Media Policies and Procedures

Click here to download a PDF of Trinity's Media Policies and Procedures
 

Interview requests

• Advance notice of on-site interviews is required due to federal privacy laws, including for Trinity affiliates such as Trinity College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Trinity VNHA and the Robert Young Center for Community Mental Health. It also allows us to arrange for a room for the media interview or photo shoot, notify patient care areas involved, and/or line up appropriate patients, families and staff for your story, as well as contact security.
• To protect the privacy of our patients and families, a representative from the Marketing and Communications department, their designee, or Security must accompany all reporters, film crews and photographers on campus.
• When using one of our staff members or volunteers in a story, we ask that you identify him/her by their appropriate title and hospital related to their work or role at Trinity.

Patient Condition Reports

During normal business hours (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday) contact Erin Lounsberry at (309) 779-2981 or (309) 373-3839 (media cell phone) for Quad City patients, and Holly Thomas at (563) 264-9225 for Muscatine patients. Please specify campus, as well as first and last name of the patient.

After hours and on the weekends, please call (309) 779-2259 for the patient care supervisor on-duty. You may also dial (309) 779-5000 and ask the operator to page the patient care supervisor. Please specify campus, as well as first and last name of the patient.

Trinity will provide conditions for adult patients based on the following terms. Please note that the term “stable” should NOT be referenced.

• Good: Vital signs are stable and within normal limits. The patient is conscious and comfortable; indicators are excellent.
• Fair: Vital signs are stable and within normal limits. Patient is conscious but may be uncomfortable. Indicators are favorable.
• Serious: Vital signs may be unstable and not within normal limits. Patient is acutely ill. Indicators are questionable.
• Critical: Vital signs are unstable and not within normal limits. Patient may be unconscious. Indicators are unfavorable.

At times, condition reports may not be available to members of the media. This may be for one of the following reasons:

• The reporter does not provide the first and last name of the patient.
• The patient is a minor. Exception: If the minor’s name has been identified in the news as well as where the patient is located and the family has given their consent, a condition report may be given if the correct first and last name of the minor is given by the member of the media.
• The patient has been a victim of violence and the patient’s name or location has not been identified to or by the media.
• The patient and/or the patient family have requested that the patient be listed as confidential. This could occur upon admission or anytime during hospitalization OR the patient decides during his or her stay to change status to confidential. If a person is listed as confidential, the standard response is, “I have no patient listed by that name in our directory.”
• A patient is not currently or never was a patient. The standard response is, “I have no patient listed by that name in our directory.”
• The patient is receiving Mental Health or Chemical Dependency services. The federal Confidentiality of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Patient Records regulations and the state Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act prohibit release of any information.