At UPMC in central Pa. our goal is to make your hospital stay as pleasant as possible. Our hospital rooms are designed with your comfort and convenience in mind.
Personal Care Products
As you settle into your room, your nurse will bring you a kit of personal care products, a basin and a water pitcher. There is a charge for these items. These articles will appear on your hospital bill, and they are yours to take home.
In-room Storage
Feel free to use the closet and drawers in your room.
Hourly Rounding
You will be visited by one of your caregivers:
- Once every hour from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Once every two hours from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
During this time we will:
- Check on you and your well-being
- Determine your pain and comfort needs
- Help you move and change positions
- Assist you with trips to the bathroom
Your caregivers will make sure you have easy access to:
- Telephone
- Bedside table
- Water pitcher
- Glasses
- Call light
- Waste basket
- Urinal or bed pan
Your Bed
Designed for your comfort, your bed can be raised or lowered electronically to the position which is most comfortable for you. For your safety, do not get in and out of bed without help when the bed is in a “high” position, or when you are weak and the side rails are up. Use the call button to summon help from our nursing staff.
Changing Rooms
During your stay, we may need to transfer you to different rooms in the hospital, depending on the level of care you need. The nursing staff, transporters or volunteers will assist you in changing rooms. Ask your nurse for more information.
Telephone and Television
Patients have their own telephone and cable television service 24 hours a day. As a courtesy to your roommate, we would appreciate it if your television was turned off at 11 p.m. Your friends and family may call you directly at the phone in your room between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. You may make calls from your room at anytime. To call hospital extensions from your room, just dial the last four digits. To make local calls from your room phone, dial “9” and the seven digit number.
Telephone Instructions
- Local Calls – Dial 9 + Number
- Internal Calls – Dial last 4 digits of number
- 1-800 Calls – Dial 9 + 1 + Toll Free Number
- Long Distance Phone Calls – Dial 650 + 1 + Area Code + Number. The area code must be used for all long distance calls, including those in area code 717.
- TTY/TDD Phones – Portable bedside TTY/TDD phones and amplified telephones to assist the hearing and sight impaired are available. For more information, please ask your nurse or call the hospital operator by dialing “0”. If you need to contact the hospital’s operator center’s TTY/TDD service, please call 717-782-5858.
- 711 Relay Service – Dial 9+711. Local calls through the Relay Center are free. Payment options for long distance calls include credit card, collect, and 3rd party (verified by Relay Center).
- Telephone Repairs – Please ask your nurse or call the hospital operator by dialing “0”.
Mail
Your mail will be delivered to your room daily, Monday through Friday. If you have outgoing mail, leave it at the nurses’ station on your floor. It will be picked up when mail is delivered. Mail received after your discharge will be forwarded to your home address.