Tips for Making a Safe Transition from Hospital to Home
During a hospital stay, senior patients are carefully tended to, with their medical team checking in often to make sure therapies and treatments are going well. They also have someone prepping their meals and helping them safely move around. But what happens when it’s time to head home?
Advice for Navigating Recovery
Without the proper support in the immediate days and weeks following their release, older people can end up right back in the hospital, either due to a setback in their health or with added medical complications. If you’re in charge of your aging loved one’s transition from hospital to home, the following advice can help make the process smoother and safer, reducing their likelihood of readmission.
Determine Their Support Team
Older seniors recovering at home are often unable to perform important daily tasks safely on their own. That’s why it’s crucial to have a care team in place, whether that includes friends and family members or a professional caregiver. While Mom or Dad recovers, create a schedule in which different family members or professional caregivers have been assigned to oversee their care on certain days or portions of time.
Taking an organized approach will help your support system monitor their condition as they recover.
Prepare Their Home
Falls and accidents are a big concern post-hospital stay. It’s generally a good idea to spend some time adapting the person’s home for their specific needs. That may include improving lighting in stairwells and hallways, installing grab bars, and adding a shower chair. If their mobility is more limited now than before they were hospitalized, they may also require a wheelchair ramp.
Additionally, take a look around and clear spaces of any clutter that might impede them if they do attempt to move about in their living environment.
Follow Discharge Instructions
Many times, seniors are rehospitalized due to not having a clear understanding of their discharge instructions. It’s imperative to review all follow up plans, medications, and appointments with their medical team before leaving the hospital.
Manage Medications
Elderly patients are often prescribed new medications during their hospital stay, which can become confusing once they’re discharged. It benefits the whole family to create a detailed schedule that lists both timing and dosage and to use a pill box to sort their meds.
If your senior loved one will be alone when it’s time to take their meds, it might be even more beneficial to use a prescription reminder app or an in-home caregiver for medication reminders.
Monitor for Complications
When an older individual is recovering from a surgery or infection, complications can sometimes pop up without warning. Be on the lookout for warning signs like swelling, pain, dizziness, or a sudden fever (and anything else their medical team has mentioned). Additionally, someone should stay in touch with their doctor to alert them of any concerning symptoms.
Oklahoma City Resources
It’s not always possible for seniors to go straight from the hospital to their home. Sometimes further recovery support is needed in a rehab facility. The following places in the Oklahoma City area offer inpatient rehabilitation:
Transitional Care with Visiting Angels Yukon Can Help
We know that it’s not always possible to assist your senior loved one in person following a hospital stay. That’s why Visiting Angels Yukon offers post-hospital transitional care services through our Ready-Set-Go Home program. Our caregivers provide support that is completely personalized to your relative–including transportation to doctor’s appointments, medication management, and monitoring for any complications. This assistance makes it easier for your loved one to have a safe and smooth recovery.
To learn more about how we can help your loved one in the Yukon area comfortably recuperate at home, call 405-350-6700 or fill out our contact form!