Patient Care

Patient Care
OhioHealth Southeastern Medical Center  /  Patients and Visitors  /  Patient Care

What Patients Can Expect at Southeastern Med

At Southeastern Med in Cambridge, Ohio, patient care is our highest priority. From testing and procedures to nutrition and medication management, there’s a lot that goes into your care while you’re in the hospital.

Infection Prevention

Our Infection Prevention program is designed to promote a safe and healthy environment for healing, and to minimize the risk of spreading infections to patients, health care workers and our other guests.

Our program is simple, yet effective, and the first and most important measure taken to reduce the risk of infection is the simplest of all.

Handwashing

It is important for all health care professionals to clean their hands both before and after contact with each patient. While we do all we can to offer a safe and clean environment, we hope that you’ll help us by taking part as well. We encourage patients and visitors to clean their hands after sneezing, coughing, and using the restroom and before and after eating. It’s also helpful for visitors to clean their hands when entering and leaving a patient’s room. Either hand sanitizer or soap and water works most of the time.

Coughing

Covering your mouth with a tissue while you cough or sneeze goes a long way towards stopping germs from spreading. Be sure to throw away used tissues in the wastebasket and clean your hands afterwards! If tissues aren’t available, we suggest sneezing or coughing into your upper sleeve as an alternative.

Visitors

We welcome friends and family to visit our patients, but for your protection as well as that of our patients, we ask that you check with the nurses’ station before entering a patient’s room. We also suggest limiting the number of visitors to two at a time to reduce the spread of infection. Anyone with a fever, cough, cold, sore throat, or contagious illness should avoid visiting patients in the hospital.

Medication Administration

As part of your patient care, you may be given medication, so it’s important for us to be aware of any potential interactions. Tell your healthcare team about any and all medications you are taking, even if they seem insignificant, such as over-the-counter pain relievers, allergy medications or vitamins.
Your Southeastern Med healthcare team will be checking on you regularly, so be sure to communicate any side affects you may experience.

Pain Management

Pain management is one of the ways we keep you comfortable during your stay. Your health care team will discuss your pain control goals with you and administer medication accordingly.
Be forthcoming with them and tell them if you are experiencing pain and to what level it hurts. Describe your pain using words such as sharp, dull, aching, stinging, or burning, etc. Be specific about the location and intensity of the pain and if moving or breathing makes it better or worse.
We’ll continually evaluate your pain management services to make you as comfortable as possible.

Rounding

Patients should expect to have someone check on them once every hour during the day and every couple of hours at night.

Condition H

Another critical component to your patient care is something we call Condition Help, or Condition H. If you or family members need to notify us of a change in your condition or request emergency assistance, dial 77 from your room phone and press the nurse call light. Our operator will ask for the patient name, room number, and concern. The operator will then activate Condition H and a patient care team will be immediately alerted to come to your room and assess the situation.

Advance Directives

Advance directives such as Durable Power of Attorney and a Living Will are ways to express your healthcare wishes. Advance directives allow everyone involved in your patient care, including your healthcare team and your family, to know your wishes before treatment occurs. They are especially helpful in the event that you can’t communicate your wishes.
If you do have an advance directive, we’ll need to have a copy of it on file, and someone from your patient care team will review it with you to be sure it expresses your current wishes.
If you don’t have an advance directive on file, we can provide you with information to help you control the extent and intensity of your care. If you’d like information on advance directives, contact our Spiritual Care Department

Transition to Home

When you are ready to be discharged, your nurse will talk with you about your transition to home. He or she will give you and your support person a list of medications and instructions, as well as any documentation for follow-up appointments. Don’t hesitate to ask any questions you have.
If you need help at home, you may qualify for a home health agency representative to visit you.

Call our Case Management Department

Patient Care

Outpatient Care

We strive to provide convenient, simple and effective outpatient services for our guests. To ensure your visit is efficient and successful, please review the following information.

Parking

Please park in the yellow lot and enter our facility through the main lobby on the first floor.

Registration

  • When you arrive, report to the registration area on the ground floor, right in front of the elevators UNLESS you are an endoscopy patient. You should go immediately to the endoscopy department on the 3rd floor.
  • Our clerks will take your information, register you, and tell you where you need to go.

Please Bring:

  • Signed doctor’s orders for tests
  • Any specimens that were requested
  • All medical insurance cards
  • If you are under 18, you’ll need to have a parent or guardian with you

Outpatient FAQs

  1. Why do you need to see my insurance card every time I come to the hospital? Your insurance card contains helpful information that our Billing Department needs. When we have accurate information from your card, it helps us to know exactly where your claim goes so that it can be processed quickly. This helps avoid any delays and prevents you from being billed for a balance that your insurance should pay.
  2. Do you have private rooms available? Yes! At Southeastern Med almost all of our hospital rooms are private rooms. These rooms are charged as semi-private to you or your insurance company.
  3. Why do I have to answer all of these questions every time I come in? Don’t you keep this information in your system? Yes, our computers do retain information from your previous visits, but things can always change! For example, your test may have been ordered by a specialist instead of a family doctor. Your insurance may have changed. We need to verify information each time to guarantee we have accurate information about you.
Patient Care