Addressing Your Concerns

Addressing your concerns is a top priority of Jennersville Regional Hospital staff and administration. If you have questions or needs that you feel have not been addressed by your care team, you may contact our Customer Service line at 610-869-1220, or dial extension 1220 from any Hospital telephone. The role of Customer Service is to ensure that the Hospital is continuing to meet your needs and to intervene on your behalf if you feel your needs have not been met. If you are dissatisfied with the service you've received or still feel that your needs have not been met, you may also:

• Contact the Hospital's Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) by calling 610-869-1445.
• Contact the Hospital's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) by calling 610-869-1001.
• Contact the Department of Health, Acute and Ambulatory Care Services toll free by calling 1-800-254-5164 or contact them by mail at: P.O. Box 90, Harrisburg, PA 17108-0090.
• Contact the Joint Commission toll free by calling 1-800-994-6610 or by mail: Office of Quality Monitoring, Joint Commission, One Renaissance Boulevard, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181

Patient Rights and Responsibilities

Listed below are just a few of the many Patients Rights and Responsibilities. For a complete copy, including patient rights for pediatrics and adolescents, please call our customer service line at 610-869-1220. Para obtener una copia en español de los Derechos y Responsabilidades del Paciente, llame a Servicio al Cliente, al 610-869-1220.

You Have the Right to...

• be treated in a safe setting as a person with worth and dignity.
• know the names of all healthcare persons having direct contact with you.
• make advance directives and have them followed.
• confidentiality concerning your care and treatment.
• an interpreter or aide, if you do not understand English or have special needs.
• prompt emergency procedures, when called for.
• the highest standards of professional healthcare.
• receive full information in layman's terms about your condition, treatment, prognosis and diagnosis.
• have access to all of Jennersville Regional Hospital services.
• participate in and make decisions about your plan of care.
• receive a complete explanation of the charges billed to you by the hospital.
• share your concerns about hospital policies and procedures without fear of restraint, interference or reprisal, and to receive resolution.
• contact the hospital's Customer Service office at 610-869-1220, to discuss any dissatisfaction with our services.

You Have the Responsibility to...

• supply your physician and other hospital personnel with all information needed for the successful planning of your healthcare.
• provide the hospital business office with current and accurate insurance information, and to pay your bills on a timely basis.
• inform the hospital of any change of name, address or telephone number in the months following your discharge.
• follow the treatment plan and advice of your physician(s) and to accept the responsibility for refusal of treatment.
• ask questions if you do not understand your treatment plan.

Advanced Health Care Directive

What is an Advance Health Care Directive?

As part of your right to decide what happens to you, you have the ability, except in some limited instances, to accept or refuse any recommended medical treatment. This is relatively easy when you are well and can communicate. However, during severe illness communication can be difficult or even impossible. It is during these times that an Advance Health Care Directive can be useful.

Two Types of Advanced Health Care Directives

A Living Will or Declaration is a document in which you write down what you specifically want or do not want to happen if you were terminally ill or in a state of permanent unconsciousness and could not make decisions for yourself. Examples of actions that might be addressed by your Living Will are cardiac resuscitation, intravenous feeding, hydration, organ donation or being placed on a ventilator. Please note, a Living Will is not the same as a Will, which determines the status of your estate.

Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care is a document in which you name someone to make medical decisions for you should you become unable to make these decisions for yourself. This person does not need to be an attorney. It is important that you discuss your healthcare wishes with the person you appoint.

Ethics Consult

What is an Ethics Consult?

It's an opportunity for patients, family members, physicians and other members of the healthcare team to come together to deal with an ethical concern. The primary function of an Ethics Consult is to ensure that any ethical matter is considered in a mature, reasonable and informed manner - not to criticize or judge the patient, family members, physician or other healthcare providers involved. Any resolution reached during the consult must appropriately respect the moral views of the patient and family members, as well as the professional and ethical integrity of the physician, healthcare providers and Jennersville Regional Hospital.

When is an Ethics Consult Appropriate?

• When a patient, surrogate, family member, caregiver, physician or member of the healthcare team wants to discuss ethical dimensions of the patient’s care.
• When efforts by the patient, surrogate, family member, caregiver, physician or healthcare team to resolve an ethical issue have reached an impasse.
• When there are serious ethical concerns between the patient (or surrogate) and the physician (or healthcare providers) or within the patient/family relationship.
• When the concern is ethically unusual, unprecedented or very complex.

Who May Request an Ethics Consult?

The patient, surrogate, physician or patient's healthcare providers may request an Ethics Consult. The physician is always invited to participate. You may request an Ethics Consult by contacting the Chief Nursing Officer at 610-869-1445 or by speaking with your nurse. We will schedule the consult in a timely manner, usually within 24 to 48 hours of the request.