Patient and Visitor Guide > Your Visit or Stay

Patients will find that UT Southwestern Medical Center physicians and their staff are eager to listen and to assist them. We look forward to providing the highest caliber of medical care, and we thank patients for choosing us for their health-care needs.

• Partnering With Our Patients
• The Hospital Team
• Important Phone Numbers

Partnering With Our Patients

Health-care safety is a UT Southwestern priority. We encourage our patients to be active participants in their health care through the use of the “Speak Up” program. Patients should:

• Speak up if they have any questions or concerns and if they don’t understand, ask again.
• Pay attention to the care they are receiving. Ask questions when they don’t understand.
• Educate themselves about their diagnosis, medical tests, and plan of care.
• Ask a trusted family member or friend to be with them if they are unable to ask questions for         themselves.
• Know what medications they take.
• Use a health-care organization that has undergone rigorous on-site evaluations.
• Participate in decisions about their treatment. The patient is the center of the health-care         team.

The Hospital Team

While in the hospital, our patients may receive care and assistance from a number of different specialists.

• Medical staff: The physician who admits the patient is responsible for directing the patient’s care while in the hospital. The physician, as the coordinator for the treatment program, should be consulted if the patient has any questions about his or her illness.
  
  
• Nursing staff: A team of professional registered nurses and patient-care technicians provides 24-hour nursing care. A nurse manager is responsible for directing and coordinating nursing care on each unit. Patients should feel free to contact their nurse or the nurse manager if they have any questions or concerns.
  
  
• Chaplain services: Members of the Chaplain Services staff are available to assist patients, whatever their religious tradition.
  
  
• Case managers: Our case managers are assigned to each patient-care area and are trained to help patients and family members deal with financial, social and emotional problems that relate to illness or hospitalization.
  
  
• Housekeepers: A member of the housekeeping staff cleans each patient room daily. If there is a housekeeping problem in the patient’s room, tell the nurse, and it will be taken care of as soon as possible.
  
  
• Volunteers: Volunteers contribute many hours of service to our hospitals. They supplement the services of the hospital staff in many ways and can be identified by their name tags.
  
  
• Other personnel: Many other health-care professionals, including personnel from the laboratory and radiology departments and physical and occupational therapists, may visit the patient. In addition, the UT Southwestern family includes many behind-the-scenes workers, such as accountants, engineers, secretaries, food-service workers and others who contribute greatly toward the patient’s well-being while in our hospitals.

Important Phone Numbers

Patient Ambassadors at the Information Desk in our hospitals will be happy to either answer questions or refer patients to someone who can help. For more information, contact Guest and Patient Services at University Hospital - St. Paul at 214-645-5535 or University Hospital - Zale Lipshy at 214-645-4101.

Patients and visitors may report any concerns to the nurse directly in charge of the patient’s care.