Accident and Emergency Department (A&E)

This brochure contains information about the Accident & Emergency Department (A&E) at Alrijne Hospital Leiderdorp. After reporting to reception

You have reported to the counter. What can you expect during your visit to the A&E?

ID and health insurance card

If you visit a ward in the hospital as a patient, you must be able to show your valid proof of identity and your health insurance card at every visit. Treatment at the A&E also falls under this rule, and the obligation also applies to children. If you cannot show proof of identity or your health insurance card, please report this at the counter. We will then not be able to register you. If you have the cards but cannot show them at this time, we ask you to come back with the cards the next day so that we can still register you.

Triage

Upon arrival, the triage nurse estimates the severity of a patient's condition. This determines the speed of the examination and treatment. This is called triage. The patient in urgent need of help is helped before someone with a less serious injury. The triage method works with colour codes: the severity of the problem and how quickly someone needs to be treated is linked to a colour code. The triage nurse determines the colour code. You must be seen by a doctor within the triage time. This may differ in some circumstances. The table below explains the colour codes. The approximate waiting time is communicated to the patient. The waiting time starts at the moment of the triage. If your symptoms worsen or condition changes, you can report this to the triage nurse or to the secretary.

Pain

Upon arrival at the A&E, we ask you how much pain you are in. We do this based on a pain score between 1 and 10. You give the pain you feel at that moment a score. If necessary, you will receive pain relief medication from the triage nurse during the triage. After a while, we ask you to rate your pain again to see if the pain has subsided. If the pain increases in the meantime, you can always ask for pain relief. You can address the secretary at the desk or the triage nurse about this.

Primary practitioner

Upon arrival at the A&E, you will be allocated a primary practitioner/medical specialist. The primary practitioner is a medical specialist who is ultimately responsible for your specialist medical care.

• Every patient has one primary practitioner.

• The primary practitioner coordinates the medical care provided by other practitioners. The primary practitioner is ultimately responsible for this care.

• The primary practitioner also coordinates the provision of information to you and your family.

Your primary practitioner is stated on the wristband and in the information letter. Your primary practitioner may change during your visit to the Accident & Emergency Department. When you leave the A&E, the name of the definitive primary practitioner is stated at the bottom of the letter that is sent digitally to the doctor.

Who will treat you at the hospital?

The medical specialist is always supported by a physician's assistant or a co-assistant. Physician assistants are physicians who may or may not be in training to become medical specialists. A co-assistant is a medical student in the final phase of his or her studies. A co-assistant may be the one to do your physical examination. If you object to this, you can, of course, report this to us.

Waiting times

Although all of our employees strive to keep waiting times at the A&E as short as possible, there are several reasons why you may have a long wait:

• It is possible that other patients with more serious complaints have a more urgent colour code than you.

• Not all patients come to see the same specialist. That may be the reason that someone who came later is helped earlier than you.

• If blood is taken, then it takes at least an hour to an hour and a half before the result is known. An X-ray might have to be taken. There is often a waiting period for this. The X-ray lab technician may also be busy in another department, which means that he/she is not immediately available. If a CT scan or echo is necessary, the waiting time can run from one to one and a half hours.

• There may a large number of patients at the A&E. Not everyone can be helped at the same time.

• Our doctors are also available for acute cases at the hospital, in particular, at night. They can, therefore, be called away.

We ask for your understanding of the waiting times. We do our best to help every patient as quickly and effectively as possible.

Important! No eating or drinking

At the A&E, the patient is not allowed to eat or drink until the doctor gives permission. In the course of the treatment, you can ask the nurse whether you can deviate from this.

Going home

If you can go home again and need to come back for a check-up at the outpatient clinic, we will make an appointment at the outpatient clinic for you or give you a card with information so you can make an appointment yourself. If you go home by taxi, we can arrange one for you, but you do have to pay the taxi costs yourself. When parking in one of the Q-parking areas (or in the parking garage), you receive a parking ticket. Parking costs € 1.00 per 40 minutes (or part of it); a day ticket costs € 7.00. You will find the payment terminals in the hall of the hospital. The parking garage payment terminal is on the ground floor on the side of the garage where you came in.

Hospitalisation

If the responsible doctor decides to admit you, then admission to a ward in the hospital will be arranged. You will be picked up as soon as this is done and the nursing ward is ready to receive you.

Conduct/house rules

The hospital has established rules of conduct that everyone must adhere to. At the Accident & Emergency Department, visitors and patients sometimes suffer from stress due to pain, anxiety and insecurity. Occasionally this stress leads to aggressive behaviour. We understand this, but we cannot tolerate aggression within the hospital. If patients or visitors behave aggressively, we try to calm them down. If this does not work, we call security and/or the police. The rules of conduct also hang in the waiting room.

General information and rules of conduct

• The space in the A&E is limited. We, therefore, ask you to stay in the treatment room or waiting room. Patients and those accompanying them walking around cause unrest and disrupt the overview of employees.

• Two people may be present with you in the treatment room. If you have more people accompanying you, they can wait in the waiting room. In the case of a child, both parents may be present in the treatment room.

• If the person accompanying you cannot stay at the hospital, he/she can leave a telephone number with the secretary or nurse.

• Using your mobile phone is not permitted at the hospital in rooms with a no-mobile-phone sticker. We ask that you keep mobile calls to a minimum and, if necessary, leave the department.

• If you need to charge your mobile phone, there is a charging cabinet available at the A&E. You can ask a nurse or secretary about this. Making video and audio recordings – without our permission – is not permitted.

• Visitors can buy food or drinks at the restaurant. Outside of the restaurant's opening hours, you can use the vending machines in the hall on the ground floor (hot drinks, soft drinks and sweets).

• Smoking is not permitted in our hospital. Patients and visitors can smoke in designated areas outside the hospital.

• The Accident & Emergency Department is open 24 hours a day.

• There is often a volunteer present in the afternoon to give extra attention to those patients waiting alone in a room. The volunteer will stop for a chat if desired/possible, can provide drinks for the visitors and/or a booklet or other distraction for the patient. The volunteer is not concerned with medical/nursing care.

Children at the A&E

A full physical examination (also called a head-to-toe examination) is performed on all children who come to the Alrijne Hospital A&E with a complaint. For this, it may be necessary for your child to undress, a parent or guardian may, of course, be present. (In the Netherlands, all professionals who work with children are legally obliged to act if they think there is an indication of child abuse or neglect. That also applies to doctors and nurses. How to act is described in the Dutch Report Code Act (Meldcode). At Alrijne Hospital, we want to stand up for the child, offer help where possible and consult with other authorities if the safety, health, well-being and/or development of the child is compromised. How we do that is described in the Alrijne Hospital Report Code, which is an elaboration of the national Report Code. You can read this on our website, www.alrijne.nl. More information can be found in the brochure: Kind in de knel - Child in trouble.)

Privacy

We handle patients and patient data with care. The rules that are used for this are included in a privacy policy. Medical data from patients at the A&E can be used anonymously for scientific research. Anonymously means that the data cannot be traced to the patient it belongs to. If you object to the use of your data, you can report this to your doctor and (in writing) to the medical administration. Your data will then not be used for scientific research.

Telephone numbers

The Alrijne Hospital's general telephone number is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week: Alrijne Hospital, general number: +31 (0) 71 582 8282 The Alrijne Hospital Leiderdorp Accident & Emergency (A&E) can be contacted by phone on +31 (0) 71 582 8905 for emergency care needs outside office hours. Our outpatient clinic employees will be happy to help you during office hours.