Senior Care Awareness: Ensuring Your Parent Is Not Discharged Too Soon

Senior Care in Kannapolis NC

You put a tremendous amount of time and effort into the care and assistance that you give your parents in hopes of keeping them as safe and healthy as possible, but if you are like many family caregivers, hospitalization will be part of your senior care journey with at least one of your parents. This could be something as simple as a planned procedure to address a medical condition, or as complicated as an extended hospitalization due to an injury or illness. No matter what the cause of the hospitalization, this is a pivotal moment in your care experience. Even while they are under the care of the medical team at the hospital, as their family caregiver it is still your responsibility to make sure that they are getting the level of care and assistance that they need in order to move through the situation effectively and get back to their normal quality of life as soon as possible.

Part of fulfilling this need is ensuring that your parent is not discharged too soon after a hospitalization. The reality is that many seniors are not prepared for their discharge and are not able to recover effectively after leaving the hospital, resulting in approximately 20 percent returning to the hospital for further care within thirty days of their initial discharge. This often results in the senior suffering further medical problems, greater risk of delirium and other cognitive issues, emotional turmoil, and increased chance of diminished quality of life for the rest of their aging years, including greater risk of mortality in the year following the discharge.

Standing up for your parents and ensuring that they remain in the hospital for as long as they need to is a critical aspect of keeping your parents healthy and strong regardless of why they end up hospitalized.

Use these tips to help ensure your parents are not discharged too soon after a hospitalization:

• Ensure they understand. Studies have indicated that as much as 40 percent of seniors really understand why they went into the hospital in the first place, and half cannot accurately relay information about the experience, including their diagnosis or prescriptions. If your parents are not suffering from serious cognitive decline, make sure that they understand the hospitalization and recovery terms before discharge.

• Monitor their improvement. The goal of hospitalization is obviously to help your loved ones get through an illness or injury. If you do not notice a valid improvement in your parents, or are concerned that they have not improved enough to handle their recovery at home, point it out to the medical team. Let them know what you see and ask them to justify the impending discharge.

• Note changes in their personality. Hospital delirium is a very real thing, even among seniors who went into the hospital relatively healthy, but it can be difficult for the medical team to detect. You know your seniors better than anyone, so if you notice changes in your parents’ personality, behaviors, cognitive functioning, memory, or emotional health, bring it to the attention of the medical team and express your concerns about them being diagnosed in that condition.

If you or an aging loved one are considering senior care in Kannapolis, NC, contact the caring professionals at TenderHearted Home Care today. Call us at (704) 612-4132.

https://www.caring.com/blogs/older-patients-wiser-care/how-to-avoid-unsafe-early-hospital-discharge

http://www.emblemhealth.com/en/Providers/Provider-Resources/Newsletter/News-and-Notes-Fall-2013-Winter-2014/Many-Seniors-Confused-About-Hospitalization.aspx