FAQS

Our physician ownership is very important to patients! The Department of Health & Human Services has reported that physician-owned hospitals provide a high level of quality care, offer value for the patients in the additional amenities they provide, and have much lower complication rates than general hospitals. Additionally, at physician-owned hospitals, the nurse-to-patient ratio is significantly better than in general hospitals. At Arkansas Surgical Hospital, we staff our patient care unit with an average ratio of one Registered Nurse for every five patients. Additionally, all RNs are certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Saving procedures.

Arkansas Surgical Hospital has prepared a Statement of Patient Rights and Responsibilities that you can download and save or print. Click here to download.

This term refers to those services, as defined by your insurance company, that are medically appropriate. Your insurance company may determine that some or all of the services that you receive during your hospital stay are not medically necessary. Should this occur, you will receive notification from your insurance company that these services may not be payable by your plan, as well as a letter from the hospital outlining your financial responsibilities for these services. For more information, contact the Business Office at 501.748.8076.

Life support treatment is any medical procedure, device or medication to keep a patient alive. Life support treatment includes: medical devices put in you to help you breathe (Mechanical Respiratory Support); food and water supplied artificially by medical device (Tube Feeding); Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR); major surgery; blood transfusions; and antibiotics.

When you make an Advance Directive, you can name someone, like your spouse or another close family member, to make decisions for you if you lose your ability to communicate. This is called a Health Care Proxy or Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, and it lets you name someone to make medical decisions for you if you are unconscious or unable to make medical decisions for any reason.

An Advance Directive is a form that tells your doctor and your family members what kind of care you would like to receive if you become unable to make medical decisions. For example, it lets you say that you do not want a certain treatment, such as CPR, before you become seriously ill. An Advance Directive can also say that you want certain treatments like medicine for pain or intravenous fluids and tube feedings.

When you are admitted to our hospital, one of our staff members will tell you about Advance Directives. Click here to download Advance Directive form.

Most Advance Directives are written by people in the late stages of life or by people who are seriously ill. For example, a patient in the last stages of a critical disease might write an Advance Directive that says she does not what to be put on an artificial respirator if she stops breathing. By letting her doctor know ahead of time that she does not want a respirator, she may be able to reduce her suffering at the end of life and increase her control over her death. It may give her peace of mind to know that her doctor knows her wishes and that she will not be put on a respirator if she stops breathing. Click here to download the Advance Directive form.

To make an Advance Directive, please contact your nurse. You may use a form provided by Arkansas Surgical Hospital or another healthcare provider. If you have decided to name a Health Care Proxy, fill out the Proxy Directive. Two witnesses (over age 21 and not your proxy) must sign the directive. Click here to the download Advance Directive form.

If the patient is under age 18, a legal guardian can make an Advance Directive. If the patient is an adult who can no longer make medical decisions, a legal guardian can make an Advance Directive for the patient. The next of kin are consulted about decisions when no Advance Directive exists. Click here to the download Advance Directive form.

Your Advance Directive can be revoked at any time by telling your doctor and family members that your wishes have changed. All copies of the Advance Directive to be revoked should be destroyed.