During Your Stay

Patients are admitted upon orders from their health care provider either as an inpatient or for outpatient observation. The decision to admit on an outpatient observation level or at the inpatient level rests with your health care provider.

Inpatient admissions may be at any of the following levels:

1) Acute Care

2) Skilled Care

The appropriate level of service for your inpatient admission also is the health care provider's decision in collaboration with Care Management staff.

Care Management and discharge Planning/Ethics

Our goal is to assist you in regaining your health and to make your stay as comfortable as possible while you are in the hospital so you may return to enjoying your life. Social Services and Discharge Planning assist patients and families in obtaining supportive services while in the hospital and in obtaining appropriate continuing care after leaving the hospital.

Examples of Services Include:

Ministerial support
Family support
Referral to community agencies (Example: Family Resource Center, Community Methodist Counseling, Department of Social Insurance, Pennyrile Allied Community Services)
Accessing services not provided by the hospital (Example: eyeglasses, indigent medication programs, hearing aids, dentures)
Finding resources to address family, financial, and situational problems
Problem solving
Ensuring good customer service
Accessing services needed after hospital discharge

If you have any issues or concerns where the Social Services/Discharge Planning area can assist, please let us know. The Discharge Planner/Social Service Designee can be reached at ext. 1015.

You will be asked during the admission process if you have ever executed an Advance Directive.

An Advance Directive may include a Living will, a Designation of Care Surrogate or an anatomical gift donation.

If you have an Advance Directive in place, the hospital staff and physicians will make every effort to comply with your expressed wishes to the extent permitted by existing laws. If the hospital or physicians are unable to comply with the Advance Directive and no alternatives can be agreed upon, then arrangements will be made to transport you to a hospital that can comply with your wishes.

When appropriate, and in keeping with Kentucky state regulations, family members will be asked of your expressed desire or their wishes in regards to organ donation to the Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (KODA).

Progress and knowledge in the medical field have permitted many advancements and procedures. Such progress may sometimes create an ethical dilemma for you and your family.

We believe in your rights and those of your family in choosing and directing your medical treatment.

An Ethics Committee comprised of physicians, a chaplain, and representatives from Nursing Services and other disciplines, serves as an advisory committee to physicians, other health care professionals, patients and their families in making decisions when dilemmas arise from ethical issues in patient care.

A hospital chaplain is on call at all times to help you with ethical and religious decisions and to offer uncompromised acceptance, care and hope.

If you need to talk to a member of the Ethics Committee or the Chaplain on call, ask your nurse or call the customer service line, ext. 1149.

For Your Safety and Security

Identification Bracelets
An identification bracelet will be placed upon your wrist following admission. This bracelet contains your name and patient number to help the people caring for you. If you have any known medical allergies, a red band that lists these allergies will also be placed upon your wrist.

For Your Protection
You may notice hospital personnel wearing gloves, masks, and other special clothing while performing certain procedures. These items are designed to prevent the spread of infection and are for your protection and the protection of others.

Fire Drills
Government regulations require hospitals to conduct regular fire drills. During all drills, alarms will ring and patient doors will be closed as a matter of routine. We appreciate your cooperation in following your nurse's instructions during practice drills.

Valuables
Since Crittenden Community Hospital cannot be responsible for articles kept in patient rooms, we ask that all valuables be sent home. If this is not possible, ask your nurse to contact the Business Office. They will arrange to have your valuables stored in the hospital safe until you are discharged.

Smoking Policy
Crittenden Community Hospital recognizes the need to set high standards of health awareness and became a smoke free health care facility. Patients and Visitors are not allowed to smoke in the hospital, annex, or medical office buildings.

Patient Meals/Hospital Cafeteria

Meals are one of the most important aspects of your hospital stay. A well-balanced diet with proper nutrients aids in your treatment, recovery and continued health. Patient meals are normally served at the following times:

Crittenden Community Hospital

Breakfast: 6:45 a.m. - 7 a.m.

Lunch: 11:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Dinner: 4:45 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Your physician prescribes your diet. A representative from the Food and Nutrition Services Department will visit your room to obtain your food preferences and discuss any special dietary needs.

Hospital Cafeteria

The hospital cafeteria is open Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. to meet the needs of visitors, hospital employees, medical staff members and volunteers. Hot meals are served in the cafeteria during the following hours:

Breakfast: 7 a.m. - 9 a.m.

Lunch: 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

On Saturday and Sunday, the hospital cafeteria is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m for guests to get drinks such as coffee and tea, but no meals are served.

Canteen

Open 24 hours per day, the canteen is located near the front lobby.

For Your Convenience

Your Room
To provide the most efficient care, rooms are arranged by medical specialty. We make every effort to place you in the appropriate unit and in the type of room you request. During times when many people need to be hospitalized, this may not be possible.

If we cannot honor your request on admission, we will transfer you when another room is available. We appreciate your cooperation in accepting room assignments.

If you request a private room, a three-day deposit of $25 per day or $75 must be paid in advance.

Mail
Volunteers sort and deliver patients' mail. Mail received after discharge will be forwarded to the patient's home.

Floral Deliveries
Flowers are delivered to patient rooms from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m daily by volunteers. Flowers delivered to the hospital after 5 p.m. will be given to the patients by the nursing staff.

Medications
Medications required during your hospital stay will be ordered by your physician and supplied by the hospital pharmacy. We request if you are using an inhaler or eye drops at home that you or a family member bring these in at admission so you may continue their use, under your attending physician's orders, while you are hospitalized.

If you bring any medications with you, these should be given to the nurse to be documented on your chart. The nurse will then ask you to send these medications home with a family member or they will be locked in the Pharmacy and returned to you at the time of discharge.

Gift Shop
The gift shop is operated by the Volunteer Hospital Auxiliary. The gift shop is well stocked with personal items, magazines, gifts and toys. The gift shop is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The gift shop can be reached at ext. 1086.

Hospital Auxiliary Staff

The Hospital Auxiliary staff are volunteers who provide a wonderful service to us. Auxiliary staff manage the information desk in our front lobby.

This is staffed Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. They also transport patients to and from their rooms on admission and discharge.

Pastoral Care

During the admission process, patients will be informed that the hospital will contact their personal minister if they wish. If the patient or family member does not have a personal minister, but a spiritual and/or pastoral counseling need is recognized, the facility has a "Chaplain on Call" program.

The Marion/Crittenden County Ministerial Association maintains a chaplain for our hospital. This service is made up of six to eight ministers who, on a volunteer basis, serve as our hospital chaplain for a week at a time. Their pictures are located in the hallway near the front lobby.

Contacts will be made to personal ministers, or the Chaplain on call, at any time during the patient's stay if the patient has a spiritual need and presents their requests to the nursing staff or Social Services department.

Patient Care Questions and Concerns

The staff at Crittenden Community Hospital hopes your stay is without complaint or grievance. However, our goal is to provide a mechanism to have your complaints/grievances heard and/or resolved if they do occur. A "Patient Grievance" is a formal, written or verbal complaint that is filed by a patient, when a patient issue cannot be resolved promptly by the staff present. CCH encourages you to voice complaints if you have them. We believe we cannot improve our care unless we know when there are problems. We thank you for discussing your problems with us, rather than others.

If you have a complaint about anything while in the hospital, we encourage you to discuss it with the staff present for prompt resolution. Most complaints can best be handled at this level.

If prompt resolution is not made, please ask to speak to the "Shift Supervisor." We believe problems should be resolved quickly.

If the Shift Supervisor is unable to resolve your complaint, please ask to speak to someone in Administration.

Telephone

For your convenience, telephone service is available in your room. To make calls to a local number, dial 9 and the seven digit number you wish to reach. To place a long distance call, dial the switchboard by dialing "0" and the hospital operator will connect you with the outside operator to place a collect, calling card call or charge the call to your home telephone number.

To call into a patient's room from outside the hospital, dial 965-1 plus the patient's room number.

Television

Your television volume and channel control are located on your bed, either on your pillow speaker or directly in the handrails. In consideration of fellow patients, we ask that you turn off your television by 10:30 p.m. The following channels are available:

2 ABC - WEHT Evansville

3 ABC - WSIL Harrisburg

4 NBC - WSMV Nashville

5 CBS - WTVF Nashville

6 NBC - WPSD Paducah

7 FOX - WTVW Evansville

8 Local Access

9 WGN Chicago

10 WB - WDKA Paducah

11 CBS - WEVV Evansville

12 CBS - KFVS Cape Giradeau

13 KET - WKMA Madisonville

14 TV Guide

15 IND - WKAG Hopkinsville

18 Home & Garden TV

19 The Health Network

20 QVC

21 WTBS Atlanta

22 Black Entertainment TV

23 Food Network

24 Nickelodeon

25 ESPN 2

26 ESPN - Total Sports Network

27 MTV

28 Inspirational Network

29 AMC - American Movie Classics

30 TNN - The Nashville Network

31 Lifetime TV

32 Country Music TV

33 Headline News

34 VH-1

35 C-SPAN

36 Fox Family Channel

37 Discovery Channel

38 CNN

39 TNT - Turner Network Television

40 TWC - The Weather Channel

41 TLC - The Learning Channel

42 Bravo

43 Animal Planet

44 A&E Arts & Entertainment

45 TV Land

46 TBN - Trinity Broadcasting Network

47 Home Shopping Network

48 CNBC

49 USA Network

50 Cartoon Network

60 Comedy Channel

64 Univision

65 The History Channel

66 MSNBC