Our Calling is Caring: October 07

October 2007

A Loving Couple

Discharge Calls not only help patients; they also help hospitals. I recently called an elderly patient who was discharged from our facility. She refused to enter the skilled nursing facility due to the care she was providing to her husband and her desire to be with him. Home care visits were arranged for the patient to allow this transition home. When I connected with her she was short of breath, had missed her medications, and her home care visit had not been arranged due to the misplacement of her discharge instructions. Her husband had stepped out and she was very scared. I remained on the line with her until he returned, while I gathered the information needed to arrange for her follow-up care. I connected with the home care agency, arranged for the visit and reiterated to her how important it was to follow through with the instructions provided by her clinical team. I placed a follow-up call to review the scheduled appointment time for her visit. When I returned the call, both the patient and husband thanked me for making his wife feel safer during his absence and agreed to have an aid come into the home during his future trips out of the home.

They mentioned no one ever called them after a hospital visit and remarked they would always return to Bedford even though it was the closest hospital to their home since Bedford cared about her safety and quality of life. We not only provided great follow-up care for this patient we also gained a loyal customer.

Jayne
Bedford Medical Center