Having to face a hospital stay can be a little worrying at times. You can often be faced with concerns over how you will cope being away from home, and how you’ll manage once you return. These types of concerns can be alleviated by making sure you plan ahead for any expected stay. It’s best to sit down with family, friends, and carers to put a plan into place before your stay.
If you ever have any questions regarding your visit to the hospital you should always raise them with your personal GP, health care professional. Nurses or consultants. It’s essential for you to let the relevant people know about any concerns to make sure you get the right support.
It can be daunting when you know you’re going to be staying in the hospital, especially when you often hear about malpractices. If you want to be prepared beforehand or feel as though you have already experienced it, it’s best to research medical malpractice law.
When you have a planned stay in the hospital there are some things that you can do to make sure you’re prepared, let’s have a look at some of the areas you should be looking at below:
Planning Your Stay
One of the first things you should be doing is speaking to everyone that is involved or may need to be on hand to help. Think about friends, family and any healthcare professionals. You don’t want to be fretting when you’re in the hospital so you should make plans to have your practicalities looked after. If you are ever admitted to the hospital in an emergency, basic equipment will be available until you can arrange for someone to bring you the things that you need from home. If you can’t arrange this yourself, most hospital staff will be able to do it for you.
Some things for you to think about when you have a planned visit include:
- If you care for anyone, you should find someone to take these responsibilities on for you while you’re away.
- Inform any services that you are going to be staying in the hospital, especially if it’s an extended stay.
- If receiving benefits they can be affected by a stay in hospital so it’s best to let the relevant people know. If you receive a pension this should still be paid to you.
- Make sure you have good security for your home. If you have a pet you may need to arrange somewhere for them to stay or ask someone to visit them to provide for their needs.
- Depending on the length of your stay you might find it useful to have someone look after your mail and house plants. If you know you’re going to in for a while, you could always use a service that looks after your mail for you.
- Make a to-do list and a list of items you want to take into hospital with you.
- Arrange any help you may need after your stay.
- Plan a shop for extras you might need and cancel any subscriptions you might have.
- If you think of any questions, write them down. It can be easy to get caught up in everything and forget the important questions you need the answers to.
- Make sure you turn your heating down.
- Turn off and unplug any electrical appliances.
- Think about timers for some lighting.
- Think about CCTV or an alarm system.
During Your Stay
Communication – It’s important to remember your rights when in hospital and make sure you ask questions if anything is unclear. If you haven’t understood anything. Ask for more information. If you find it overwhelming or hard to follow it could be a good idea to have a carer or family member present when speaking to hospital staff, this way you can converse and ask for a summary of the conversations. If you find it easier you can request for any information to be provided in writing. Interpreters are always available if your first language isn’t English.
Food And Drink – Eating and drinking are important before, during and after your stay in hospital. Looking after your diet gives you a much quicker recovery time. If you have any specific dietary requirements make sure the hospital staff knows this before your stay such as gluten intolerant or diabetic.
Care – Your care is one of the most important parts of your stay if you’re ever concerned about your treatment you should ask to speak to the ward manager.
When Leaving Hospital
After a stay in the hospital, the thought of leaving can cause a little bit of anxiety. Especially if you’re concerned about looking after yourself at home. If you have concerns you need to speak up so that a plan can be put into place. It may be that you need help that you didn’t before your stay, even if it is short term. If you arrange this help before you leave you will feel more confident about returning home. If you have been in hospital you will often find that care workers will carry out an assessment to gather an idea and put a plan in place for any support you may need once you’re home. You will have a written discharge plan in place before you leave, it will explain what you need to plan before leaving the hospital.
When it comes to the time to leave, you should always be included in any care plans that the hospital arranges for you. You need to raise any concerns that you have, even if you feel as though you’re being a bother. It might be a good idea to have a relative, friend or carer with you when making the plans so the hospital staff can better understand the support you will have when you return home. In some cases, you might need to make changes to your home, if this is the case try to arrange it before you arrive back so you aren’t left in trouble.
You want to be safe when you haven’t got the staff there to hand to help. It may be as simple as arranging for a stairlift to be installed or for a ramp to be added to the front entrance of your property.
This is just a quick guide to help you plan and prepare for a stay in the hospital, do you have any other tips that you could share in the comments below?
