Hip surgery, especially in older people, requires careful aftercare to ensure a quick recovery and lower the risk of problems. This can be accomplished with a well-thought-out post hospital care plan and a strong support system, including loved ones.
Below are some of the things that should be planned ahead of discharge and included in the post hospital care plan.
Home Modifications and Accessibility
Assessment: It’s essential to look at a loved one’s home to see if there are any possible dangers and make any changes that are needed. This could mean adding grab bars, higher toilet seats, and ramps so that people in wheelchairs can get in and out.
Accessibility: It’s also important to ensure that things like food, medicine, and toiletries are easy to get to. Additionally, loved ones should take the time to move furniture around so there are clear paths.
Help and Caregiving
Caregiver Support: It’s important to assess how much help seniors will need after surgery and how much help loved ones can provide. Additional help, such as post-hospital home care, might be required in many instances.
Professional Care: Loved ones should consider hiring home care to support seniors as they recover. In addition, skilled nursing services can ensure seniors receive medication management help with daily tasks and wound care as needed.
Structured Program for Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation: The post hospital care plan will likely include physical therapy with a goal to improve strength, movement, and flexibility while reducing pain.
Medication Management
Managing Pain: Beyond the medication management that skilled nursing can provide, loved ones should make sure seniors have the right painkillers as recommended by their doctor. It’s also important for loved ones and home carers to watch out for negative reactions to any medication they take.
Medication Organization: Home care and loved ones can help seniors organize their medications and set up reminders through apps or a paper calendar. This helps ensure they don’t miss a dose.
Nutrition and Hydration
Balanced Diet: Loved ones should stress to seniors how important it is to eat a balanced diet full of nutrients when recovering from a hospital stay. Even better? Home care can assist by creating post hospital care meal plans.
Hydration: Additionally, loved ones should encourage seniors to drink enough water to help them heal and avoid problems like urinary tract infections and dehydration.
Follow-Up Appointments
Follow-Up Appointments: It’s essential for seniors to attend all follow-up appointments as scheduled to encourage ongoing recovery.
Continued Monitoring: The post-hospital care plan should call for continued monitoring to watch for signs of problems like infection, blood clots, or dislocation.
It is important for seniors having hip surgery to have a detailed post hospital care plan to help them heal well and lower their risk of complications. It’s also important for loved ones to remember that each situation is different and that it’s essential to be patient with seniors as they check off the boxes on their post-hospital care plan.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Post Hospital Care in Kearney, NE, please contact the caring staff at AmanaCare today. Call (402) 440-5878
AmanaCare Provides Senior Home Care Services in Lincoln, Kearney, Grand Island, North Platte, Hastings, Omaha, Columbus, Broken Bow, Scottsbluff, Norfolk, and surrounding areas.
Sources:
- https://www.saintlukeskc.org/health-library/discharge-instructions-total-hip-replacement-surgery
- https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/discharge-instructions/hip-replacement-discharge
- https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/hip-replacement-recovery-qa
- https://www.shalby.org/tips-for-senior-citizens-recovering-from-hip-surgery/
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