Strategies for Transitioning From the Hospital to Home Health Care
During the transition from Hospital patients to home health care face a substantial risk of adverse events which might affect patient safety to even of health and departure or readmission. Events such as doses and drops come to mind. Below are some tips that can help to facilitate the process:
- Proper information- it is important to get information. These include:
- A Listing of analysis. This is useful in the event the patient must be readmitted in a hospital that is different.
- Treatments, manual on diet requirements and limitations, post-discharge treatment.
- A list of contacts including pharmacists, physicians and healthcare agency representatives.
- Evaluation of the patient’s prognosis – this should include symptoms of relapses and recovery period.
- A list of hospital resources and community. Make certain you have got information.
It is Vital that a high degree of communication is maintained between the patient and the hospital staff when they have been discharged.
- Caregivers are extremely important- It is not safe for a patient that has been discharged to be at home independently. They often have effects like muscle fatigue, dizziness and pain when a patient returns home. This makes doing tasks difficult and they are especially vulnerable to drops. If you are the one ensure you have a caregiver. This can be friend, a relative or a professional home care attendant.
- Medication management- this is among the most vital areas of home healthcare. Typically, once a patient is discharged the drug routine will change leaving room. It is crucial there is that you verify medication. You recognize why medication was stopped, the sorts to expect and what medicine does.
- Prepare the patient’s house and acquire the home care equipment- various adaptations of the home to be sure the patient is safe and as comfortable as possible. Remove to permit passage and things like area rugs and strings that increase the risk of falls. You might have to install a ramp in place of stairs to ease movement of a wheel chair. You might have to bring in equipment such as a hospital stethoscope bed and wheel chair amongst others.
- Get ready for additional expenses- it is important to plan for how to raise further funds necessary to sustain areas of home healthcare. Since the individual may be not able to acquire medication and demands running out of cash can be risky. Insurance which might help to ease the burden covers some providers of home care.
- Timing of the discharge- when the doctor believes they are ready to go home, the patient should be discharged. Discharging that is hasty could prove fatal. Some patients insist on being discharged as soon. It is up to the physician do what is in the best interest of the individual and to be assertive.
