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Steps to Make a Hospital to Home Transition Easier

Bringing someone home from the hospital is a wonderful time, but it can also be complicated. Hospital to home transition services can make the task much easier.

Coming back to the comforts of home after a hospital stay is a huge milestone in someone’s recovery. It marks a big positive step forward, but there are lots of challenges and sometimes adjustments to make, too. With help and preparation, this can be a smooth transition. Hospital to home transition care can make these challenges more manageable for everyone involved.

Communicate with Healthcare Professionals

Hospital to Home Transition Catasauqua PA - Steps to Make a Hospital to Home Transition Easier
Hospital to Home Transition Catasauqua PA – Steps to Make a Hospital to Home Transition Easier

The first step in coming home smoothly is to communicate with healthcare professionals about what happens next and what is involved in the individual’s care going forward. Having a liaison to help with this can be a huge help for overwhelmed family members. It also helps to ensure that no information is missing and that all questions get answered thoroughly.

Arrange for Additional Services

Sometimes when people come home from the hospital, they need additional help. Home care services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, personal care assistance, and more could all be needed at different times and to different degrees. Hospital to home transition assistance ensures that the people who need help get that help as soon as possible.

Prepare the Home

The home environment may need some adjustments, too. Decluttering helps to clear pathways for things like wheelchairs and walkers, for instance. Or there may need to be some modifications that help people to be safer once they’re home. Adding grab bars or ramps are just a few of the possibilities. Navigating those changes is easier with help.

Establish a Care Plan

A comprehensive care plan ensures that everyone is on the same page and working toward the individual’s recovery. These plans aren’t set in stone, either. As the person recovers and their health needs change, so does their care plan. This helps to ensure that they continue getting exactly the support that they need along the way.

Educate Family Members

Family members always want to be there to help and support someone they love. But knowing what to do and how to be the most helpful isn’t always easy to do. Hospital to home transition care can help family members to learn what they need to know about what happens next and how they can best help the people they love as they recover.

Put a Support System in Place

A strong support system is exactly what someone needs when they return home from the hospital. That support system consists of a wide range of different pieces, including caregivers, family members, and even neighbors and friends. Understanding what the patient’s support system consists of helps everyone involved to spot gaps and then fill them.

Monitor and Adjust

Above all, there must be a process for monitoring what’s working and what isn’t so that those things can be adjusted when necessary. Hospital to home transition assistance can do exactly this. Keeping everyone involved updated about what is happening also ensures that everyone is on the same page.
Coming back home is the ultimate goal of every hospital stay, of course, but it’s not always an easy transition. Having help from hospital to home transition care can smooth out those rough spots and make recovery easier and faster.

If you or an aging loved one are considering Hospital to Home Transition Services in Catasauqua PA please contact the caring staff at Extended Family Care Allentown today. Call 610-432-6766

Extended Family Care Allentown is a Trusted Home Care Agency in Allentown, Pennsylvania including Bethlehem, Easton, Emmaus, Macungie, Whitehall, Schnecksville, Catasauqua, Northampton, and Nazareth.

Stephen Sternbach

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