Home Health Agency Caring for Patients After a Hospital Discharge

 

Caring for patients who have recently been discharged from the hospital can be a unique opportunity for a home health agency to provide increased support.

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As the admin of a home health agency, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your staff is adequately trained to handle a variety of scenarios and provide the best care possible to your agency’s patients. Utilizing tools such as a staff training sessions, home health software, internal communications platforms, and industry best practices guides can empower agencies in information sharing and establishing baseline protocols, and establishing sound operational protocols will be your best bet.

Providing practical and holistic home health options means being prepared to meet patients where they are and understand each unique situation. Home health staff members are often asked to care for clients that have recently been discharged from the hospital. This can provide unique challenges, so let’s discuss ways to effectively care for those that have just ended a hospitalization.

Hospital Care

Hospital care can range widely and individuals typically have diverse experiences during their admission. Because of this, it’s essential to remain empathetic and compassionate towards every patient, especially those with a recent hospitalization. Recognizing that each patient has had their own unique experiences is critical.

Adjustment

Going from a hospital environment to a home setting can be jarring. Especially for those with complex medical needs, it can be quite the adjustment to return home. Caretakers must remember this, so that they can provide the level of care that’s needed.

If an individual solely stayed in their bed during their hospital stay, the abilities that they had before admission may have changed. Having an honest and open conversation with the patient is a great way to assess their current skills and collaborate to decide how you can be most helpful.

Communication

As was just mentioned, communication is often an essential part of the home health process. Especially when an individual has recently been discharged from the hospital, it’s important to establish open communication. If you cared for the client previously, you may review their care history in your home health care software. Their needs may have changed and having transparent discussions about that can relieve some stress and ensure that you’re providing the right level of support.

Family

The family often plays a role during the transition from the hospital to home. If the client being cared for has close family, consider including them in conversations. Getting another perspective is a great way to ensure everyone’s on the same page and working towards common goals.

Nutrition

Patients will typically have their nutrition needs cared for during a hospital stay. Because of this, it can be quite jarring to return home and not have that support. Sometimes home health agencies will step in at this point to provide guidance about proper nutrition and come up with practical solutions for mealtimes.

Coming home from the hospital can be accompanied by some freedom and new choices. These things can be exciting but also stressful. Home health agency staff must keep this in mind to help eliminate stress whenever possible.

Quarantine

A hospital stay can sometimes correlate to a suppressed immune system. If your client is already at a higher risk for various diseases, consider speaking with them about some ways to reduce dangerous exposures. Limiting guests inside the house and reducing trips to the community can be good ways to ensure that your client’s immune system has the necessary amount of time to recover.

Especially with COVID-19, quarantining can be extremely beneficial when reintegrating someone back into the home environment. Making sure that your staff is taking necessary precautions, such as washing their hands and wearing masks, is another step that can be taken to protect clients.

Burnout

As the head of a home health agency, it’s important to be empathetic to your staff’s concerns and dilemmas. In an age where caregiver retention in home health is a challenge, having an active awareness that nurses can face caregiver burnout when providing services to someone who’s just been discharged from the hospital, will help you be proactive in keeping critical caregiver staff.

Having regular conversations with your staff and understanding where they’re coming from is an excellent way to prevent burnout and make sure that they feel heard.

About the author

At ThriveWithHomeHealthSoftware, we understand the many challenges that home health executives face. That’s why we’ve created a software for homcare agencies that simplifies workflow and empowers both administrative and nursing staff. industry. Subscribe to our blog to get thought leadership and agency empowering articles that will help you perform at your best.