Seniors who are ready to come home from the hospital may experience a wide range of emotions ranging from excitement and happiness to anxiety or even fear. The longer the hospital stay, the more challenging it can feel to make sure the return home is successful. What families need is help that they can rely on to make the process easier, and hospital to home transition care can help families to beat the biggest challenges they face.
Ensuring the Home Is Safe
Safety at home is a huge issue for seniors of all ages and health levels. It’s especially important when seniors are coming home from a hospital stay. Hospital to home transition care can help families assess potential hazards at home and make recommendations for resolving those issues. Rooms may need to be rearranged to make room for medical equipment and transition care experts can help sort out what needs to be done.
Managing Medical Care at Home
Just because people are discharged from the hospital, that doesn’t mean that they don’t still need some medical care. That fact can be intimidating, especially if seniors need help with wound care, medications, or medical equipment. Transition experts can help families find resources like skilled nursing care that can come to the senior’s home. Skilled nursing care at home involves licensed nurses coming to the patient’s house to take care of medical care. Patients and family members don’t have to worry about handling tasks they are worried about or don’t feel comfortable handling themselves.
Making Emotional Adjustments
Sometimes patients feel safer at the hospital than they do at home, especially if their health issues are a little scary for them. They may have expectations about what coming home will feel like, so seniors must have someone to talk to who understands how complicated this can all be. Hospital to home transition care can also help seniors and families to find resources like counseling or support groups that can also help.
Coordinating Care with Multiple Healthcare Providers
Patients may have more than one healthcare provider that manages their care, especially after a hospital stay. It’s complicated to manage a variety of follow-up appointments, treatments, and ongoing communication with multiple healthcare providers. Hospital to home transition experts can help families set up a care coordinator, which could be either a family caregiver or a professional care manager, to simplify care needs. They can also help families work out a system to stay organized with records, prescriptions, and other important information.
Preventing Hospital Readmission
Probably the biggest challenge facing families when seniors come home from the hospital is ensuring that seniors don’t end up back in the hospital. Readmission typically happens because of problems like medication errors, complications, or other issues. Adhering to the care plan and having access to the right help make hospital readmission less likely to happen.
It takes a lot of planning and preparation for seniors to successfully come home after a hospital stay. Hospital to home transition care helps families face and overcome many of the challenges they’re likely to face throughout this process.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Hospital to Home Transition Services in Easton 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.
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