|
Elder CareTips:
Mastering The Eldercare Maze™
September 1, 2004
Help
Your Elder Survive A Hospital Stay
|
Did you know that
medication errors happened in nearly one in five doses
given in hospitals in 2002 (according to the Archives
of Internal Medicine)??? Nurses are stretched thin, and
most hospitals don't have as many staff as they'd like
to
have, or need.
When a senior you care about goes into the hospital it's
imperative that someone be there, and that the person
who's there will be an active advocate for the older
person.
Patients of any age need support in the hospital if they
are really ill, or if they are having a major surgical
procedure. Our elders almost always need someone
there even when they aren't so critically ill.
Older adults tend to be hesitant to insist on answers
from doctors and nurses. Hearing or vision impairments
may make it difficult for them to understand the
information they do get. Pain medications can seriously
cloud an older person's thinking. Anxiety and confusion
are almost always worse during a hospitalization.
So, without sending you to medical school, here are a
few important things you can do to insure that your
elder has the best possible hospital stay:
1. Be there.
As much as possible, be in the room with your
parent. Set
up a schedule if you need to share responsibility
with other
family members or reliable friends. If you
absolutely can't be
there all the time, it's especially important that
you be there
early in the morning (doctors sometimes make their
rounds
as early as 6 a.m.) and in the late afternoon and
evening
(doctors visit after their office hours, sometimes
as late as
8 or 9 p.m.).
Read The Rest...
Elder CareTip: The Paperwork
|
What's the first thing
most of us do when there's an emergency?
.....We get in the car.
Whether it's to drive to the hospital, to a parent's
home, or to the airport, we almost always first get in
the car.
Keep two copies each of your Medical Powers of Attorney,
medication lists, doctors' names and addresses and any
other documents that would be important in an emergency
in your car. Ideally, you've filled out your copy of
"What You Need to Know." Keep a copy of it with your
legal documents and you're covered. (If you've lost your
copy and need another, email me and I'll send you one:
(molly@eldercareteam.com)
Add a notebook. Put everything in a sealable plastic bag
and keep a set in the trunk or glove compartment of
every car you might be likely to use. That way, you
won't forget it or waste valuable time looking for
things.
Make sets for yourself, your spouse, and your minor
children, too. Keep them all together - one set in each
car. Your elder isn't the only one who might have a
medical emergency.
Make a list of important things
to do today. At the top of your list, put "eat
chocolate."
Now, you'll get at least one thing done today.
|
We believe
this is from
Gina Hayes
|
|
For a lot more excellent
information on how to watch over and advocate for anyone
in the hospital, I can personally recommend "How
to Survive Your Hospital Stay: The Complete Guide to
Getting the Care You Need--And Avoiding Problems You
Don't," by Gail Van Kanegan and Michael Boyette.
Read it once before you need it, and then put it in your
car with the rest of your important papers. While you're
spending time at the hospital with someone there's
guaranteed to be something really important you'll need
to re-read.
|
|
|
