Tegional text
Welcome
Welcome to Tift Regional Medical Center. We are pleased that you and your physician have selected us to provide your medical care. As a healthcare institution, our goal is to provide you with the comprehensive services needed to treat your illness. This guide acquaints you with our hospital. If you have questions or concerns about your hospitalization, please bring them to our attention. We are here to serve you and want to make your stay as comfortable as possible.
Mission Statement
The mission of Tift Regional Medical Center is to serve the health needs of the patient and to improve the quality and performance of healthcare for the community and surrounding areas.
Your Room
Your room assignment at Tift Regional Medical Center is based upon your admitting diagnosis and the bed availability on the day of your admission.
- Individuals shall be accorded impartial access to treatment or accommodations that are available or medically indicated, regardless of race, creed, sex, national origin, or sources of payment for care.
- Private (single-bed) and semi-private (two-bed) rooms are available except in Pediatrics and Orthopedics where there are only private rooms. Medical insurance usually does not cover the full cost of a private room. If you are assigned a private room, you will be responsible for the difference in cost.
Your Hospital Bed
Hospital beds are electrically operated, and our staff will show you how to work your bed properly. Bedside rails are for your protection because your hospital bed is probably higher and narrower than your bed at home. Be sure you have the bed adjusted to the position nearest the floor when getting out of bed. Remember to wear shoes or slippers when walking in your room or the hallway.
Room Temperature
All rooms in the hospital are centrally heated and air-conditioned. If your room temperature is not comfortable, please notify the nursing staff.
Calling Your Nurse
A button to call your nurse is located at your bedside. When you press the button, the nursing station is alerted that you need assistance. A staff member will respond to your signal as soon as possible.
During the Night
Please stay in bed after you have been prepared for the night. Strange surroundings and sleeping medications may create a hazard if you get out of bed. For assistance during the night, use your call button.
Leaving the Unit
If you want to leave the unit, please check first at the nurses’ station to make sure your doctor has given approval and to let the staff know where you can be reached. It is important to stay in your room until your doctor has made rounds and treatments have been completed.
Television
Color television sets are provided free of charge in each room. Please be considerate of other patients by setting the volume on TV sets low and by turning off your set at bedtime.
Telephones
Telephones are provided in each room, except the Intensive Care Unit. Patients may make local calls by dialing 8 and then the number. Long distance calls cannot be charged to your room. To make a long distance call, Dial 8, then 0, then the area code and number. You can make a credit card call, charge a long distance call back to your home number, or make a collect call.
Your family and friends can call you in your room between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. by dialing (229)-388-4-plus the three-digit room number. For example, to call room number 228, dial (229)-388-4-228. You may call the hospital operator by dialing 0 at any time for assistance.
d Service
Dietary Services
Wholesome, nourishing and well-balanced meals are planned by a registered dietitian and are an important part of your treatment and recovery. Tift Regional Medical Center makes every effort to provide nutritious meals that are prepared according to your doctor’s orders.
Patients are served breakfast between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., lunch between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and dinner between 4:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Occasionally your meal may be delayed if you are scheduled for a special test or treatment. Whenever possible, you will be served after your examination or test.
If a patients’ family member request a tray to be sent to patient room, the family member must go to the cashier in the dining room and request a meal and pay for it there. The dining staff will then place your meal order and send it up with the patient’s meal.
Cafeteria
The cafeteria at Tift Regional Medical Center is open daily as follows:
Breakfast: 6:15 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.
Lunch: 11:15 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Supper 4:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
The grill is open 6:00 p.m. – 1 a.m.
(Hospital employees usually eat lunch between 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. and visitors are asked to please eat between 12:30 p.m. -1: 30 p.m. when possible.)
Vending Machines
Vending machines for snacks and beverages are located in the Emergency Department, Day Surgery waiting areas and near the Switchboard. They are available 24 hours a day.
Smoking
Cigarettes and smoking materials are not sold at Tift Regional and smoking is strictly prohibited throughout the hospital. Visitors may smoke only in outside designated smoking areas which are located:
- At the picnic tables on the lawn beside the entrance for outpatient referral testing and inpatient admissions. (Next to the Lee Avenue entrance.)
- At the end of the breezeway closest to Day Surgery and Employee Parking, outside the Day Surgery Center.
Fire Drills
For your protection, the hospital conducts fire and disaster drills regularly. If a drill occurs while you are here, please remain in your room and do not become alarmed.
Oxygen
Special regulations are in effect in areas where patients are receiving oxygen. Absolutely no smoking is permitted in any room where oxygen is in use or on standby.
Pain Management
Your physician and staff will make every effort to assist you in managing pain. This may include use of medication or other means to assist you.
Medications
All medications you take while in the hospital are prescribed by your doctor, dispensed by the hospital pharmacy and administered by a professional licensed person such as a nurse. Patients are not permitted to administer their own drugs or keep personal medications at their bedsides. Please be sure to give all medications you are presently taking to your nurse.
If you are given any medication that you do not recognize or are unfamiliar with, ask a nurse about the medication before taking it.
Patient Safety
- If a patient room has a red stop sign on the door, speak to a nurse before entering!
- Speak up if you have concerns. It’s okay to as questions and to expect answers you can understand.
- Keep a list of all medications you take.
Wheelchairs
Wheelchairs are available on all nursing units, but getting in and out of them without assistance may be hazardous. Please ask for help from a member of the hospital staff.
Valuable or Lost Items
Patients are asked not to bring items of value to the hospital. If you do bring a valuable item, such as money, jewelry, clothing or medicine, please have it taken home by a family member. If a family member is not available, valuables will be deposited in the hospital vault. When not in use, dentures should be placed in protective containers which are available from your nurse. Eyeglasses and contact lenses should be placed safely in the bedside cabinet. The hospital cannot be responsible for the breakage or loss of such articles. The hospital does not accept responsibility for items of value unless they are deposited in the vault. If you lose something, please notify your nurse immediately, and we will make every effort to help you find it. Unclaimed articles are turned in to the Environmental Services Department where they are kept for 30 days. To inquire about lost articles, call Environmental Services at 229-386-6171.
Cellular Phones
It is requested that cellular phones not be brought inside Tift Regional Medical Center. If a cellular phone is brought to the hospital be sure it is turned completely off so it will not have a detrimental effect on highly-technical medical equipment.
The Medical Staff
The physician who admits you is responsible for directing your care while you are in the hospital. Your physician, as the coordinator for your treatment program, should be consulted if you have questions about your illness.
The Patient Care Staff
Twenty-four hour patient care is provided by a team of professional registered nurses, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, licensed practical nurses and support staff. A head nurse is responsible for directing and coordinating nursing care on each unit. Please feel free to contact your head nurse if you have questions or concerns. There is also a supervisor on duty 24 hours, seven days a week who assists with any needs or concerns patients may have.
Pastoral Services
Tift Regional Medical Center believes that total patient care requires attention to the spiritual, as well as the physical and emotional needs of each patient. Members of the pastoral services staff are available to assist you, whatever your religious preference. Requests for ministers should be given to a nurse, to the clergy-person on-call or to the Patient Representative. Your minister is always welcome to visit you while you are here.
Quality Management Staff (Social Services)
Case Managers, Discharge Planners and Social Workers are assigned to each patient care area and are trained to help patients and family members deal with financial, social and emotional problems that relate to illness or hospitalization. Members of the department work with patients and families to help them deal with long-term illnesses and rehabilitation and are involved in discharge planning, including home health care services, durable medical equipment or referrals to outside agencies. Other specific services may include crisis intervention, continuing care planning and implementation, referral to community resources and institutions and assistance with arrangements and transfers to other facilities. The department also provides assessment, coordination and referral of indigent and under-insured patients to state and federal programs which may provide assistance with medical expenses.
Patient Accounting
A patient accounting representative from the Patient Financial Services Office can answer questions about your hospital bill and help you interpret financial policies and billing procedures at the hospital. You may contact the Patient Financial Services Office by calling extension 6124 Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Housekeepers
Your room is cleaned daily by a housekeeper from the Environmental Services staff. If there is a housekeeping issue you need to report, tell your nurse, and it will be taken care of as soon as possible.
Volunteers
Volunteers from the Tift Regional Medical Center Auxiliary contribute many hours of service and financial assistance to the hospital. They supplement the services of the hospital staff in many ways and can be identified by their nametags, pink vests and red coats.
Patient Representative
During your stay, you may be visited by the Patient Representative who is on duty during the day Monday through Friday. It is the Patient Representative’s responsibility to assist patients and their families with any special needs. The Patient Representative understands what it is like to be a patient and knows the hospital policies, procedures and people. It is the Patient Representative’s responsibility to ensure that you receive courteous and efficient service from all hospital employees, and that every hospitality is extended to you. There is a Patient Representative who is assigned to the Emergency Department during the evenings to assist patients and their families.
How the Patient Representative Can Assist You
To make your hospital stay as pleasant as possible, your Patient Representative can assist when you:
- have compliments, questions and concerns, or complaints and grievances.
- desire information about Advance Directives- living will or durable power of attorney for health care.
- need a good listener.
- need information about the hospital, its rules and regulations.
- have a specific problem or need to obtain services of banks, lawyers, motels, etc.
- have lost or found something in the hospital.
- need a progress report concerning a family member who is a patient in the operating room, recovery room or is in outpatient surgery.
- need to contact a local minister of your faith.
- need assistance in placing pets with local vets.
Dial extension 7744, or request that a nurse contact the Patient Representative for you.
Other Personnel
During your stay, you may be visited by many other healthcare professionals, including personnel from the laboratory and radiology departments and physical, occupational or respiratory therapists. When necessary a Patient Educator may be assigned to work with patients who have specific medical needs. In addition, the Tift Regional Medical Center family includes many behind-the-scenes workers, such as accountants, engineers, secretaries, food service workers and others who contribute greatly toward your well being while you are here.
Visiting Hours
Visitors can be good medicine for patients. Family members and friends are welcome to visit. However, patient care is our primary concern at Tift Regional Medical Center, and in order to enhance the quality of care, specific visiting hours and regulations have been established for each unit. Visiting hours are from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., however special visitation rules and regulations are in effect in the Intensive Care Unit, Pediatrics, and the Women’s Pavilion. Please see information on these units for the details. If you need additional information, please check with the nurse on the unit.
Visiting Regulations
Following are general guidelines for visitors:
- Visitors may not smoke in patient rooms or anywhere in the hospital; however, there are designated smoking areas outside.
- Visitors must dress appropriately and must wear shirts and shoes.
- No more than two visitors are allowed at the bedside at one time. Visitors in semi-private rooms should be considerate of both patients.
- People with colds, sore throats or any contagious diseases should not visit patients. Visits should be kept short. Visitors should maintain a quiet environment and avoid unnecessary noise.
- Visitors may be asked to leave the room during tests or treatments or when the doctor or nurse needs to see the patient.
- Children under 12 years of age are encouraged not to visit patient areas. Children are more susceptible to contagious diseases than adults. Children are not allowed to visit in ICU and Solarium.
- Children under 12 are not to be left in the hospital unattended.
- Quiet is essential. Speak quietly and avoid unnecessary noise. Refrain from loud talking in corridors.
Information About Your Condition
- Any personal information about your diagnosis and treatment will be released only with your expressed permission.
Gifts for Patients
Visitors should check with the nurse before bringing gifts of food or drink to patients. Please check with the nurse to make sure your gift is appropriate. On the intensive care unit, please check with the unit regarding any gifts for patients. Latex balloons are not permitted at TRMC because of the risk they pose to pediatric patients.
Parking
Parking for patients and visitors is available on the 18th Street side of the hospital, near the main entrance. Parking is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All parking at Tift Regional Medical Center is free. Patients and visitors are cautioned not to park in reserved areas or certain designated areas. Please be sure to lock your car. If something happens which causes you to need assistance with your vehicle, please call the Security Department at extension 7727.
Waiting Areas
There is a general waiting area in the front lobby for visitors. Specific waiting areas have been designated for families of patients in the Intensive Care Unit, Women’s Pavilion, Emergency Department and Day Surgery.
Out-of-Town Visitors
Accommodations for relatives and visitors from out-of-town are available at nearby motels. For more information, you may wish to contact the Patient Representative.
Gift Shop
The Gift Shop, staffed by volunteers, is open from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m,. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Saturdays and noon until 4 p.m. on Sundays. The shop has gift items, greeting cards, stamps, candy, toiletries, flowers and plants. The Gift Shop extension is 7743.
Chapel
The chapel is located on the first floor near the front entrance. Visitors of all faiths are welcome to visit the chapel for prayer and meditation.
Letters and packages for patients are delivered each morning by volunteers. Letters and parcels that arrive after you have been discharged are forwarded to your home. Stamps may be purchased from the hospital’s Gift Shop on the first floor. Outgoing mail may be left at the nurses’ station.