Let’s face it; Go to the hospital for all kinds of scary procedures, even for young and relatively healthy individuals. But, for older Americans, hospital visits can be very scary and even dangerous. Older people are more susceptible to hospital innate infections and often can be slightly ignored by busy nurses and other caregivers. The following hospital tips have been compiled specifically for older individuals facing the hospital.
1. If you know you will be accepted in the hospital in the near future, ask friends who are relative or close to visit you as much as possible, when you are in the hospital. Ask the person to prepare to watch you and make sure that your needs are fulfilled, if you can’t do it, yourself.
2. Whenever possible, try doing most of the pre-acceptance process by phone before your day of operation / treatment. That way, you can be sure that the information you provide is true and you won’t be nervous because you will be on your reception day. Make sure and tell the reception coordinator about all the drugs you take (including non-recipe pills and supplements). You also have to plan to bring these drugs to you on your day of operation / care in the original container. Hope that they will be taken from you and then republished by the hospital pharmacist along with your doctor. The hospital does not allow patients to take their own medication while under their care.
3. Make sure you bring your favorite night clothes, robes, sandals, and some comfortable clothes to wear at home after being released. You also have to carry a toothbrush, toothpaste, brush, shampoo, deodorant, shaving cream, etc. The hospital will not provide these items to patients. If you forget to bring these items, the hospital souvenir shop must have these items in stock at any time.
4. Don’t bring valuable jewelry, including your watch and wedding ring. Leave this at home or with a trusted friend but don’t wear it to the hospital! It’s also the best not to bring an electric hair dryer because they might not be based on hospital standards and cause safety problems.
5. Geriatric assessment can be done by a hospital care team for several elderly patients. There may be complex problems that can threaten their ability to live alone after certain operations or procedures. Usually, the doctor assigned to this case will ask for an assessment by other doctors, nurses, social workers and physical therapists. This assessment can help older patients receive all the care they might need after being sent home from the hospital.
6. Older patients can take longer to recover from the effects of anesthesia than younger individuals. It is important that patients get a lot of rest and lots of fluids to help compensate for this effect. Report to the nurse or doctor if excessive dizziness, nausea or forgetting continue to be a problem more than 24 hours after surgery. Also, older patients should not be left alone after anesthesia without others to help and evaluate their ability to get around without tripping cables and tubes (always danger in the hospital),
7. Older patients can also experience more problems with IV because their skin is much thinner and their veins tend to collapse. Every arm pain, suddenly cold, the formation of large bubbles under the skin or stinging must be reported to the nurse immediately when the vein may have collapsed and the liquid can leak under the skin.
In short, the elderly needs special attention and attention when hospitalized. It is the responsibility of the hospital staff to ensure that the results are the best possible, but the reality is that parents need advocates (or some) in the form of family and friends to ensure their needs are truly fulfilled properly.