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Patients & Visitors
At Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, we take your safety seriously.
Our staff works as a team to deliver not only top of the line care, but to make sure that your experience here is as safe and responsive as possible. Watch Your Step, which is listed below, is just one of the many initiatives that L+M has implemented to keep you and your loved ones safe.
Our most important partner in the process of providing safe patient care is you. When you come into the hospital, or you are here to visit someone, keep your eyes and ears open!
A very common error, made all across the nation and at all levels of care, is providing patient services to the wrong patient. At L+M as soon as you are checked into the hospital, whether it's at the Emergency Department, the admitting office or The Birth Place, you will be given a name band. This is usually placed on your wrist and stays there throughout your admission. Make sure that your name band is correct- it will contain your name and birth date.
Whenever a staff member is going to take you to a procedure, give you a treatment or provide any other patient specific care, they should ask you your full name and birth date. If they don't, SPEAK UP!
Another common area of patient injuries is falling in the hospital. Our staff takes this hazard very seriously. The nursing staff has undertaken the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's (IHI) "Reducing Patient Injuries from Falls" initiative. Every patient admitted to the hospital is assessed by a registered nurse for their likelihood of falling, and the appropriate safety program for each patient is implemented.
Every year, tens of thousands of Americans are injured by receiving the wrong medications while in the hospital. L+M is at the forefront of using new technologies to reduce human error in the dispensing and administration of medications in our facilities. On your inpatient armband is a barcode- like what you would see on a package at the market. Before a nurse gives you a medication, your barcode will be scanned as well as the medication and a computer system will link the two, telling us of any possible mismatch.
We are implementing computerized physician ordering, a safety strategy proven to reduce medication errors. Our pharmacy houses a new staff member- a robot to assemble patient medications, another proven error preventer. We are committed to giving the right medication to the right patient, but you can help! If you don't understand why a medication is being given to you or your loved one, please ask. If you or your family member's barcode isn't scanned when medications are being administered, SPEAK UP!
Washing your hands is the best way to prevent the spread of infection. We take that to heart at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital. Watch for more information about hand cleansing and other ways we prevent the spread of infections at L+M.
Watch our video on Patient Safety!
