My experience as Hospital Service Director taught me, among other things, that when one of our members needed admission to a hospital, problems could, and most likely would, arise. The problems were often mundane in nature, but needed immediate attention before any treatment could begin.
In these days of nursing shortages both in the VA and civilian sectors, the probability of problems arising is even greater, which is why it becomes crucial to know your rights and responsibilities as a patient right from the start. In addition to requesting a patient handbook, patients need to find out who their patient representative is. It is the patient representative’s responsibility to deal with staff on the patient’s behalf and to solve any problems that arise while in the hospital. Therefore, problems should be reported to both the head nurse and the patient representative. Most problems are usually satisfactorily handled at this level. The proper hierarchy from there is the chief of spinal cord injury, the chief of staff, and the hospital director, but you shouldn’t have to resort to these officials if the staff is doing their job.
Self-advocacy is a powerful thing, but to exercise it effectively, you need to familiarize yourself with your rights and responsibilities as a patient. Having the proper tools to resolve a problem assures that the focus goes where it is needed: toward getting the health care you need, which is the whole purpose of being there. Of course, if you cannot get satisfaction from staff, I urge you to call our office for assistance.
Speaking of your health care, keeping your annual appointments goes a long way toward maintaining good health. As always, if you need assistance accessing proper health care, call our office and we will do our utmost to assist you. We know the problems because we experience them ourselves. Above all, do not ignore a health problem; deal with it in a timely manner. Again, don’t forget that we are here to assist you. We have the professionals with the know-how and the heart to help you get the proper care.
Until next month, please keep you annual appointments, and semper fi!
Peter Addesso
President
