Arrival on the ward
You will be met by a member of the nursing staff, shown to your bed and you may be asked to change into nightwear, a nurse will be allocated to care for you. (Except in Paediatrics, Midwifery and Rehabilitation Unit where patients wear normal daytime clothing and appropriate footwear).

Your nurse will take your pulse, temperature, respiration, weight, blood pressure and request a urine sample. The nurse will also take a brief history of personal matters which may be important during your stay in hospital (including the medication you have been taking at home).

A doctor will record your medical history and conduct a physical examination. Please answer questions about your health frankly and honestly. Your doctor will want to know about any allergies you may have to antibiotics, medications or food. Information and details about your health and condition will remain in confidence.

If you require any diagnostic procedures and tests (Pathology, CT scanning, x-rays etc) these will be scheduled for you. The senior nurse on duty will be able to answer any questions you may have.

Bed Allocation and Single Rooms
At Mildura Base Hospital, there are only a limited number of single bed rooms. These are allocated according to medical need in the first instance. If you have elected to be a private patient with a single room we will accommodate your request based on room availability. Sometimes single rooms need to be reallocated to patients based on medical needs. (Rehabilitation only provide public services).

Chaplains
Mildura Base Hospital has a daily visiting pastoral care service. These workers are part of our health care team and offer support and comfort in times of special need (eg. when a person feels lonely, distressed or anxious or just needs someone to listen for a while). They can be contacted at any time of the day or night through the nursing staff on your ward, or alternatively a minister/priest of your religion may be contacted.

The hospital has a Contemplation Room. It is always open and is a place of peace and quietness where it is easy to pray and reflect.

Electrical Appliances
Permission to use electrical appliances must be sought from the nursing staff. Small personal radios are permitted if equipped with earplugs, 2 radio channels are available through the television. Citizen ban (CB) radios and other forms of 2-way equipment is not permitted inside the hospital. Double adaptors and extension cords must not be used. All electrical appliances must be in good working order with no frayed cords. All electrical appliances (eg hair dryer, clocks) must have a safety inspection by Hospital Maintenance staff prior to use in the hospital. Your nurse will organise the inspection.

Fire and Emergency
In the event of a fire or some other emergency, the senior nurse or area warden will guide or advise you of the appropriate action. Please remain calm and do not panic. We ask that your visitors wait with you for specific instructions from the senior nurse or area warden. Mildura Base Hospital conducts on-going emergency procedure training for staff, addressing the areas of patient safety and evacuation.

Gifts
Gifts of lollies, food and drinks are often appreciated. Visitors are asked to consult with the nursing staff before giving patients any articles of food or drink. Some items may not be able to be consumed while the patient is undergoing a course of treatment.

Identification “Bracelet”
It is important that the plastic identification “bracelet’ placed on your wrist on admission (or on a toddler’s ankle) is worn during your stay in hospital. Please check to ensure that the information on it is correct. In the case of surgical patients it is placed on wrist and ankle.

Babies in Maternity require x 2 identification bands at all times.

Please notify a midwife if one comes off so it can be replaced promptly.

Infection Control
The hospital’s Infection Control program aims to minimise risk to all patients. This may mean some patients are cared for in isolation. Should this be necessary, the patient concerned is advised of the necessary precautions.

One of the most effective ways of preventing infection in hospital is hand washing or using special antiseptic handrubs. Patients can assist in preventing the spread of infections by washing their hands or using the hand antiseptic handrubs available. Visitors should be encouraged to wash their hands on arrival and after visiting you in hospital.

Interpreters
Interpreters are available through Interpreter Services. Please ask the nursing staff for help.

Hospital Liaison Officers – Aboriginal
The Aboriginal Liaison Officer assists patients and their families in understanding hospital procedures and terminology while ensuring that the care provided is appropriate to the patient’s needs. Liaison is also carried out between all health care staff to enable patients and their families to have an understandable explanation of diagnostic tests and treatment options.

The Aboriginal Liaison Officer will arrange appropriate support services, such as Meals on Wheels or the District Nursing Service. The Liaison Officer will organise links to specific relevant services in the community. They will also follow up patients upon their return home with personal visits or telephone calls.

The Aboriginal Liaison Officer may provide transport for patients to and from health care facilities when other suitable means of transport are not available.
The Aboriginal Liaison Officer aims to improve people’s access to and have an understanding of the health care services through 4 main functions: Support, Advocacy, Education, and Information.

The Aboriginal Liaison Officer can be contacted between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm, Monday to Friday via the paging system, or through the switchboard. The Aboriginal Liaison Officer is available after hours for emergencies only.

Hospital in the Home
Sometimes you may require admission to hospital or still require hospital care, but the care your require could be provided in your home. In these instances you may become a Hospital in the Home patient. For admission you must:

Want to choose to have your care provided at home
Have someone to care for you at home
Have access to a telephone
Reside within a 20 kilometer radius of Mildura Base Hospital.

Staff will visit your home and deliver your care safely. Visits will be made to you as frequently as required.

Leaving the Ward
The senior nurse is directly responsible for your safety and well-being. Please consult him/her before leaving the ward area. You must remain within the hospital premises until you are discharged, unless special arrangements have been made with your nurse.

Mail
Mail is delivered daily, Monday to Friday. Your mail should be addressed as follows:
Your Christian (given) name and surname
Your Ward
Mildura Base Hospital
PO Box 620
MILDURA VIC 3502

Greeting may also be faxed through to the following number: 03 50 22 3430. Outgoing mail may be left with your ward staff for posting. Cards may be purchased from the coffee shop. During weekdays letters may be posted through the hospital mail service (at front reception) on receipt of payment for postage.

Meals
Meals are served to patients throughout the hospital at the following times:
Breakfast: 7.30 am
Lunch: 12.30 pm
Evening Meal: 5.30 pm
Please ensure that you are within the ward at these times.

The hospital strives to provide a choice of meals and to supply special diets where this is necessary for your medical care. Every attempt will be made to cater for cultural or ethnic diversity. Consideration can be given to relatives or friends supplying familiar dishes if these are considered appropriate to your general care.

Media
If your hospitalisation involved Police, Fire and Emergency Services in some way, there are often media enquiries about the condition of ‘the patient’. A general comment such as satisfactory condition, stable condition, serious but stable condition or critical condition “in intensive care” is given. All other medical information is confidential and is not released without patient consent.

You may be asked for your willingness to be photographed, filmed or interviewed by a journalist as part of a news story. We will respect your wishes. The media often pursues stories and photographs of babies born in Mildura. Again, your wishes will be respected.

Medical Certificates
If you require a medical certificate to cover the time you are in hospital, please ask your doctor or one of the nursing staff. This should be done as soon as possible. If you require a specific type of medical certificate (eg Department of Social Security or for worker’s compensation purposes) your should let your doctor know. Do not wait until you are going home, as your doctor may not be available at that time.

Medical Information
When your relatives or friends telephone, we respect you’re privacy and only give out information to those individuals nominated by you. Your treating doctor/nurse will seek your consent before disclosing health information to friends and family.

Relatives and friends are not routinely notified when surgical procedures are to take place. If an immediate or urgent operation is to be performed, every effort will be made to notify your next of kin. If you are able, please provide the name, address and telephone number of a relative or friend or the name of a person who will deliver a message to them. We may need to make contact any time of the day or night.

Medical Records
We keep a confidential record of your medical condition and treatment. This remains the property of the hospital. Access to your medical record can be arranged. Please contact Health Information Services, Freedom of Information Officer (03) 50223303. Within the hospital access to your records is limited to health care professionals directly involved in your treatment. Your consent is needed to disclose the contents of your medical record, unless required by law.

Medical Teaching
Being a teaching hospital, Mildura Base Hospital must help train future health workers. Medical & Nursing students and recent graduates will assist with your treatment. They are taught at the bedside by specialist staff. You may be asked for details of your illness and be examined by one of them.

This type of training is important and we hope that you will participate. Your care and needs are of paramount importance to us so if you prefer not to participate, please let us know.

Medical Ward Rounds
You will be visited daily by a doctor or more frequently if needed. The nurse in charge of the ward will participate in these rounds. Ward rounds are generally conducted after breakfast but times may vary from ward to ward. Please do not hesitate to ask the senior nurse to see your doctor outside of these times.

Medications
It is important to tell your doctors and the nurses looking after you in hospital about any medications and other substances you take regularly or have taken recently. Many medications and alcohol & other drugs interact with other medications. Do not give yourself your own medications while in hospital. Only take medications given by the doctors or nurses treating you.

The pharmacy provides you majority of your medicines that you need while you are an inpatient of this hospital.

However, we strongly suggest that you bring all of your own medications into hospital with you so that the pharmacist can organise them for you when you are discharged. Your own medications will be stored safely in the pharmacy until you are ready to leave, then they will be delivered to you.

If you have any questions regarding your medications you may contact one of the hospital pharmacists either during your hospital stay or after your discharge.

Mobile phones & two-way radios
Mobile phones and two-way radios are not to be used within the hospital. They may cause interference to sensitive medical equipment with serious consequences to patients. Please ensure that mobile phones etc are turned off when entering the hospital.

Newspapers
Newspapers are delivered to the wards for purchase by the hospital trolley each weekday. They are also available daily from the Coffee Shop .

Noise
Please show consideration for other patients by avoiding loud conversations and keeping other noise levels (music etc) to a minimum.

NURSE-CALL-SYSTEM

The green nurse call button is located in the toilets, showers and on the white handset (TV control unit) at the bedside – a nurse will show you this on admission. Pressing either of green buttons will summon a nurse to assist you. The call registers until a nurse switches it off.
The black handset on the side of the bed will enable you to place the head, foot or height of your bed in a position for individual comfort, by pressing the appropriate indictor panel on either side – Left (for up) or Right (for down). A nurse will explain this to you on admission.

Patient Advocate
If you are not happy with any aspect of your care (or if your questions are not being answered to your satisfaction), you are encouraged to discuss this with the senior nurse on the ward or the hospital Welfare Officer. The matter will then be investigated and a prompt reply or resolution will be assured. If need be, the senior nurse/Welfare Officer will refer the matter to the Chief Executive Officer.

Patient Enquiries & news of baby’s arrival
It is vital for ward telephones be available in cases of an emergency. To avoid excessive telephone enquiries to wards regarding your condition – or news of baby’s arrival – we suggest that you nominate one person your relatives and friends may contact for information. You cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated. News of baby’s arrival is not given over the telephone.

Personal belongings and documents
Your nightwear, dressing gown, slippers and undergarments should be clearly marked with your name. Please bring your own toiletries (brush or comb, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, tissues, shaving gear etc) and reading matter or something to occupy your time.

If you wear glasses, please include them when packing. You will also need some clothes to change into for your return home. For convenience, you may also like to bring your watch, address book or a list of telephone numbers and a pen.

Maternity, Paediatric and Rehabilitation patients in ward are encouraged to wear daytime clothes.

Maternity patients are advised to have front opening nightdresses, maternity bras, nursing pads and sanitary wear. For discharge, you will need baby clothes, blanket, nappies and safety pins (if needed).
Please bring your Medicare card or health fund details/book (if you have private health insurance), a letter of admission from your doctor if you have one, current medication, list of drugs to which you are allergic and any relevant x-rays or ultrasounds (especially if you are a maternity patient). Also remember to bring your hand-held antenatal records if you are a Maternity patient.

Personal laundry
There are no facilities to wash personal belongings. The only exception to this is for patients in Rehabilitation Ward (for patients with no relatives and patients able to wash their own as part of therapy) and Mental Health.

Paediatric patients may use the Rehabilitation laundry in emergency situations.

Pharmacy (also see medications)
Pharmaceutical Benefits scheme operates for discharge medications. This means that we require you to bring in your Medicare card and any Pension or Concession cards or Safety net cards. You will be charged for your discharge medications and the amount you are charged for your discharge medications and the amount you are charged will depend on your level of concession.

The Pharmacy is open Monday to Friday 8.15 a.m., until 5.00 pm. Our phone number is 03 50223840.

Mildura Base Hospital is committed to conducting its services in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations and in accordance with the highest ethical standards.

Mildura Base Hospital complies with the Commonwealth Privacy Act and all other state/territory legislative requirements in relation to the management of personal information. We believe that our patients can feel safe in the knowledge that we safeguard their personal health information ensuring that confidentiality is respected and information is stored securely.
In order to provide you with the health care services that you have requested, we need to collect and use your personal health information. If you provide incomplete or inaccurate information to us or withhold personal health information from us we may not be able to provide you with the services you are seeking.

What information do we collect?
We collect information that is necessary for the provision of your health care. Often this may include collecting information about your health history, family history, your ethnic background or your current lifestyle to assist the health care team in diagnosing and treating your condition. Our staff will always endeavor to be sensitive to your needs when obtaining personal health information, however they are also committed to acting in your best interests by making a thorough assessment of your condition and medical history before recommending treatment.

How do we use your information?
Modern health care practices mean that your treatment will be provided by a team of health professionals working together. You may be referred for diagnostic tests such as pathology or radiology and our staff may consult with senior medical experts when determining your diagnosis or treatment. These health professionals will share your health information as part of the process of providing your treatment. Of course, we will only do this while maintaining confidentiality of all this information. Information will only be disclosed to those health care workers involved in your treatment. This will include such activities as providing a discharge summary to your referring medical practitioner or nominated general practitioner. If you do not wish us to provide a copy of your discharge summary to your nominated general practitioner you must let us know.

However, if in the future you are being treated by a medical practitioner who needs to have access to the health record of your treatment in our hospital we will require an authorisation from you to provide a copy of your record. The only time we would provide information about your health records to another medical practitioner without your consent is in the event of an emergency where your life is at risk and you are not able to provide consent.

In order to provide the best possible environment in which to treat you, we shall also use your information where necessary for the management of our hospital or health service and for activities such as quality assurance processes, accreditation, audits and education of health care workers.

Where we outsource any of our services or hire contractors to perform services within our hospital or health service we require them to also comply with the Commonwealth Privacy Act and our Privacy Policy.

Access to your health information
You have a right to have access to the health information that we hold in your health record. You can also request an amendment to your health record should you believe that it contains inaccurate information. Should you wish to obtain access to your health record you can ask for our Privacy Officer who can give you more detailed information about how to obtain access to your health record.

If you have a complaint about privacy issues
If you have a complaint about our information handling practices or feel that the privacy of your health information has been interfered with you can lodge a complaint with our Privacy Officer.

Smoking
Government regulations prohibit smoking in public buildings. The Mildura Base Hospital has introduced a smoke free environment. Visitors are not permitted to smoke on the hospital grounds. Patients, while encouraged not to smoke can utilise a designated 'patient only' smoking area. Cigarettes are not sold within the hospital.

Nursing staff may not be available to escort patients to the designated smoking areas.

Special Rooms
A relative’s lounge is located next to the Intensive Care Unit for visitors of patients in Intensive Care Unit and Maternity Services.

Palliative Care have their own lounge to be used and cleaned by family members – dishwasher available.

Staff Identification
Members of Mildura Base Hospital staff can be distinguished by their uniforms.

All wear an identification badge giving their name and position.

Telephones
The telephone number for Mildura Base Hospital is 03 50 22 3333. Outgoing calls may be made from a public telephone located in the front foyer and the Emergency Department waiting room. These phones will accept Telstra swipe cards and coins.

Bedside phones can be used with the “Phoneaway” card. Phone cards may be purchased from the coffee shop or front Reception desk for the cost of $5 or $10.

Television
Televisions are available at each bed. A representative from Hospital Television Rentals will visit the hospital between 2pm and 4pm Monday to Saturday and will arrange for you TV to be connected and advise you of rental charges. Outside of those hours please ring 1800 063 829 with any questions.

Valuables
You are requested not to bring valuables or large amounts of cash into hospital. If this is unavoidable, valuables will be placed in a ‘Patient’s Property Envelope’ in conjunction with the nurse looking after you.

You and your nurse will countersign the envelope. The valuables are then sent to the front reception desk and placed in a safe for safekeeping. At this time you will be issued with a receipt.

Alternatively, you may wish to give your cash and valuables to a relative to take home.

Special arrangements are made for unconscious patients.

No responsibility will be accepted for the loss of valuables retained in the ward. Likewise, the hospital cannot accept responsibility for damage to a patient’s personal clothing or items removed in the course of emergency treatment. Patients will require their receipt when collecting valuables from the safe.

Comments, Compliments and Complaints.

Patient care is our primary concern. We welcome your thoughts and invite you to discuss any aspect of your care with the team of health professionals looking after you. Alternatively, you can approach the senior nurse on your ward. If you or someone on behalf of yourself makes a complaint, remember it will not negatively affect the care you receive.

At times, you may be asked to participate in a “Patient Satisfaction survey”.

We would like to know ways you think our service can be improved and what, in your opinion we are doing well. The future direction of patient care at Mildura Base Hospital may be supported by your feedback.