Join In Program

Join in Program: Patients Taking Part in Their Care

Garnet Health Medical Center encourages you, our patient, to take part in your care and recovery. Our Join In Program offers the opportunity for you and your family members to feel comfortable asking questions of your healthcare team about your diagnosis, treatment or after care. We also support questions regarding staff practices and procedures that ensure you are receiving excellent care. This is accomplished by clear communication and understanding.

Your health and well-being is our priority and should be yours, too. Please don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you have concerns or do not understand something about your diagnosis or treatment plan, let us know. This will allow your healthcare providers an opportunity to better assist you.

Be sure you know:

• Your caregiver’s name and title.
• Your diagnosis and treatments.
• Your medications, what they treat and the possible side effects.
• The safety measures your healthcare team takes to properly identify you.
  • Expect every healthcare provider, responsible for your care, to ask your full name and date of birth. If they do not, feel free to inquire why they did not follow procedure.
  • Each healthcare provider will also check your armband before administering any treatments or medications.
• The risks, potential complications and expected outcomes that can result from your procedure or surgery.
• Our basic infection prevention and control procedures.
  • Each healthcare provider is required to wash and/or sanitize their hands before coming in direct contact with you. If you didn’t witness proper hand hygiene, feel free to ask them to wash and/or sanitize their hands.
• The alternatives to the treatments that were suggested or recommended.
• How to prevent an adverse event when it comes to your procedure or surgery.
  • Make sure that you and your healthcare team agree on exactly what procedure will be done just prior to it taking place. As it relates to surgery, the surgical team will take a time-out just prior to beginning surgery to ensure they are performing the correct procedure on the correct patient, marking the exact location on your body to which the surgery will take place. You will be involved in confirming these details.
  • Your follow-up care instructions before you are discharged.

During your stay, we encourage you to communicate with us regarding your comfort, needs, pain level and family relationships.

Please feel free to offer suggestions on:

• How we can improve your stay.
• How we can best meet your healthcare needs.
• How we can make your stay more comfortable.

Please notify your healthcare team about:

• Medications you are taking and any allergies you may have.
• Potential safety issues in your room such as spills, poor lighting, broken equipment or unnecessary clutter.
• Questions or concerns you may have throughout your hospital stay.
• Speaking directly with the Nursing Unit Director or Nursing Supervisor about your hospital stay, staff performance or any aspect of your care.

Please inform your caregivers of:

• Pain you may be experiencing.
• Special needs you have.
• Homecare needs or resources required upon discharge.
• Financial assistance.

We understand how important family and friends are to your recovery, hospital stay and after care. It’s important that you involve those that can help and support you through your diagnosis, treatment and recovery.

Discuss with family and/or close friends:

• Any questions regarding your current medical condition.
• Your appointed Healthcare Proxy. Be sure to sign all needed paperwork.
• Details related to preparing an advance directive.
• How they can obtain an update about your medical condition from your care team.
• Arrangements regarding assistance upon returning home.

Code Care Provides Immediate Medical Assistance

Garnet Health Medical Center is dedicated to making our hospital a patient friendly and safe environment. To provide further opportunity for you and your family to take part in your care, we offer a Code Care emergency response call system. Code Care was implemented to address the needs of any patient in the case of a medical emergency or when a patient is unable to get the attention of a healthcare provider.

A Code Care call provides you, the patient, and your family members an avenue to request immediate help, from within the hospital, for a medical situation.

Know when to call:

• If you, the patient, feel as though your condition has immediately changed for the worse and help is needed right away.
• If a noticeable medical change in a patient occurs that needs immediate attention and the healthcare team is not recognizing the concern.
• If there is a breakdown in how care is being provided and/or confusion over what needs to be done for a patient in an emergent situation.

To access Code Care, please call 7777 from a hospital phone. The operator will ask for caller identification, room number, patient name and the medical concern. The operator will immediately activate your Code Care which will notify a team of medical professionals, within the hospital, who will report to the room to assess the patient’s medical situation. Additional clinical support will be called in, as needed.

Patient Support

We're dedicated to improving the health and well-being of our patients. To us, success goes beyond clinical. It means supporting our patients holistically.

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Patient Experience Program

Our Patient Experience Program is designed to help patients and their families resolve issues that may emerge during their hospital admission. The Patient Experience Navigator’s role is to listen to concerns, explore and implement solutions.

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