Transitioning Back Home From A Hospital Stay

Most seniors are ready to go home after a long stay at the hospital, inpatient rehabilitation facility or skilled nursing facility. Perhaps, you are reading this while you or an elderly loved one is currently at the end of a long stay at one of these facilities.

It’s great when you learn that you have been progressing and the doctors deem you eligible to go home. However, when you get home, things won’t exactly be the same as before you went to the hospital.

Although you’re getting stronger and improving daily, your strength most likely has not fully recovered. You will probably be going home with skilled home health. Your social worker or case manager probably has already explained the difference between home health and home care, but feel free to read our blog post on the differences.

Even with home health, you will need someone helping you throughout the day. Home health only comes a few times a week and each visit is only about an hour. During the first few days or weeks when you get home, you most likely will need someone to assist you with activities of daily living, such as bathing, toileting, dressing, transferring, meals, transportation and other assistance.

The first few days and weeks after a hospital stay are critical. You want to ensure there is not a medical event that causes you to end up back in the hospital. Since you are not as strong, but familiar with your own home, you are a high risk of falling. A fall can lead to another trip to the hospital and start the grueling process all over again.

Something as simple as taking a shower or dropping a pen and bending down to retrieve it can both lead to falling. Your mind has been with you your whole life and is programmed to automatically do routine things. However, with a decline in strength and mobility, seniors are at a high risk of falling in your historical routine activities and motions.

Your social worker or case manager has probably asked who will be helping you once you get home. We recommend having someone available at your home around-the-clock for at least those first few days or weeks, depending on your level of need.

Home Care Book is a senior home care provider agency that works with local Dallas hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and skilled nursing facilities to assist patients in their transitions back home. Home Care Book creates a custom plan tailored to your needs.

We can provide around-the-clock 24-hour care or provide respite services to relieve your spouse, family member or friend from their primary caregiver duties. We have a Chief Medical Officer and coordinate care with your facility, your home health agency, your primary care physician and/or your other specialists.

Please give us a call today to learn more about how we can assist you with your transition back home. 214-377-0711