Information for inpatients
Welcome to Balgrist University Hospital! We want you to feel comfortable here and we will do our utmost to look after you as well as possible. The information provided below should help to make your stay with us a pleasant one.
Preparations
Your admission letter tells you when you are expected. Please complete all the documents we send you at home and bring them with you. Please announce your arrival at the reception desk as soon as you get to the clinic. We would also ask you to be punctual - this helps us to keep the clinic running smoothly.
Insofar as these are available, please bring medical certificates, reports, X-rays, blood group cards and vaccination certificates (and any allergy identification cards) with you when you come to the hospital.
Please bring along sufficient quantities of all the medication you regularly take at home.
With a view to ensuring that your stay goes as smoothly as possible from an administrative point of view, please bring the insurance card issued by your health insurance fund with you on the day you are admitted.
For a pleasant stay at our clinic, you will need: toiletries, a tracksuit, possibly a dressing gown, slippers, trainers and swimwear for water therapy (particularly for rehabilitation of shoulder problems and rheumatic diseases).
We recommend that you leave valuables – especially jewellery and expensive watches – at home. Balgrist University Hospital cannot be held liable in the event of theft or loss.
If friends and family want to stay overnight with you while you are in the clinic, they can ‘room in’ with you. The inpatient admissions service (tel. 044 386 30 35) will gladly inform you of prices and availability.
If you have general or semi-private insurance but would like to stay in more comfortable surroundings and choose your doctors, then you can upgrade to receive the same level of care as privately-insured patients. If you wish to do this, please contact the inpatient admissions service (tel. 044 386 30 35) with your request before your admission to the clinic. We would be happy to provide you with comprehensive information on your options, the procedure and the costs involved and to make the necessary arrangements.
Our doctors are highly qualified specialists who will give you extensive information on your treatment and would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
Your stay in the clinic
Our anaesthesiologists will provide you with complete information on your options for local, regional and general anaesthesia and pain therapy. Do not hesitate to raise any questions you may have with them.
If you need any diagnostic tests during your stay, these will be performed in our state-of-the-art radiology department. In addition to conventional X-ray machines, we also have three modern MRI scanners and one latest-generation CT scanner.
Balgrist University Hospital’s nursing staff are here to provide you with comprehensive care at all hours of the day and night. We adapt the care offered to suit your needs – it is important to us that our patients are happy. We support patients throughout the recovery process in the aim of helping them to heal well and be as independent as possible.
We concentrate on providing expert care before and after operations, treating pain and wounds and providing extensive information on the variety of opportunities for rehabilitation available. Developing relationships of trust and building on existing capacities with the involvement of family and friends are a key focus for us.
We analyse and boost each patient’s functional abilities and resources while taking account of individual needs and capacities. Balgrist University Hospital’s therapy team specialises in the following domains: physiotherapy, occupational therapy, activity therapy and walking aids.
Please keep scheduled appointments for therapy or inform the therapist in good time if you cannot come to your appointment. If anything is unclear, please raise the issue with the nursing staff.
Once you have been discharged, you may continue to receive physiotherapy and occupational therapy at our clinic as an outpatient.
Our pastoral care team is here to provide you and your friends and family with support during your stay at the clinic. This support may take the form of conversations, ceremonies or religious services. You can find more information on the services offered by the pastoral care team hier or you can call us on: 044 386 14 51.
Our psychological experts will be pleased to help you to deal with any feelings of uncertainty connected to illness or disability.
Our social counselling service will provide you and your friends and family with information, advice and support for social and material matters. The service coordinates cooperation between internal and external experts and institutions that are important for your treatment and therapy.
Special therapy is often required for full recovery after certain procedures, and this generally has to be delivered in a specialised health clinic or rehabilitation centre. If you are to receive follow-up care in a clinic of this type, the social counselling service will gladly arrange the transfer for you. Balgrist University Hospital works in close cooperation with a select group of clinics.
Our catering team will ensure that you get a balanced diet that is in line with modern nutritional principles. You can choose between three set menus and a range of à la carte dishes (though the latter may carry a surcharge for patients with general or semi-private insurance). Mealtimes are as follows:
Breakfast: 7.30 a.m. – 8.00 a.m.
Lunch: 11.30 a.m. – 12.00 p.m.
Dinner: 5.30 p.m. – 6.00 p.m.
If asked to do so by a doctor, we can also prepare meals for special diets. Our nutritionist is here to answer any questions relating to nutrition and your diet.
You can have drinks and snacks brought to your room from the cafeteria outside of mealtimes, between 9.30 a.m. and 6.00 p.m. (for a fee).
Visitors are welcome to come at lunchtime and in the evening. Friends, family and guests can buy meals from the same menu as our patients and may be served their meals in the patient’s room.
The cafeteria in the entrance hall and its garden terrace are very popular meeting places in our clinic. Members of the public also like to drop by. With this in mind, please ensure that you are wearing appropriate clothing if you go to the cafeteria or terrace.
The kiosk stocks a wide variety of newspapers and magazines and a small range of gift items.
The opening hours of the cafeteria and kiosk are as follows:
Monday to Friday: 7.00 a.m. – 7.00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 9.00 a.m. – 7.00 p.m.
On the day you are admitted, you will be given a smart card that you can use to pay for various services (e.g. telephone calls, purchases from the cafeteria) during your stay at the clinic. At the main entrance, there is a machine that you can use to load your smart card – with cash or using your bank card/post office account card – at any time. Any balance remaining on the card will be paid back to you when you are discharged.
Feel free to ask nursing staff or receptionists any questions you may have.
All of our rooms have a radio and a television. Your smart card is also used to operate the radio/TV. Listening to the radio is free of charge. For patients with general insurance, there is a charge of CHF 5 per day to watch TV, though there are exceptions for long-stay patients.
Alle unsere Zimmer sind mit Radio und Fernseher ausgestattet. Die Chipkarte dient auch zur Benützung des Radio-/TV-Geräts. Das Radiohören ist gratis. Für allgemein versicherte Patienten ist der TV-Empfang gebührenpflichtig (CHF 5.- / Tag); bei Langzeit-Aufenthalten gilt eine Sonderregelung.
Incoming faxes can be sent to 044 386 11 09 and e-mails to info(a)balgrist.ch These must mention your name. They will be passed on to you as soon as they are received, from Monday to Friday. You can also send faxes, for a fee.
There is a wheelchair-accessible cash machine within the grounds of Balgrist University Hospital, just opposite the tram stop ‘Balgrist’.
We will bring any letters, packages and flowers sent to you to your room as soon as we receive them. You can give any outgoing mail to nursing staff or hand it over directly to the reception desk.
During your stay with us, your postal address will be:
(your name)
c/o Balgrist University Hospital
Forchstrasse 340
8008 Zürich
Our 40 employees are here to provide expert advice and manufacture customised orthopaedic aids using a high degree of technical skill. Balgrist Tec places particular emphasis on foot care products such as insoles, therapeutic shoes, ankle supports and orthopaedic shoes.
The Balgrist Tec Shop also carries a wide range of personal hygiene items, sanitary products, therapeutic rehabilitation aids and various aids to assist with everyday activities.
Please be aware that we do not rent out walking sticks. These can be purchased from the Balgrist Tec Shop. You can contact the Balgrist Tec Shop by calling 044 386 58 05. Opening hours are as follows:
Monday to Thursday: 8.30 a.m. – 5.15 p.m.
Friday: 8.30 a.m. – 4.30 p.m.
Outside these hours, a limited number of walking sticks are available at the reception desk at the main entrance.
If required, we can give you the telephone number of a hairdresser who can come to the clinic.
If you like, you can arrange for medical and cosmetic foot treatments. We can give you the telephone number of an expert who can come to the clinic to treat you if required.
We can also launder personal items for you. This service is free for privately-insured patients, though patients with general or semi-private insurance can also use the service for a fee.
Patients with general or semi-private insurance may receive visits every day between 10.00 a.m. and 8.00 p.m.; privately-insured patients may receive visits 24 hours a day. Parents may visit their children at any time. Patients and visitors should be aware that nursing staff and doctors do attend to patients during visiting hours, and treatments may be provided. If you are in a ward with more than one bed, please be considerate towards other patients.
Please keep noise to a minimum between 10.00 p.m. and 6.00 a.m., particularly with regard to mobile phone use.
You need a doctor’s permission to leave the clinic during the day or at the weekend. You should then tell the nursing staff how long you will be away for. The clinic cannot be held liable if anything happens to you during your absence.
Smoking and alcohol consumption
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For health and safety reasons, smoking is not allowed in Balgrist University Hospital. There are smoking areas outside the buildings. Smoking in front of the main entrance is not allowed.
Alcohol consumption may have negative effects on your treatment. We therefore recommend that you consume neither alcohol nor tobacco while you are at the clinic.
Balgrist University Hospital is a university hospital and therefore a teaching facility of the University of Zurich. Unless you have any objections, your case may be discussed with medical students. These students are bound to respect patient-doctor confidentiality.
If anything is unclear or if you have any suggestions or requests, please speak to the doctor, nurse or therapist treating you. For us, it is important that our patients are happy.
As a privately-funded university hospital, we must respect stringent quality and performance standards. Continuously improving to the quality and efficiency of our services helps us to achieve excellent medical quality, satisfy our patients and secure positive financial results.
With a view to constantly checking the quality of our services and making improvements where necessary, we sometimes send patients anonymous questionnaires after their stay in our clinic. We would like to thank patients receiving questionnaires in advance for their valuable cooperation
For more information on this, please see the annexed ‘Letter to the Management’.
The time of your discharge from the clinic will be determined in consultation with the doctor treating you. He or she will discuss where and when you will receive any follow-up treatment and will keep the referring doctor informed. The doctor will also tell you how to take any medicines prescribed. If you have any more questions about your discharge from the clinic, please ask the nursing staff.
Discharge is normally at 9.30 a.m. Please inform the relevant member of nursing staff of your departure and return your smart card to reception.
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