Senior Rehabilitation Facilities: Better Post-Hospital Care Options
Did you know that after a loved one is released from the hospital, families can choose where they want them to receive their final rehab treatment? Learn about alternatives that will aid your loved one in recovering as fast and safely as possible. These options range from skilled nursing facilities that provide round-the-clock care to rehab programs that can be completed at home or in an assisted living facility.
What is a senior rehabilitation facility?
Facilities for senior rehabilitation are created to assist seniors recovering from an injury or major medical event to lessen pain and increase function. Facilities for senior rehab frequently offer the following services:
Physical therapy to assist manage pain, enhance strength, and improve mobility, balance, and flexibility
Assistance with daily living activities (ADLs), the use of adaptive equipment, or fine motor skills may be provided by occupational therapy.
Speech therapy to treat conditions that impair eating, speech, or cognitive abilities, such as attention or memory issues.
Services for older patients in both inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation
Both inpatient and outpatient therapies may be available in senior rehabilitation facilities. If your loved one needs round-the-clock care and ongoing monitoring, inpatient rehabilitation may be necessary.
Those suffering from a traumatic injury, crippling illness, or major surgery must spend some time at a facility, which is known as inpatient rehab. With this kind of rehabilitation, daily physical, occupational, or speech therapy is usually provided as part of intensive care.
Aged patients’ rehabilitation: short-term vs. long-term
Some elder rehabilitation facilities include choices for both short- and long-term inpatient rehab. How much rehabilitation your loved one requires will depend on their health.
For instance, following a minor operation, your father might just need a brief stay at a senior rehab facility. However, persistent, significant diseases like heart issues or a stroke might call for several months of rehabilitation treatments at a skilled nursing facility that provides round-the-clock care, every day of the week.
selecting a facility for elder rehabilitation following hospitalization
There are many situations in which elderly people can receive rehabilitation.
Senior rehabilitation therapy in nursing homes
SNFs, also known as rehab hospitals, provide short-term lodging and rehabilitation services for patients who require round-the-clock nursing care and specialized medical attention. With hospital beds and shared rooms, these inpatient treatment centers often feature a clinical atmosphere. Social assistance, dietary advice, and meals are frequently offered.
If your loved one enters an approved skilled nursing facility within 30 days of a hospital stay that lasted at least three days, Medicare may pay for the care.
Elderly patients receiving in-home rehabilitation following a hospital stay
Through home health agencies, some elder rehabilitation therapies can be provided in the patient’s home. Medicare or insurance companies cover the cost of home health services.
House health services are rendered by qualified medical personnel who visit a patient’s home to carry out a specific duty that has been prescribed by a doctor. These duties could be keeping an eye on health, giving shots, tending to wounds, or creating a strength training and physical therapy exercise regimen.
Rehabilitating elderly people in assisted living facilities
The fact that rehabilitation can be finished in assisted living facilities is something that many people are unaware of. With the added benefit of round-the-clock help from the staff of the assisted living facility, home health experts can offer particular therapies and nursing services that are covered by Medicare just like they can at home.
In many assisted living facilities, residents have access to physical therapy and occupational therapy rooms where they can use cutting-edge equipment several times a day.
Rehabilitating elderly people in assisted living facilities
The fact that rehabilitation can be finished in assisted living facilities is something that many people are unaware of. With the added benefit of round-the-clock help from the staff of the assisted living facility, home health experts can offer particular therapies and nursing services that are covered by Medicare just like they can at home.
In many assisted living facilities, residents have access to physical therapy and occupational therapy rooms where they can use cutting-edge equipment several times a day.
Hospital discharge hazards
There is greater pressure on the patient, family, and home care providers to provide post-surgery care as a result of many hospitals expanding ambulatory care and outpatient services in the context of a financially stressed healthcare system.
The problem is complicated, but it has several particular risks:
- Early hospital discharge and ambiguous discharge instructions
Education gaps for patients and caregivers - a lack of communication and continuity of care between healthcare professionals
- seniors who misuse their drugs (or being given the wrong medication)
Maintaining reasonable expectations when going home after being released from the hospital
After a health crisis, it’s normal for patients or their loved ones to anticipate a complete return to their pre-hospital selves.
Many patients will, at the at least, need to alter their lifestyles to avoid repeating the type of incident that led to their hospitalization. These adjustments could involve food or activity changes. On the other hand, many patients need intensive follow-up care, monitoring, or rehabilitation. Make sure you are aware of the expected level of recovery and what additional therapy or treatments are necessary to achieve the greatest results before you leave the hospital.
Keeping an eye out after a discharge
Families and caregivers must take responsibility for making sure they are aware of the medications their senior loved one is taking and the directions they must follow at home. Make sure that everyone involved in your senior’s care is on the same page, and if something doesn’t seem right, ask questions.
In the end, it should be up to the medical staff caring for your senior to lower the hazards indicated above. However, due to the existing fragmentation of the healthcare system, it is simple for crucial aspects of post-hospital treatment to be missed.