is going to have a great experience. We tried to streamline the process as much as possible so that we can make it as smooth and as seamless for the patient and to not add any extra anxiety to the patient than they already have.
Melanie: Is that when paperwork gets filled out or is that done prior to arriving?
Fran: Paperwork is done prior to arriving as well as the day of the procedure. They will also get registered, they will get a bracelet--an I.D. bracelet put on their arm--so that we can identify them, that we can make sure that we validate their name, date of birth, and call them by name, and let the process begin.
Melanie: So, once the process does begin and they're taking up to a room to be readied for whatever the procedure, does the family get to go with?
Fran: The family can go with the patient before the procedure in the pre-op area. There are some things that the nurse needs to clear up with the patient, doing a health history. If the patient is English-speaking and clear to speak, we definitely make them part of the process. If the patient has some difficulty and we need some family members help with translation, we will allow the family members to help with that. But, we prefer to talk with the patients one-on-one to get a complete health history, if possible, but we do allow their family members to be part of that process.
Melanie: Fran, if somebody's got a scheduled procedure, do they arrive and get admitted to a room before the procedure or do they go into the procedure and then get admitted to a room?
Fran: The procedure area, they will go to first and then, once they have their procedure done, they will go into our recovery area and the recovery area will bring them to the room that they will be admitted to, should they require an overnight stay. Depending on their procedure, some procedures are same-day, so they will have their procedure, be in the hospital, and then out again, and then other procedures will require an admission overnight or for an extended period of time and those patients will go to their room, post-procedure area.
Melanie: And, what are the rules for family members and visiting hours?
Fran: So, the family and visiting hours are fairly open. We try to make the family a big part of the patient's healing process. In most units, the family members are unrestricted, depending on the unit that they're in. The intensive care unit is a little bit more strict with visiting hours, because of the nature of the patient. If the patient should have a life-threatening illness, and we hope that they don't, we allow family members to come in around the clock. You know, barring that, we have not a disruption to other patients in the rooms. On the other units, the medical surgical units, the telemetry units, the visiting hours are fairly unrestricted. We do ask that people try to restrict coming to visit during shift hand-off times which are 7:00 in the morning and 7:00 at night, just because the nurses are giving report about the patients in the rooms and we just don't always want the family members to be involved in that because it's sometimes distracting to the nurses to hand off. But, the visiting hours are fairly unrestricted in the hospital once the patient is admitted to a room.
Melanie: And, what about language translation assistance or deaf assistance services?
Fran: So, we have many different modalities to help people that have language-deficit issues. Number one, if we have a pre-scheduled patient coming in for a procedure, we will prearrange a translator to be on site, especially for sign language, American Sign Language, or another sign language interpreter that's necessary. We do have TTY machines that are available through the hospital operator for those patients who are deaf and who prefer to type. We also have a cyracom language line, which is a phone service that we use that connects patients with -- we have a card that they can read and they can point to the language that they most identify with, and we can call through to the service and we use a live interpreter on the telephone to actually communicate with the patient back and forth.
Melanie: And, if somebody is interested in spiritual care or pastoral care, is that available at Lourdes?
Fran: That is available at Lourdes because we are a faith-based institution and we're based with the Catholic Church, we have Catholic priests that can come and see the patients each day. We also have Eucharistic ministers and we have other faith-based people that can come and visit the patients. They offer prayer cards on every meal tray for patients and they also offer prayer booklets upon request and pastoral care for any religious preference that the patient has. We also have a chapel that's located in our main floor on the first floor when you come into the hospital, which is kind of the center point focal piece of the hospital that families and patients can go to. We offer mass services at noon in our chapel and we also have a non-denominational chapel which is adjacent to the main chapel in the hospital.
Melanie: And you mentioned meals. People always want to know about hospital food. What can they expect from Lourdes?
Fran: Well, hospital food is hospital food. I can't really say a whole lot about it. It's probably not five-star quality restaurant food like they want, but a lot of that's based on their diet. A lot of patients have restricted diets and because of those restrictions, it's not necessarily always what the patient wants, but it's what's in their best interest. So, you know, specific diets for diabetes, specific diets for cardiac care, since that's what we're most known for, usually restricts all the high-fat foods. The meal service is delivered three times a day. We also have snacks in between if the patient should want it. We keep the floor stocked with snacks on the floor for the patients in case they want it at any given time. If they're not happy with the menu choices that we offer, we have some alternatives for them as well.
Melanie: And, when we're talking about case managers, social workers, hospitalists, there are so many people that the patient deals with, it can be rather confusing. How can you clear that up a little bit for the patients at Lourdes?
Fran: So, here in the Progressive Care unit, the unit I manage, I can speak to most clearly. Every morning we have multi-disciplinary rounds at 9:30. These rounds bring together all of those disciplines, including physical therapy, dietary, doctors, hospitalists. It brings through case managers and social workers. So, the nurses are able to get a clear plan of care for their patient for their day and their plan for their discharge. So, when the nurses get that report at 9:30 in the morning, they're able to take that information back to the patients and clear up, “This is up what you're waiting on. These are the tests that need to come back before you can go home. These are the steps we need to take to get you discharged, and this is what we're looking at today for your plan.” So, each day we go through that, Monday through Friday, so that we're very clear about what patients' needs are and how we're going get them on the road to recovery and discharge.
Melanie: And, of course, the best part for patients is the discharge. Tell us about what goes on there.
Fran: So, the discharge is a comprehensive process that actually starts at admission. So, when we come into the hospital, we collect your medications that you're on at home. We also reconcile those medications while you're here. Some patients will come off the medication that they're on normally at home and we have to do that for certain reasons. Then, as we're getting closer to discharge, we reintroduce those medications back and, at times, we change them based on your condition. So, that medication process is a very important part of discharge. The other piece of discharge is education, which is a comprehensive part of the discharge process. So, the nurse will sit down with the patient, clearly go through with them each part of the discharge process, including activity and what they can do, what they cannot do. They'll also give them the opportunity for follow-ups with the physician. They'll give them phone numbers, they'll give them appointments. If necessary, we will even make the appointment if we have to. If the patient has an issue with a ride, the social worker can work through a method to get them to the place they need to get to. The discharge process is comprehensive. It's ongoing, like I said, during the admission all the way through to the discharge from the hospital itself. So, it's not one, specific thing, it's ongoing education for patients. It's a lot of paperwork that we give them when we leave, and we give them lots of information.
Melanie: And, Fran, wrap it up for us, if you would, with your best advice at what patients that are scheduled for a procedure can expect when they come into Lourdes Health System hospitals.
Fran: Well, you can expect high-quality care, you can expect efficiency, and you can expect that we're going to take the best care of you that we can. No need to be worried. We've got this, we've done it, we're very experienced, we're very celebrated, and we want you to have a good experience. We want to make your family part of that experience. We want you to enjoy it as much as you can enjoy a hospitalization. It's not always the easiest thing to do, but know that your best interests is our best interest and we want to make sure that we have successful outcomes.
Melanie: Thank you so much for being with us today. It's great information. You're listening to Lourdes Health Talk and for more information, you can go to www.lourdesnet.org. That's www.lourdesnet.org. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
Melanie Cole (Host): When you choose Lourdes Health System hospitals, be assured that our mission is to ensure that you have the safest and most comfortable experience possible. My guest today is Fran Hogan. He's a nurse manager at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center. Welcome to the show, Fran. So tell us what happens when someone has a scheduled procedure. When they first arrive at the hospital, they're nervous, they don't know what to expect. Tell them what to expect.
Fran Hogan (Guest): So, the first thing the patient's going to see when they come in the door is a very smooth transition. When you come in through the emergency room entrance where all of our procedure come through, they will proceed to our third floor where they will be greeted by a person. The person will sign in them very quickly, get them very efficiently taken care of, and then let them have a seat, assure their family that they're going to be taken care of. It is a scary experience, as you said, but we can assure that the patient is going to have a great experience. We tried to streamline the process as much as possible so that we can make it as smooth and as seamless for the patient and to not add any extra anxiety to the patient than they already have.
Melanie: Is that when paperwork gets filled out or is that done prior to arriving?
Fran: Paperwork is done prior to arriving as well as the day of the procedure. They will also get registered, they will get a bracelet--an I.D. bracelet put on their arm--so that we can identify them, that we can make sure that we validate their name, date of birth, and call them by name, and let the process begin.
Melanie: So, once the process does begin and they're taking up to a room to be readied for whatever the procedure, does the family get to go with?
Fran: The family can go with the patient before the procedure in the pre-op area. There are some things that the nurse needs to clear up with the patient, doing a health history. If the patient is English-speaking and clear to speak, we definitely make them part of the process. If the patient has some difficulty and we need some family members help with translation, we will allow the family members to help with that. But, we prefer to talk with the patients one-on-one to get a complete health history, if possible, but we do allow their family members to be part of that process.
Melanie: Fran, if somebody's got a scheduled procedure, do they arrive and get admitted to a room before the procedure or do they go into the procedure and then get admitted to a room?
Fran: The procedure area, they will go to first and then, once they have their procedure done, they will go into our recovery area and the recovery area will bring them to the room that they will be admitted to, should they require an overnight stay. Depending on their procedure, some procedures are same-day, so they will have their procedure, be in the hospital, and then out again, and then other procedures will require an admission overnight or for an extended period of time and those patients will go to their room, post-procedure area.
Melanie: And, what are the rules for family members and visiting hours?
Fran: So, the family and visiting hours are fairly open. We try to make the family a big part of the patient's healing process. In most units, the family members are unrestricted, depending on the unit that they're in. The intensive care unit is a little bit more strict with visiting hours, because of the nature of the patient. If the patient should have a life-threatening illness, and we hope that they don't, we allow family members to come in around the clock. You know, barring that, we have not a disruption to other patients in the rooms. On the other units, the medical surgical units, the telemetry units, the visiting hours are fairly unrestricted. We do ask that people try to restrict coming to visit during shift hand-off times which are 7:00 in the morning and 7:00 at night, just because the nurses are giving report about the patients in the rooms and we just don't always want the family members to be involved in that because it's sometimes distracting to the nurses to hand off. But, the visiting hours are fairly unrestricted in the hospital once the patient is admitted to a room.
Melanie: And, what about language translation assistance or deaf assistance services?
Fran: So, we have many different modalities to help people that have language-deficit issues. Number one, if we have a pre-scheduled patient coming in for a procedure, we will prearrange a translator to be on site, especially for sign language, American Sign Language, or another sign language interpreter that's necessary. We do have TTY machines that are available through the hospital operator for those patients who are deaf and who prefer to type. We also have a cyracom language line, which is a phone service that we use that connects patients with -- we have a card that they can read and they can point to the language that they most identify with, and we can call through to the service and we use a live interpreter on the telephone to actually communicate with the patient back and forth.
Melanie: And, if somebody is interested in spiritual care or pastoral care, is that available at Lourdes?
Fran: That is available at Lourdes because we are a faith-based institution and we're based with the Catholic Church, we have Catholic priests that can come and see the patients each day. We also have Eucharistic ministers and we have other faith-based people that can come and visit the patients. They offer prayer cards on every meal tray for patients and they also offer prayer booklets upon request and pastoral care for any religious preference that the patient has. We also have a chapel that's located in our main floor on the first floor when you come into the hospital, which is kind of the center point focal piece of the hospital that families and patients can go to. We offer mass services at noon in our chapel and we also have a non-denominational chapel which is adjacent to the main chapel in the hospital.
Melanie: And you mentioned meals. People always want to know about hospital food. What can they expect from Lourdes?
Fran: Well, hospital food is hospital food. I can't really say a whole lot about it. It's probably not five-star quality restaurant food like they want, but a lot of that's based on their diet. A lot of patients have restricted diets and because of those restrictions, it's not necessarily always what the patient wants, but it's what's in their best interest. So, you know, specific diets for diabetes, specific diets for cardiac care, since that's what we're most known for, usually restricts all the high-fat foods. The meal service is delivered three times a day. We also have snacks in between if the patient should want it. We keep the floor stocked with snacks on the floor for the patients in case they want it at any given time. If they're not happy with the menu choices that we offer, we have some alternatives for them as well.
Melanie: And, when we're talking about case managers, social workers, hospitalists, there are so many people that the patient deals with, it can be rather confusing. How can you clear that up a little bit for the patients at Lourdes?
Fran: So, here in the Progressive Care unit, the unit I manage, I can speak to most clearly. Every morning we have multi-disciplinary rounds at 9:30. These rounds bring together all of those disciplines, including physical therapy, dietary, doctors, hospitalists. It brings through case managers and social workers. So, the nurses are able to get a clear plan of care for their patient for their day and their plan for their discharge. So, when the nurses get that report at 9:30 in the morning, they're able to take that information back to the patients and clear up, “This is up what you're waiting on. These are the tests that need to come back before you can go home. These are the steps we need to take to get you discharged, and this is what we're looking at today for your plan.” So, each day we go through that, Monday through Friday, so that we're very clear about what patients' needs are and how we're going get them on the road to recovery and discharge.
Melanie: And, of course, the best part for patients is the discharge. Tell us about what goes on there.
Fran: So, the discharge is a comprehensive process that actually starts at admission. So, when we come into the hospital, we collect your medications that you're on at home. We also reconcile those medications while you're here. Some patients will come off the medication that they're on normally at home and we have to do that for certain reasons. Then, as we're getting closer to discharge, we reintroduce those medications back and, at times, we change them based on your condition. So, that medication process is a very important part of discharge. The other piece of discharge is education, which is a comprehensive part of the discharge process. So, the nurse will sit down with the patient, clearly go through with them each part of the discharge process, including activity and what they can do, what they cannot do. They'll also give them the opportunity for follow-ups with the physician. They'll give them phone numbers, they'll give them appointments. If necessary, we will even make the appointment if we have to. If the patient has an issue with a ride, the social worker can work through a method to get them to the place they need to get to. The discharge process is comprehensive. It's ongoing, like I said, during the admission all the way through to the discharge from the hospital itself. So, it's not one, specific thing, it's ongoing education for patients. It's a lot of paperwork that we give them when we leave, and we give them lots of information.
Melanie: And, Fran, wrap it up for us, if you would, with your best advice at what patients that are scheduled for a procedure can expect when they come into Lourdes Health System hospitals.
Fran: Well, you can expect high-quality care, you can expect efficiency, and you can expect that we're going to take the best care of you that we can. No need to be worried. We've got this, we've done it, we're very experienced, we're very celebrated, and we want you to have a good experience. We want to make your family part of that experience. We want you to enjoy it as much as you can enjoy a hospitalization. It's not always the easiest thing to do, but know that your best interests is our best interest and we want to make sure that we have successful outcomes.
Melanie: Thank you so much for being with us today. It's great information. You're listening to Lourdes Health Talk and for more information, you can go to www.lourdesnet.org. That's www.lourdesnet.org. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
