Main Causes for Hospital Readmissions

A person may find themselves staying in a hospital for various reasons. Whether it is due to an illness or a procedure, the hospital is not known to be a cozy, comforting place. Patients want to return to the familiar environment of their own home, so it is often a relief to be discharged. However, if you do not take the proper actions to prioritize your recovery, it is easy to end up back in the hospital.

While hospital readmissions are quite common, they can be avoided. If you know of the events that often lead to hospital readmissions, then you can prevent yourself or your loved one from having to return to the hospital.

Continue reading to learn more about the main causes for hospital readmissions and how to prevent them.

Noncompliant with Proper Care

If the patient does not care enough to take care of themselves and follow doctor’s orders following a hospital stay, then they are unlikely to recover. Recovery requires serious commitment, so the lack of it will make an improved condition much more difficult. Instead, they will likely have to be readmitted to the hospital because their condition is not improving.

For example, a person suffers an injury that requires surgery to repair the damage their body suffered. While the surgery is an essential part of the person’s recovery, it is merely one step within a longer recovery process.

The person may be required to do regular physical therapy, avoid certain activities, and take certain medications in order to make a complete recovery. But if these instructions are ignored or followed improperly, it will be possible for the injury to worsen, prompting hospital readmission.

Improper Transition Home

Making the transition home following a hospital stay is often a welcome prospect. However, if the transition back home is done prematurely or improperly, then the patient can find themselves being readmitted to the hospital.

An early discharge from the hospital means that they are not in a good enough condition to be without the regular medical care they would receive in a hospital. So, while at home, they may lack the care they need. This could then result in their condition worsening, prompting them to go back to the hospital to see why there are complications with their recovery.

Sometimes, patients may make the transition home without sufficient care instructions and follow-up appointments in place. They also may not have the help they need, so they try to do too much and harm themselves.

For example, the patient has failed to be informed about the diet they should follow or activities to avoid. As a result, they unintentionally hinder themselves and their recovery. Just one mishap could cause a patient to go back to the hospital.

Misunderstanding Discharge Instructions

Some patients have every intention of following the discharge instructions that their doctor has provided them with. However, the information is not always straightforward. Patients may receive conflicting information or become confused about what the instructions say, causing them to misinterpret it. This misinterpretation can then result in an unintentional hindrance to their recovery.

For example, a patient might be confused about their medication instructions, causing them to accidentally take them incorrectly. This may complicate their condition and prompt a visit to the hospital.

Complications with Your Condition

Certain people may already have conditions that increase their potential for complications regarding their health. Heart disease, kidney disease, COPD, sepsis, and other conditions can increase the risk for complications following a procedure. An example of such would be infections near or at the site of the surgical wounds.

After Surgery Care Services from Assisting Hands Home Care

Considering what can result in hospital readmissions, you may feel that extra help would be beneficial for you or your loved one who returned home from the hospital. Having someone around to provide home care can ease the burden on the patient and allow them to focus on their recovery.

With after-surgery care services, Assisting Hands Home Care can provide non-medical home health care to help individuals in Deerfield, Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, Vernon Hills, Highland Park IL, and the surrounding areas following their stay at a hospital, nursing home, or rehabilitation facility. We know how difficult it can be to transition home aftefr such an event, so our caregivers provide home care that helps make the recovery easier.

Within these non-medical home health care services, our professional caregivers are unable to help with medical tasks. But we can offer assistance with personal care activities, provide medication reminders, prepare meals, do light housekeeping, provide transportation, run errands, and more. Our after-surgery care is meant to give patients the help they need while not at full strength, which also gives them the opportunity to maintain their focus on recovering fully.

You can feel at ease knowing that you or your loved one has home care help from a qualified professional and can make a complete recovery.