Patient Information

Patient Safety Tips

1. Ask every person to identify themselves when they come into your room. Employees are required to wear their name tags for you to see. To help you distinguish between clinical and non-clinical staff, the hospital has a colour coded dress for its staff.
2.  Ask everyone, be it a caregiver or a visitors, to wash their hands. Hand wash is the best way to fight the spread of infections.
3. Before you go in for the procedure, ask to make sure they have the right patient and are going for the correct procedure. Your identification bracelet will be checked, you will be asked for your complete name and complete birth date many times. This may get tiresome and may seem inefficient, but it is a planned repetition to assure the correct procedure or medication is being delivered in the correct way to the correct person.
4. We have a rapid response team available round the clock in the hospital. This team will respond immediately if a patient’s condition deteriorates. They can be accessed by dialling zero on your phone.
5. If you have a physical impairment, difficulty in communicating, or not comfortable with English, we have ways to accommodate you and want to meet your needs to the best of our abilities. Please ask for assistance.
6. You will hear messages over the public address system calling “codes”. These are usually drills. Your caregiver will let you know if there is a real emergency.
7. Pay attention to signs. Many areas are restricted to patients and visitors for a good reason. These areas may be sterile or may contain dangerous equipment or radiation. Let your caregiver know if you find something broken or in disrepair or of any unsafe condition that you discover.
8. Leave all valuables at home, but be sure to bring adequate identification and your insurance information. Don’t leave your purse or other valuables unattended. If you have valuables and cannot send them home with a family member, ask that they are locked safe.