Doing What’s Right for Our Patients: Two Key Policies
Our patients have the right to receive safe care, free from abuse or discrimination. That’s why it’s important to review our policies related to these topics.
Patient Non-Discrimination Policy
This systemwide policy states that we will provide respectful, appropriate and professional treatment to all patients. Some of the ways we do this are by:
- Allowing religious clergy to visit with patients who request them
- Providing access to a designated support person for disabled patients; the support person can help the patient communicate with caregivers and manage the disabled patient’s unique needs
- Providing translation services to disabled patients and those who communicate using languages other than English
- Wearing appropriate PPE
- Using each patient’s preferred name and gender and documenting it in Epic
The full policy is available on PageCenterX. Search for "Patient Non-Discrimination." You can also download it from the link at the bottom of this page.
Reporting of Possible Abuse and Neglect Policy
This new systemwide policy provides guidance for all employees to report suspected abuse or neglect:
- First, report it to your manager.
- Managers should make sure the patient is safe, submit a SafeWatch report if the suspected abuse or neglect happened at a Carilion facility, and notify either Carilion police or police in the location where the suspected abuse or neglect occurred.
- Then, notify either the local social services agency or the state abuse/neglect hotline. The hotline for child abuse/neglect is 800-552-7096, and the hotline for adult abuse/neglect is 888-832-3858.
- Document these conversations in the patient’s medical record.
The full policy is available on PageCenterX. Search for "Reporting of Possible Abuse or Neglect." You can also download it from the link at the bottom of this page.
For More Information
We are planning education on these topics in the future, so stay tuned!
If you have questions, contact compliance@carilionclinic.org.
reason to believe a patient or visitor may be neglected or abused.
We have a Patient Non-Discrimination Policy and new systemwide Reporting of Possible Abuse and Neglect Policy.
You can find these policies on PageCenterX. Note that you must be on the Carilion network or Apps portal. You can also download them at the bottom of this article.
