Questions to Ask Prior to Discharge from the Emergency Room
Home Care Havertown PA
A visit to the emergency room is something that many elderly adults will experience during the course of their later years. This could be due to an injury, a lingering illness, or a complication of a serious medical condition that they already have. It is vital that you are dedicated to helping your loved one make the most of their visit and getting the most benefit out of it. This starts with ensuring that you have all of the information that you will need to give them the best home care after their discharge. While it is important to be engaged and invested in this experience the entire time that your loved one is in the emergency room, the most pressing time is during discharge.
Discharge is your opportunity to get all of the information that you can about what your parent is facing, how they need to manage it, and what you can do to help them through their recovery and to help prevent them from returning to the hospital soon.
Some of the questions that you should ask during discharge after your parent has sought medical attention at the emergency room include:
• What exactly is their diagnosis? In order to truly give your parent appropriate home care after they leave the emergency room, you need to know the condition that they are facing. Get not only the actual name of the condition or issue, but a basic explanation of it as well. This will help to ensure that you fully understand the diagnosis and are able to research it or explain it to others confidently.
• How will this impact their health? For most elderly adults, the condition that brought them to the emergency room is not isolated. Instead, this condition will impact the other issues that they face on a day-to-day basis. Understanding these impacts help you to devise a course of management for after diagnosis tailored to managing each of their issues in the way that is right for them and that will help to support a higher quality of life as they age in place.
• What treatments will they need? In addition to the prescriptions that the doctor hands your parent, make sure that you gather all of the details possible about these medications and the other forms of treatment that they might need. This includes knowing the name of all medications, the type of drug that they are, dosage information, potential side effects, and any effects that might cause concern that you should look out for during the recovery period. This will allow you to offer the necessary reminders to keep them on track.
• What care will they need? Consult with the medical team about the type of care and support that your parent might need after they return home from the emergency room. This will enable you to make any necessary arrangements such as hiring home care for your parent to ensure that they have all of the support, care, and assistance that they might need to help them overcome the issue that brought them to the emergency room as well as any other conditions that they are dealing with. This will help them to recover as quickly as possible, and avoid hospital readmission in the days and weeks following the discharge.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Home Care Services in Havertown PA, please contact the caring staff at True Direct Home Health Care today.
Doc, as he is called by everyone - staff, patients and clients - first experienced home health care and hospice care while as a colleg student at King's College as he cared for his mother every day while she first battled COPD and then lung cancer. It was during this time that he came to understand that caring for a patient was more than just clinical expertise.
"Admittedly, my strongest attribute is my communication skills and the simple fact that I love to help people. Even the smallest thing you can do for someone really can mean so much to them long term. In fact, it could change them forever. That's what providing quality personal home health care should be all about."
In his spare time, he cooks for homeless shelters and children's music and arts events. He also is highly involved in his local youth sports soccer academy as a coach and Board member.
- How Home Health Providers Offer Education Amidst Physical Health Changes - March 5, 2024
- Spring Activities for Seniors - February 21, 2024
- How to Help an Older Loved One with Cataracts? - February 6, 2024