Patient Guide

We are committed to your care.

Our goal is to provide the best quality care. To do so, we ask for feedback from patients like you. You may be contacted by phone, email or text and asked to complete a confidential survey. Please take the time to complete the survey. Your feedback will help us know what we’re doing well and where we can improve.

Privacy Practices Patient Rights & Responsibilities Concerns About Your Care

Fast facts about your stay.

Support for Caregivers

We encourage patients to pick a key person to support them during their hospital stay. Whether you are that primary support person, or just one of many people caring for and supporting your loved one, you can play an important role in making sure your loved one gets the safest and best care both here and beyond the hospital.

Patient and Family Care
We participate in patient- and family-centered care. We believe that family plays an important role in ensuring the health and well-being of patients of all ages. Our goal is to create partnerships among healthcare practitioners, patients and families that will lead to the best outcomes and enhance the delivery of safe, quality, efficient, effective, and timely care.

What to Know Before You Leave
Caregivers can help ensure the best outcome for their loved one after a hospital stay by getting the answers to these three questions:

What is the next step for medical care (home or facility, follow-up with primary care physician or physical therapy, etc.)? Help your loved one arrange the details to make this happen—financial plan, transportation, scheduling, etc.
What new and former medicines does my loved one need to take? Help your loved one understand the details —timing, dosing instructions, side effects, prescription refills, etc.
What health warning signs do I need to watch for and what do I do if they happen? Help your loved one by writing these symptoms down as well as the name and contact number to call.

If you feel like you need a break or help, reach out to friends and family. And consult the resources listed here: National Alliance for Caregiving | Family Caregiver Alliance | Caregiver Action Network

Facts About Your Stay

Bedside Shift Report

We want you to feel comfortable and cared for throughout your stay, so at each nursing shift change — about every 12 hours — your nurse will introduce your new nurse to you. The team will talk about your progress, medicine and tests scheduled for the day. Ask questions. The more you’re involved, the better and safer your care.

Bedside Technology

During your stay, you may see your doctors and nurses using computers or tablets. These tools help them care for you by providing around-the-clock monitoring, a variety of resources and quick communication with the rest of your healthcare team. If you have any questions, ask your doctor or nurse.

Cafeteria

Location: Basement

Phone: Dial 1711 from your room.

Hours:

Serving Lunch: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Monday-Friday.

All visitors are welcome to dine in the cafeteria.

Hot Rocks Java Café operates a coffee cart in the main lobby of the hospital and is open 7:00am to 1:30pm. The coffee cart offers gourmet coffee and drinks along with breakfast burritos, pastries, salads, sandwiches and yogurt.

Calling Your Nurse

Your room is connected to the nursing station via an intercom system. To call for your nurse, press the NURSE call button located at your bedside. If you have any questions on how to use the call button, ask a staff member to show you.

Cellphones & Video

During your stay, you may see members of your care team using mobile phones. At Los Alamos Medical Center, our staff are permitted to use phones for work-related activities, such as communicating with doctors or other care team members. Employees are not allowed to use phones for non-work-related activities. There are many work-related benefits of cellphones and other communication devices, including access to medical references, clinical tools and patient information.

Channel Listing for TV

2 FOX (KASA)	26 TNT	47 AMC
4 NBC (KOB)	27 A&E	48 Disney
5 PBS (KNME)	28 USA	49 Cartoon Network
6 QVC	29 Weather Channel	50 Animal Planet
7 ABC (KOAT)	30 Headline News	51 Discovery Channel
9 Univision (KLUZ)	31 CNVC	52 HGTV
11 Santa Fe (KCHF)	32 CNN	53 The Food Network
12 My Network (KASY)	33 Fox News Channel	54 Style Network
13 CBS (KRQE)	34 C-SPAN	55 E!
14 Telefutura (KTFQ)	35 C-SPAN 2	56 Comedy Central
15 Nickelodeon	36 ESPN	58 Country Music TV
16 TV Land	37 ESPN 2	59 Speed Channel
17 ABC Family	38 FSN New Mexico	60 Golf Network
18 KTEL	39 The Learning Channel	61 Versus
19 CW (KWBQ)	40 Bravo	62 MSNBC
20 WGN Chicago	41 The History Channel	63 TruTV
22 Spike TV	42 Lifetime	64 FX
23 KNAT	43 Oprah Winfrey Network	65 Syfy
24 GAC	44 Hallmark Channel	66 EWTN
25 MTV	46 TBS	67 The Travel Channel

Concerns About Your Care

Please speak with your nurse or nursing supervisor if you have any questions or concerns about your care. If your issue still is not resolved, then contact the hospital patient advocate. You also have the right to file your complaint with either:

New Mexico Department of Public Health
1-800-752-8649 (Toll Free)

Office of Quality and Patient Safety
The Joint Commission
One Renaissance Blvd.
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
Website: www.jointcommission.org, then click “Report patient safety event”

Electrical Appliances

For your safety, we reserve the right to inspect any electrical appliances brought into the hospital.

Fire Safety

We conduct fire drills from time to time. If you hear an alarm, stay where you are. In an actual emergency, hospital staff will tell you what to do.

Flowers

Flowers are delivered to patient rooms by individual florists. Please note that flowers are not allowed in Intensive Care Units.

Gift Shop

The Gift Shop is located off the front lobby of Los Alamos Medical Center and offers flowers, cards, baby items, toiletries, candy, and more. The gift shop is operated by the Hospital Auxiliary of Los Alamos Medical Center. All proceeds benefit scholarships for hospital employees and high school graduates pursuing a medical career as well as charitable causes in the community.

The Gift Shop is open: Monday - Friday: 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Hearing Impaired

We have services available for people who are deaf or hearing impaired. If you need these services, please contact your nurse.

Hourly Rounding

A nurse will visit you every hour during the day and every two hours at night to check on your comfort, help you change positions in bed, assist with trips to the bathroom, and make sure you can reach your phone, call light, and personal items easily.

Housekeeping Services

Los Alamos Medical Center believes in the perseverance of our natural resources; therefore, bed linen is changed every other day or as needed depending on patient needs. If you need additional linens or housekeeping services, please contact your nurse.

Interpreters and Translation Services

Los Alamos Medical Center subscribes to interpreter services. Should you or your family need such services, please ask a nurse or other staff member for assistance. TTY capability is also available for the hearing impaired.

Mail

Cards and flowers sent by your family and friends to make your stay more pleasant are delivered daily. Flowers are NOT allowed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Mail received after you are discharged will be forwarded to your home. Mail for patients should be addressed as follows:

Patient Name
Los Alamos Medical Center
3917 West Rd
Los Alamos, NM 87544

Medicines

We will need a complete list of medicines you are currently taking, including those not prescribed or ordered by your doctor. While in the hospital, please take only medicines administered by your nurse. If the medicines are not given at the same time as you normally take them, please let us know and we will try to do things as you do at home.

Parking

Visitor parking is available in the main front parking lot off Trinity Drive.

Pastoral Care

If you would like a visit from the chaplain for spiritual care and comfort, please ask your nurse to contact the chaplain on call.

Patient Meals

To reach Nutrition/Dietary Services, dial 1711 from your room.

Personal Belongings and Valuables

Do not bring watches, jewelry, cash or other valuables to the hospital. Los Alamos Medical Center will only be responsible for these items if they are deposited into our safe. Ask your nurse about safe deposits upon admission. Please do not bring medications to the hospital. Your physician and the hospital pharmacy will provide all of your medication while you are in the hospital. However, it is important to provide your physician with a list of all medications that you are currently taking.

Public Restrooms

For everyone’s health and safety, we ask visitors not to use patient restrooms. Public restrooms are located throughout the hospital. Ask hospital staff to direct you to the nearest one.

Smoking

To protect your health and the health of others, Los Alamos Medical Center is a smoke-free environment. Smoking is not permitted in patient rooms, corridors, lobbies, waiting rooms or any other area of the hospital.

Telephone

Your friends and family can call your hospital room by calling the Nurses Station at 505.661.9260 and asking for your name or room number. If you need to make a phone call, dial 7 + 1 + area code + the phone number you wish to call. To reach your nurse, use your call button.

TV

Each patient room has a television. Please be considerate of others by keeping the volume down and turning off your TV at bedtime.

Closed Caption Television is available to all patients. Please contact the nurse’s station for instructions to change the settings on your television to closed captioning.

Vending Machines

Snacks and soft drinks may be purchased 24 hours per day from the vending machines located on the ground floor adjacent to the Dining Room and the Emergency Room/Main lobby.

Hot Rocks Java Café operates a coffee cart in the main lobby of the hospital and is open 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The coffee cart offers gourmet coffee and drinks along with breakfast burritos, pastries, salads, sandwiches and yogurt.

Visiting Hours

Visiting hours are subject to change. Please ask your nurse for official hours during your stay.

To promote healing and safety and limit infection, some units may limit the number of visitors you can receive at one time.

Los Alamos Medical Center will ensure that all visitors enjoy full and equal visitation privileges consistent with the patient's preferences. The patient has the right to receive, subject to the patient's consent, visitors designated by the patient, including but not limited to a spouse, domestic partner (including a same sex domestic partner), another family member, or a friend. Los Alamos Medical Center will not restrict, limit, or deny visitation privileges based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.

Los Alamos Medical Center will consider limiting visitation if any of the following apply:

- - Patient is undergoing care interventions
  - Presence of infection control and prevention issues
  - Visitation may interfere with care of other patients
  - Existence of court orders restricting contact (of which the hospital is aware)
  - Disruptive, threatening, or violent behavior of any kind
  - Patient need for privacy or rest
  - Need for limitation on the number of visitors during a specific time period
  - Need for minimum age requirements for child visitors

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