How to Manage a Hospital Discharge for Senior Citizens

Today, healthcare has become a contentious topic in American society due to factors such as cost, accessibility, and efficacy. To exacerbate matters, the number of citizens reaching senior age is increasing with each passing year. This has resulted in a multitude of challenges when it comes to finding continual care for senior citizens in need of ongoing medical support.

Thankfully, though it may seem intimidating at first glance, there are practices and steps that one can take to simplify the process and make it more manageable. Being exposed to these steps can help one feel more capable of helping seniors in one life find continual care.

Here is how to manage a hospital discharge for senior citizens and find continuing care.

Start with a Plan

Anyone who has had a senior loved one experience health problems knows that the experience can be harrowing and stressful. Unfortunately, on these occasions, it’s important to think rationally and prepare a game plan as soon as possible. The more prepared one is for the transition from being in a hospital to being discharged, the easier the transition will be.

When planning, it’s important to consider the resources available to the senior such as money and social capital. These factors will have a significant impact on the type of continuing care that the senior will be able to receive post being discharged from the hospital.

Though it can seem like a complicated process, there are ways to make the process more accessible. One practice is utilizing a hospital discharge planning guide. Having a general checklist of everything that needs to be addressed can help make the situation less overwhelming and more manageable. As such, taking advantage of these guides can be a powerful way to face the challenge of finding seniors continuing care head-on.

Understand and Choose Continuing Care Options

When it comes to continuing care, several options are available to seniors. The main continuing care options are:

• Home healthcare services: This typically involves a trained healthcare professional either making continual visits or living full-time with a patient. In some cases, family members may assume the role of caregivers and offer basic care to their senior family members.
• Assisted living facilities: These facilities usually involve individuals living in their own homes — typically an apartment-style dwelling — with staff on site to help residents. This allows seniors to retain a sense of autonomy while still having the consistent support they need.
• Nursing homes: As opposed to assisted living facilities, nursing homes typically offer less autonomy to residents, with residents living in dorm-like homes. Those in nursing homes may require more care and support from staff.

Unfortunately, most options for continuing care can cost a significant amount of money. However, there are some cost-effective resources available to a range of people who find themselves in these situations.

Researching and gaining an understanding of these options is key to choosing the right one for a specific individual. As one can imagine, rushing through this process can have disastrous results. As such, researching and planning continuing care options as early as possible is key to a smooth discharge transition.

Establishing and Continuing Communication with a Healthcare Team

In addition to creating a plan and choosing a continuing care option, establishing a line of communication with a healthcare team is key to a smooth discharge process. Without being able to reach out to a qualified medical team, there will be a significant amount of uncertainty after transitioning out of a hospital.

While a patient is still in the hospital, it’s important for family members and those responsible for caring for the elderly patient to have the medical staff explain things. This will result in a clearer idea of the type of care that the patient will need upon leaving the hospital. In addition, this allows one the opportunity to understand when the patient will need to come back for necessary appointments, treatments, and evaluations.

Medical staff are also the perfect professionals to explain medications. As such, taking this opportunity to understand the types of medications that a patient will need to take and what that will entail is a great course of action. However, it’s important to note that medical staff make it a priority to uphold patient confidentiality. This being the case, those asking for this type of private information must be able to show that they are family members or caregivers to the said patient.

Managing Hospital Discharges Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated

While it can seem like an intimidating process, being prepared and understanding some key tips can help make managing a senior’s hospital discharge simpler. By crafting a plan, understanding continuing care options, and communicating effectively with a healthcare team, helping seniors make the transition after being discharged can be a far more manageable task.

Though many are hoping for changes in the healthcare system that make continuous care resources more accessible for seniors, there are ways to navigate the current system to ensure that seniors are experiencing optimal health outcomes.