Patient Rights and Responsibilities
Conway Regional Health System (CRHS) is committed to providing high-quality, compassionate health care services to every patient. We recognize that all patients have basic rights, and we are committed to honoring these rights. Likewise, CRHS has a right to expect responsible and reasonable behavior from patients, their families and other support people.
As a patient you have the right:
• To be treated with dignity and receive considerate care that is respectful of your personal beliefs and cultural and spiritual values.
• To impartial medical care, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, cultural beliefs, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or financial status.
• To be informed of your rights in writing and in a language and method (i.e. assistive devices or interpreter for patients with communication barriers) that you understand.
• To be informed of your health status and prognosis, make informed decisions regarding your care, to participate in the development and implementation of your plan of care, and to request and refuse treatment.
• To appropriate assessment and management of your symptoms, including pain.
• To have your family and other guests present while receiving care at CRHS, and you have the right to define who your family is.
• To include or exclude any or all family members or support persons from participating in your care decisions.
• To formulate an advance directive and have hospital staff and practitioners who provide care in the hospital comply with your directive.
• To have a family member or representative of your choice and your own physician notified promptly of your admission to the hospital.
• To personal privacy and to receive care in a safe setting.
• To the confidentiality of your medical records and to access information contained in your medical records within a reasonable time frame. This access may be restricted by the patient’s provider only for sound medical reasons.
• To be free from restraints of any form that are not medically necessary or are used as a means of coercion, discipline, convenience, or retaliation by staff.
• To file a grievance and have that grievance addressed in a timely manner.
• To voice complaints and recommend changes without being subject to coercion, discrimination, reprisal, or unreasonable interruption of care, treatment, and services.
• To religious and other spiritual services.
• To access, request amendment to, and receive an accounting of disclosures regarding your own health information, as permitted under applicable law.
• To accept or refuse medical or surgical treatment, including forgoing or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment or withholding resuscitative services.
• To have any restrictions on communications discussed with you.
• To be free from mental, physical, sexual, and verbal abuse, neglect, harassment, and exploitation.
• To access state and community protective services.
• To be informed of continuing health care requirements following discharge from the hospital and to be involved in the development and implementation of your discharge plan.
As a patient you have the responsibility:
• To provide accurate and complete information about present complaints, past illnesses, hospitalizations, medications, and other matters relating to your health, report perceived risks in your care, and unexpected changes in your condition.
• To follow the care, treatment, and service plan developed and express any concern about your ability to follow the proposed care plan or course of care, treatment and services.
• To ask questions if you do not understand your care, treatment and service or if you do not understand what you are expected to do.
• To help your healthcare providers assess your pain, tell them if your pain is not relieved, and to discuss any worries you have about taking pain medication.
• To not complicate or endanger your ability to get well by taking medications which have not been prescribed by your provider and administered by the nurses or by consuming alcohol or illicit drugs while receiving care.
• To be respectful and considerate of members of your health care team and to refrain from discrimination, threats, verbal abuse, harassment, or aggressive behavior directed at members of the health care team.
• To be considerate of other patients and to observe the privacy and confidentiality of others.
• To be respectful of the property of other persons and the property of Conway Regional Health System.
• To follow the rules, regulations and policies of Conway Regional Health System as explained to you.
• To promptly meet any agreed to financial obligation with Conway Regional Health System.
• To accept responsibility for your own decisions and actions if you choose to refuse treatment or not to comply with instructions given by your health care providers.
Grievance Process:
A grievance is a formal, written, or verbal complaint that is filed by a patient, when a patient's issue cannot be resolved promptly by staff present. Patients will receive written notification addressing resolution of the grievance within ten business days.
Patients may file a grievance by contacting the Risk Management Department at CRHS at (501) 513-5329 or by writing to: 2302 College Avenue, Conway, AR 72034, Attention: Patient Experience Coordinator/Risk Management
Patients may also file a grievance directly with the following regulatory agencies:
Health Facility Services
Arkansas Department of Health
5800 West Tenth, Suite 400
Little Rock, AR 72204
(501) 661-2201
Email: [email protected]
Office of Quality and Patient Safety
The Joint Commission
One Renaissance Boulevard
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
www.jointcommission.org