Did you know that more than one-third of hospital patients fail to get needed follow-up care once they are home, according to research from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality?
Doing these three things after a hospital stay can help you have a healthy transition home:
1. Schedule an appointment with your doctor. Your appointment should be within a week to 10 days after being discharged from the hospital, or sooner if recommended by your doctor. Make sure you let the office staff know that you were just in the hospital.
If you do not have a primary care doctor, contact Care Connect at 410-871-7000 or visit physicians.CarrollHospitalCenter.org to find one.
2. Review your discharge instructions. Before you leave the hospital, a nurse will go over your discharge information for when you go home, such as how to care for your surgical wound, how active you can be, any dietary restrictions, when you can return to work and more. You also will receive a printed copy to take home as your reference. Please take this with you to your follow up doctors’ appointments.
3. Fill your prescriptions and take medications as instructed. In addition to your discharge instructions, you will receive a list of medications, some which may be new and that you may have just started in the hospital and their purpose, as well as information on any side effects. You also will discuss resuming or stopping any medications that you were on prior to your hospital stay.
Once you are home from the hospital, call your physician if you have any questions about your discharge instructions or medications.
Taking these proactive steps will help to ensure a safe and successful recovery and will avoid a return to the hospital.
If you need assistance with any health issue call Care Connect at 410-871-7000, and ask for a health navigator to assist you with navigating the health care system.
