Admission to the hospital

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Patients can usually decide for themselves which hospital they would like to be treated in. Consult with your doctor about which clinic is suitable. Some interventions and therapies require specialists who are not available everywhere. Make sure the clinic you choose has experience with the therapy you need. If you want to be treated in a clinic abroad or in a privately run clinic, clarify beforehand what your own costs may be.

Important documents

Your doctor will make an appointment for the admission and possibly the operation. Inform the clinic if you would like optional services such as treatment by the head physician or better accommodation in a single or double room. You should have the following documents ready when you are admitted to the hospital:

• Identity card,
• Referral certificate from your family doctor or specialist
• Clinic card or name of health insurance plus health insurance number (for privately insured patients), health insurance card (patients with statutory health insurance),
• Name and telephone number of a contact person who should be notified in the event of an emergency.

Private patients should clarify the cost of treatment with their health insurance in advance. In the case of mixed hospitals, for example, a written promise of benefits is necessary in advance because they also offer health cures or sanatorium treatments.

Contracts with the clinic

When you register, you will receive a form on which you can conclude a contract with the hospital. In the treatment contract, the hospital undertakes to treat the patient by qualified medical staff, to care for them by nursing staff and to guarantee accommodation and meals. That is the rule.

Private patients with inpatient elective benefits insurance sometimes conclude a so-called hospital contract with a supplementary doctor's contract, which includes care and accommodation, but not treatment by the doctor. This is the case, for example, if a patient agrees treatment separately with the chief physician (optional medical treatment). In addition, you can also arrange accommodation in a single or double room.

A split hospital contract is used when the attending physician is a so-called attending physician. This is a doctor who actually works in his practice and has agreed with a clinic for surgical interventions that he can treat his patients there.

Prepare for surgery

On the ward, the nursing staff will show you your room and give you all the important information about your stay in the hospital. If an operation is due, the surgeon and anesthetist will visit you to explain the procedure and identify possible risks. You then confirm your consent to the treatment in writing.

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