Confidentiality and Safety

Patient care on the inpatient unit is private and confidential. Team members will not share information about patients with others unless the patient gives them specific permission to do so. Patients should give their room number to only those people they wish to know they are here; we will not give anyone your room or phone number without your permission, and unless a person calling the nursing station knows a patient’s room number, we will not acknowledge that they are in the hospital.

The U-M Health System strives to create and maintain the safest possible environment for our patients and staff. We take seriously all potentially threatening behaviors, including verbal threats. It is also our goal to be a restraint-free environment. However, on rare occasions patients may have difficulty maintaining safety for themselves and others, and may require being temporarily separated from other patients and possibly having their movements restrained. Restraints and seclusion are used solely to prevent patients from physically harming themselves or others, and are used only when alternative measures have proven ineffective.

All patients receiving services at the University of Michigan Health System are entitled to civil and human rights protected by state and federal laws. Contact information for our patient rights advisor and nursing supervisors will be provided to patients during orientation should they wish to have these rights explained or file a rights complaint.