Run the first 14 days after a family member is hospitalized

  1. Call the nursing station and collect the patient identifiers you need
    15 min

    What this step produces: one note with the patient’s medical record number (MRN), the attending physician’s full name and department, the unit and room number, and the direct phone line to the nurses’ station.

    That note is your home base for the next 14 days — every form, every call, every visit starts from this one note.

    The tricky part: the switchboard may not find the patient when the name on admission differs from the name you are using — a married name versus a legal name, or a nickname the patient commonly uses.

    Call the hospital’s main number — the one printed on the patient’s admission paperwork or listed on the hospital’s website.

    1. Ask the operator: “Connect me to the nursing station for [patient’s full name], please.”
    2. If the operator cannot find the patient, give the patient’s date of birth.

    Once you are on the unit, identify yourself as family and ask the nurse for:

    • The medical record number (MRN) — the hospital’s unique ID for the patient.
    • The attending physician’s full name and department (e.g., Cardiology, Neurology, Hospital Medicine).
    • The unit name and room number.
    • The direct phone number to the nurses’ station — not the hospital switchboard.

    Write everything in one place — a note app, a text file, or a physical notebook you keep on you at all times.