Your Hospital Stay

Your Room

Following your admission you will be brought to your room, where a nurse will help make you comfortable, explain our daily routine to you and answer any questions you have.

Private Rooms

Rhode Island Hospital has a limited number of private patient rooms. If you would like a private room, please ask your physician or someone in the admitting office. We cannot guarantee that a private room will be available but will make every attempt to find one. Most health insurance plans do not cover the cost of a private room; if you elect to stay in a private room, payment will be required prior to your admission to the hospital.

Patient ID Bands

We will place a plastic bracelet on your wrist. The bracelet contains important information and, for your safety, we require that you wear it until you leave the hospital. When you receive your bracelet, please make sure your name and date of birth are correct. If the information is incorrect, tell the person placing the band so the information can be corrected immediately. If you lose your band, notify your nurse immediately.

Valuables

Please do not bring valuables or large sums of money to the hospital. You may wish to keep a few dollars with you for newspapers or personal items from the gift shop. If for some reason you feel you must bring valuables to the hospital, please have them deposited in the hospital safe at the cashier’s office. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Medications

During your stay, all your medications, including prescription drugs, over the counter drugs, vitamins, and herbal remedies will be prescribed by your physician. It is helpful to us if you bring a list of medications and doses that you currently take, but please do not bring your actual medications from home. Physician prescriptions for your medications will be reviewed by a pharmacist, filled by the hospital pharmacy, and given to you in the proper dose and at the proper time by your nurse.

Meal Service and Schedules

Well-balanced, healthy meals are planned and prepared by our qualified team of nutrition professionals. The patient menu provides a wide range of foods, as we take into account the needs and preferences of the patients and families we serve. Please let us know if you have any specific food needs or preferences by calling us at 401-444-8880 or by notifying your nurse, who will contact us. Excellence in nutrition care and service is our goal. We want to hear from you if we can be of assistance in any way.

Your doctor will order the diet that is best for you while you are in the hospital. Your diet may change a number of times and your room may change, but the nutrition department will have the most current information about you and will send you a meal based on your doctor’s order.

Each day you will receive a menu with the next day’s food selections based on the diet your doctor has ordered. Please select from the menu as early in the morning as possible to ensure you receive your personal food choices. If you are unable to select your menu you will receive the “Chef ’s Choice” until you are able to make your selections. Your meals will be brought to you in your room. Scheduled meal times are as follows:

• Breakfast: 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
• Lunch: noon to 1 p.m.
• Dinner: 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Snacks and beverages are available throughout the day. If you miss a scheduled meal because of surgery or another hospital procedure, please ask your nurse to assist you in getting a meal. If you would like to have food brought from outside the hospital, please check with your nurse first.

Registered clinical dietitians and dietetic technicians are available to explain a special diet, should you be on one, and to help you with any food or nutrition questions. Again, please call 401-444-8880 or notify your nurse if we can be of assistance.

Telephones

There is a daily rental fee for telephone service. You can pay by personal check or credit card. This allows you to make unlimited local calls. There is no additional charge for incoming calls or for calls made within the hospital. A TDD telephone is available for hearing impaired patients. Please notify your nurse if you require this service.

To make a:

• Local call (Providence area): Dial 9 + the number
• Long distance call*: Dial 0 for the operator or 9 + the 800 number of your long distance carrier
• Collect call: Dial 0 + the number (including area code when necessary)

*Long distance calls may be charged to your home phone, made collect or charged to a telephone credit card.

To call within the hospital, simply dial the five-digit extension number. Family and friends who wish to call you should dial 44 + the five-digit extension on your telephone. (For example, extension 4-7000 called from inside the hospital is 401-444- 7000 called from outside the hospital.) If you need assistance with your telephone, please call 401-444-7000 or ask your nurse.

Televisions

Television services are provided by Telehealth Services. Rhode Island Hospital offers free television service for all patients. A channel guide will be provided to you.

The television service at Rhode Island Hospital offers 40 channels, including NBC, CBS, ABC, Telemundo and the Portuguese Channel, the Food Network, CNN, ESPN, and many more popular selections. Channel numbers do not always match locally listed channels, so please check the channel guide provided to you. If you have questions about television service, please call 4-7000 from within the hospital or 401-444-7000 from outside the hospital.

Mail, Flowers and Newspapers

Mail and flowers are delivered daily to patient rooms. Family and friends should address your mail as follows:

Your Name
Rhode Island Hospital
Your Building and Room Number
593 Eddy Street
Providence, Rhode Island 02903

We will forward to you any items that arrive after you have left the hospital. There is a U.S. mail chute for outgoing mail near the elevators on your floor or you may give your mail to your nurse. Stamps are available at the gift shop.

Daily newspaper delivery is available on each floor. If you would like a newspaper, please ask your nurse. There are newspaper vending machines located in the Zecchino Pavilion snack shop and the Jane Brown Building lobby.

For Your Safety

During your hospital stay, you will notice that we take a number of precautions to ensure the safety of each patient.

• We utilize at least two ways to identify patients, such as name and date of birth. This is done to make sure that each patient receives the proper medicine, treatment and/or blood type.
• We strive for the highest levels of staff communication and make sure that important test results are quickly sent to the right staff person.
• We label all medicines that are not already labeled. We also find out what medicines each patient is taking and make sure that it is OK for the patient to take any new medicines with their current medicines. Finally, we provide a list of the patient’s medicines to their caregiver/doctor, family and the patient himself/herself before discharge, and explain all medicines on the list.
• We take extra care with patients who take medicines to thin their blood.
• We use the hand cleaning guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in order to prevent infection.
• We use proven guidelines to prevent infections that are difficult to treat, and infection of the blood from central lines.
• We use safe practices to treat the part(s) of the body where surgery was performed.
• We make sure that it is safe for patients to continue taking their current medicine if they must take small amounts of a new medicine, or a certain additional medicine for a short time.
• We identify any potential patient safety risks. As the patient, you also play a key role in ensuring your safety during your hospital stay.

We encourage you to:

• Ask questions
• Communicate with your entire care team
• Understand your condition and your medications
• Ask family members to advocate for you
• Participate in decisions about your treatment

Smoking Policy

As a leading health care provider, our mission is to improve the health of the people we serve. We are strongly committed to the treatment and prevention of disease and the promotion of health and safety, so we do not permit smoking in Rhode Island Hospital.

Smoking is strictly prohibited throughout the campus. Smoking is allowed outside the hospital, but not on hospital property.

Your Rights and Responsibilities

Rhode Island Hospital recognizes the rights of each of our patients, and has the right to expect responsible behavior from our patients and their families. Read about your rights and responsibilities here.

Services for patients