How To Maximize A Stay In A Hospital

If you have a problem or are not satisfied with your care:

Step 1.Complain to the offending party or his or her supervisor.

• To more effectively deal with possible complaints, request the name of the nurse who is in charge for each shift. In addition to your room nurse, each floor has a head nurse for the floor.  Each nurse in turn has a nurse supervisor who answers to the hospital administrator.  
• If you have serious complaints or questions about your nursing care, you may wish to obtain the name of your case manager. Your case manager is the nurse responsible across the board for all shifts.  His or her assistance can be invaluable in resolving nursing problems

Step 2. If the matter isn't resolved, ask to speak with the hospital's patient representative, also known as a patient advocate or ombudsman. 

• The patient representative is a member of the hospital staff who serves as a link between the patient, family, physicians and other hospital staff. 
• The patient representative is familiar with all hospital services and should be available to answer questions about hospital procedures, help with special needs or concerns, and help solve problems.
• There is no charge for services rendered by the patient representative. 
• Keep in mind that although the patient representative is working on your behalf, he or she is a paid staff member of the hospital. 

Step 3. If the patient representative is unable to resolve your problem, it is time to go to the hospital administration. 

• The person who heads a hospital is usually known as the president or the hospital administrator.
• Go to the highest person you can reach.
• If you call the president, you may not get to speak directly with him or her. However, if you tell the assistant the problem, that person can usually get things moving. 

Step 4. If a serious problem arises between you and your doctor or nurse or social worker, find out how to contact the hospital's ethics committee.

• The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations requires that every hospital have an ethics committee which can hear patient complaints. 

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