DISPOSITION OF PERSONAL PROPERTY

Transcription

1 POLICY: It is the policy of Monongahela Valley Hospital to provide reasonable and practical measures to safeguard the personal property of patients. Beyond these measures, Monongahela Valley Hospital will not be responsible for the loss or damage to personal property. PROCEDURE: A. PATIENT VALUABLES 1. Registration and Emergency Department Registration Staff: Original Policy July 1984 a. Registration and Emergency Department registration staff will obtain the signature of the patient or the person signing on behalf of the patient on the Medical Consent and Authorization Record. Staff will then witness the Medical Consent and Authorization Record. This consent contains information under Personal Property that MVH is not responsible for lost patient belongings. Reviewed Revised Reviewed Revised 04/96 None 10/10 10/10 06/97 None 05/11 05/11 02/98 None 10/11 10/11 07/98 07/98 03/12 None 02/99 None 10/12 None 02/00 02/00 05/13 None 02/01 02/01 09/13 None 04/01 04/01 02/14 02/14 03/02 None 02/15 None 03/03 None 10/15 None 03/04 None 03/16 03/16 03/05 None 02/17 None 03/06 None 09/17 09/17 03/07 None 04/18 None 02/08 02/08 04/09 None 02/10 02/

2 Page 2 PROCEDURE (Con t): b. Registration and Emergency Department registration staff will strongly encourage patients and/or family members to return valuables and personal property to the home. c. If no family/significant other are present and patient is confused or has altered level of consciousness, valuables and personal property should be documented in the electronic medical record and given to the receiving nursing unit by the Emergency Department staff. 2. Nursing Units/Departments: a. Reinforce with patients that Monongahela Valley Hospital will not be responsible for the loss or damage to personal property. Encourage patients/families to return valuables and personal property to the home. b. Identify items necessary for patient daily living (e.g., dentures, eye glasses, hearing aids, and prosthetics), and document in the medical record if these items are present on admission during completion of the nursing assessment. If staff is notified of the above items being brought in by family after admission, staff will document this in a progress note. c. Depositing valuables in the hospital safe (See Administrative Policy 1-19 Hospital Safe Entering of Valuables) B. BROKEN/MISSING PATIENT PROPERTY: 1. Hospital Staff a. Complete an incident report for any broken or missing property and notify Security and Risk Management/Director of Patient Relations in the event of a suspected theft. b. Make a reasonable effort to locate missing property by contacting Lost and Found in the Environmental Services Department and other units that may be involved.

3 Page 3 PROCEDURE (Con t): c. The manager/supervisor of the unit or department reporting the lost/damaged item(s) will be responsible for: (1) Investigating the circumstances leading up to the loss or damage. (2) Making attempts to locate any lost item. (3) Documentation of findings. (4) Communicating with the patient/family regarding the incident. d. Staff should not tell the patient or family that the hospital will replace or reimburse any damaged or lost items. Monongahela Valley Hospital does not assume financial responsibility for patient belongings. If warranted, an investigation is completed by the Director of Patient Relations for further determination. e. If personal property is left in the room after discharge, attempt to contact a discharged patient and/or family. If contacted, direct them to Lost and Found for retrieval of the items. f. All lost and found items with or without a patient s name shall be bagged and sent to the Lost and Found Department, with the lost and found tag attached with as much information as possible, such as date, and area where items were found (tag available for copying on last page of this policy). The Lost and Found Department will receive the item, log the information, and store the item for 45 days. g. *If medications are left after discharge, these are to be sent to the Pharmacy. 2. Housekeeping Procedure: a. Environmental Services (EVS) secretary or supervisor will examine the contents of the bag and determine the accuracy of the lost and found tag and record all information in a Lost and Found Log maintained on the EVS computer system.

4 Page 4 PROCEDURE (Con t) b. The department secretary or supervisor will then seal the container, sign for receiving it and place the property into a locked storage cabinet. c. In the event property is claimed, proper identification must be obtained. The claimant will examine the belongings and compare the contents with the items on the lost and found tag. Before the property is released, the claimant must sign a document indicating he/she received the property and all items were accounted for. 3. Disposition of Lost and Found Items: a. Lost items of little value not claimed within 45 days the EVS Department will have all patient information removed, bagged, and donated to the Washington City Mission. The Washington City Mission will pick up these items the second Wednesday of every month in the Storeroom. b. The EVS Secretary will log into the system and enter the date of disposal for the items that had not been claimed after 45 days. This date shall be highlighted in red and a new log sheet will then be used. c. Lost items of significant value, including, but not limited to, money, jewelry, gold, silver, collectibles, and rare items, will be delivered by EVS to the Accounting Department to be sent to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Treasury Department, and Bureau of Unclaimed Property. d. Patient medications that are not claimed will be discarded according to Pharmacy Policy V20 (Patients Own Medications) 4. Security: a. Follow all department procedures with the exception of theft. b. If theft is suspected, Security will investigate the incident, take appropriate action, and file a follow-up report to the original incident report. Security will coordinate with the Director of Patient Relations and Risk Management as needed.

5 Page 5 Monongahela Valley Hospital Lost & Found Tag # Please deliver found item to the Environmental Services Department Patients name (if known) Patient phone # Room or location where item was found Located by: Date found: Contents DO NOT WRITE BELOW THIS LINE FOR EVS ONLY Signed into Lost & Found by: Date Signed out of Lost & Found by: Date Signature of person claiming item:

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