Patient rights & responsibilities

• Please wash your hands before:
  • Eating and drinking
  • Touching any cuts, sores, or bandages
  • Touching your eyes, nose, or mouth
  • Leaving your room
• Please wash your hands after:
  • Using the toilet
  • Blowing your nose
  • Touching any cuts, sores or bandages
  • Touching garbage
• Ask your nurse, doctor, or other health care staff if they have just cleaned their hands. We should wash our hands with soap and water or hand rub every time we touch you or give you medication. Please ask us – “Did you just clean your hands?”
• Do not share food, personal care items (such as combs, brushes, and razors), or cigarettes with other patients.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue. The germs from a cough or sneeze can travel a meter (three feet or more). If you do not have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your elbow. Do not cough or sneeze into your hand.
• Do not go into other patients' rooms.
• Keep your bedside area tidy. Do what you can to keep yourself clean. Wash often, shower or bathe when you can. Ask for a clean hospital gown or pajamas if yours are dirty or soiled.
• We might offer you immunizations if you are more likely to catch any germs in hospital. We encourage your family and visitors to get immunized against the flu and COVID-19 to help us prevent illness.

Make sure the information on your identification (ID) bracelet is correct. We will ask to see your identification bracelet before we do any procedures or tests. We may also ask you to identify yourself verbally.

It is important to take the medication your doctor prescribes (gives you) regularly. Please follow these instructions:

• The medications we give you in hospital could look different from what you take at home. If you have any questions about your medications, ask us.
• Make sure you tell us about all the medicines you are taking. These include samples from your doctor, vitamins, herbal medicines, diet supplements, natural remedies, and other medicines you buy without a prescription or over the Internet (such as laxatives, antacids, Aspirin).
• Know the side effects of your medications and what to do if you have any problems. If you’re not sure, please ask us!
• Tell us if you have any allergies or reactions to your medications.
• Tell your care team if you think you have missed or forgotten to take a medication.
• Ask your doctor or nurse practitioner before taking any medicines you brought from home.

A hospital is a public building with many people coming and going. Items can easily go missing. Please send your jewelry and important belongings home. If you do not have anybody to give your belongings to, we can lock up small items in the hospital safe. We suggest you get insurance for valuables you need to keep with you. Keep your glasses, hearing aids, and dentures in a case. Label the case with your name. Place these items in their cases when you are not using them.

• Wear slippers with rubber soles or non-skid socks so you don't slip on the floor. Most falls happen when patients try to get out of bed to go to the bathroom on their own. Ask for help when getting out of bed, especially at night.
• If we say you can get out of bed and walk on your own, make sure you have enough light to see where you are going. If we tell you to only get up with help, use your call bell and wait until someone comes to help you.
• Ask your nurse to check that your bed is at the lowest position. Let your nurse know if it is hard to walk with equipment such as an intravenous (IV) pole.
• When you are in bed, make sure you can easily reach your call bell, telephone, eyeglasses, or anything else you might need.

If you cannot reach something, ask someone to move it closer. If you need a walking aid such as a wheelchair, walker, cane or crutches, one of our physiotherapists can help arrange this.