Intro to Types of Transitional Care

 

What are types of Transitional Care?

Basically we are talking about moving between different care settings; and the effects they could have on your lives when a set routine at home gets interrupted.

Because your loved one may be moving between facilities, you must put on your cloak of advocacy. You will be speaking for your loved one to groups of professionals who are meeting your loved one for the first time. You know things they don’t. You have to make sure they know some of what you know so that they can put your loved one in the best possible position.

You may have to be sure they know very specifically what your loved one’s wishes are. You will be the one who gets to deal with all the medical and legal paperwork unless someone else in the family has been given health attorney power. It is important to know these things before an emergency occurs.

Let’s say that you're at home with your loved one, but they get sick. You have to get your loved one to a hospital to be checked out. At the hospital a determination is made. Should the patient need hospital care or is home care going to provide what the patient needs?

If they are admitted you've moved from Home To Hospital. When away from home and sick, your loved one may feel alone and highly vulnerable. These days you can stay 24/7 at the hospital with a loved one.

But why would you choose to do that? In many cases, when someone is sick, they may seem cognitively sound and able to understand what medical professionals say to them, but that is not necessarily the reality.

People who are sick put their primary focus on pain. The doctor may be talking and the patient may seem to be listening, but sometimes they really aren’t. They might not remember anything that was said. Someone needs to know what is going on.

A caregiver in the room can cut down on a lot of miscommunication when family members ask a loved one what the doctor has said to them. A caregiver can ask questions, can get clarity and definition of the ongoing problems. Staying with the patient at a hospital is something to really consider.

After a stay at the hospital a patient either goes home, or goes to a recovery/  rehab/ nursing home facility. Nursing Home care is going to be a different experience for the patient and the caregiver. This situation could last for days, weeks, or even months. It won’t be permanent unless that decision is going to have to be made.

But the caregiver won’t be allowed to stay at the nursing home with the patient. If you have a loved one who hates even the thought of being alone, this is an added stress on top of the fact that they have been ill and need professional recovery facilities.

As caregiver, this can mean going to the nursing home every day during visiting hours. It can mean you fall behind on knowledge of your loved one’s current status. It can be a very stressful time, even though it might look like you have time off to others.

Nursing homes also provide long-term care. But these days hospitals and insurance fight over how long a person can stay within the hospital environment. So nursing homes often get patients that stay temporarily for hospital Recovery. There are also many short-term patients who need that in-patient rehab therapy to recover from injuries.

You will be handling the home care. Over time the duties can become heavier and heavier. This is why you want to start off your care duties by setting up support networks. You will not be able to do it all alone.

If your situation leads to end of life, you may run into Hospice Care and Palliative Care. Each facility and type of care is handled differently. The challenges of moving between facilities adds a certain level of stress to both the patient and the caregiver.

Caregiver duties will change given the type of facility. For everyone change is hard. Some of these transitions can be rapid fire, giving no time to prepare for what might happen next. It is something that a caregiver should be aware of, just in case something happens. And it probably will.