How to Plan a Discharge From a Hospital to a Home

As a person ages, has an illness or an accident, sometimes the stay in the hospital does not allow enough time to recover from what sent the person to the hospital in the first place. For an elderly person, illness and weakness aggravated by age, may mean the elderly patient transitions permanently from a hospital setting to a nursing home setting. Whatever the reason, whether permanent or temporary, plans must be made before the hospital discharge and transfer takes place.

Instructions

• 1

  Ask the doctor about the level of care the patient will require after the hospital discharge. If you are the person responsible for the patient as spouse, sibling or other authorized family member, when the doctor suggests the patients needs a nursing home facility rather than going home, either on a temporary or permanent basis, you need to ask specific questions as to what the patient will require in the way of medicine and medical care. If this is to be a temporary placement, ask for an estimate time of healing before the person would be cleared to return home. This helps you know what type of nursing home care for which to search. Also ask the doctor for nursing home recommendations.

• 2

  Evaluate insurance and other financial assistance to understand what options you may have financially in searching for a nursing home. Talk to a hospital financial counselor, the insurance company and, if the person is on government assistance or retirement benefits, talk to appropriate departments for guidelines and assistance.

• 3

  Check out nursing homes in the area. Not all nursing homes are alike. Some nursing homes offer a higher level of medical care than others. You need to find a nursing home with the level of nursing and medical care required for the person being discharged from the hospital. Ask questions of the staff and nurses. Go to the facility and look around. Pay attention to how residents are treated and if needs are met quickly and efficiently. Visit with the residents. Consider how the nursing home looks and smells. The smell gives you clues as to the cleanliness of the place. Talk to the food staff to see if they will provide the meals, including any special diet, required for the person who will be discharged to the facility.

• 4

  Talk to management of the home. Management will tell you if there is a waiting list and how soon a room may become available. If the discharge is imminent, you'll need to find a place that will not only care properly for the person being discharged, but that will take them as soon as the person is discharged from the hospital.

• 5

  Learn the date and time of the discharge. In order to make the transfer as smooth and painless as possible, make sure you know exactly when the doctor plans to release the patient so you can have the nursing home lined up and transportation ready. Also be sure to have a list of all medications, future appointments as well as exactly what care the patient requires, even during the transfer. With planning and caring, you can make the discharge much less stressful for the person being discharge from the hospital to a home.