Calling Friends in Hospital Etiquette
Calling friends in hospital.
There is a natural inclination for many people to pick up the phone and call friends and loved ones in the hospital. They usually want to express their concern or gather information about the individuals status. However, those phone calls can be intrusive and disrupting to the person’s rest and recuperation.
Here are some things to consider before picking up the telephone to call someone who is in the hospital:
Check with a family member who knows the status of the patient to ask if they are up to speaking on the telephone. If someone is very ill or has had surgery they are often too uncomfortable or too groggy from medications to speak. And a ringing telephone can wake them from needed sleep.
Consider having a family member place a call at a convenient time, to you when that family member is in the room with the patient. That way you can speak to the patient on their terms.
Don’t call the nurse’s station for information unless you are listed on the patient’s chart as someone allowed to receive information. Collecting information otherwise is a violation of the patient privacy guidelines. And besides, nurses have enough to do without fielding questions from their patient’s friends.
Do keep calls brief and upbeat when speaking to someone who is the hospital. This isn’t the time to unload your personal problems or talk about distressing topics.
If you can’t speak with someone on the phone, do remember them with cards.
There is a natural inclination for many people to pick up the phone and call friends and loved ones in the hospital. They usually want to express their concern or gather information about the individuals status. However, those phone calls can be intrusive and disrupting to the person’s rest and recuperation.
Here are some things to consider before picking up the telephone to call someone who is in the hospital:
Check with a family member who knows the status of the patient to ask if they are up to speaking on the telephone. If someone is very ill or has had surgery they are often too uncomfortable or too groggy from medications to speak. And a ringing telephone can wake them from needed sleep.
Consider having a family member place a call at a convenient time, to you when that family member is in the room with the patient. That way you can speak to the patient on their terms.
Don’t call the nurse’s station for information unless you are listed on the patient’s chart as someone allowed to receive information. Collecting information otherwise is a violation of the patient privacy guidelines. And besides, nurses have enough to do without fielding questions from their patient’s friends.
Do keep calls brief and upbeat when speaking to someone who is the hospital. This isn’t the time to unload your personal problems or talk about distressing topics.
If you can’t speak with someone on the phone, do remember them with cards.
There is a natural inclination for many people to pick up the phone and call friends and loved ones in the hospital. They usually want to express their concern or gather information about the individuals status. However, those phone calls can be intrusive and disrupting to the person’s rest and recuperation.
Here are some things to consider before picking up the telephone to call someone who is in the hospital:
Check with a family member who knows the status of the patient to ask if they are up to speaking on the telephone. If someone is very ill or has had surgery they are often too uncomfortable or too groggy from medications to speak. And a ringing telephone can wake them from needed sleep.
Consider having a family member place a call at a convenient time, to you when that family member is in the room with the patient. That way you can speak to the patient on their terms.
Don’t call the nurse’s station for information unless you are listed on the patient’s chart as someone allowed to receive information. Collecting information otherwise is a violation of the patient privacy guidelines. And besides, nurses have enough to do without fielding questions from their patient’s friends.
Do keep calls brief and upbeat when speaking to someone who is the hospital. This isn’t the time to unload your personal problems or talk about distressing topics.
If you can’t speak with someone on the phone, do remember them with cards.
Great points Karen.
A perfect example when the telephone can be extremely intrusive.
Let’s have the patient call out when they’re ready and feel like talking.
Thanks for commenting, Suzanne. Letting the patient call when they are ready is a good idea.
These are very good tips, Karen. People often do the wrong thing with all good intentions. Could I add to your last suggestion about sending a card or note instead of calling? Mail (now there’s a novel thought) the card to the home. Hospital stays are as a rule quite short these days so sending your note to the hospital may be a waste of time. By the time it gets forwarded to your once-ailing friend, he or she might be back on the tennis courts.
Thank you for your additional tip, Lydia. Sending cards to the patient’s home instead of the hospital is an excellent idea for people staying for a short term in the hospital.