Elderly Care Case Study Discharging a Patient Case Study

Elderly Care Case Study

Discharging a patient from hospital is usually a complex process that is surrounded by many challenges. Therefore an appropriate discharge plan should be put in place so that there can be avoidance of re-hospitalization. As the case manager for Mr. Trosak case there are several healthcare issues that should be addressed when working with an interdisciplinary plan to determine the most appropriate discharge plan for Mr. Trosak.

These healthcare issues include medication management, appointments, the nature of the patient's current home and suitability for the patient's condition and emotional care. It is important to address all this issues when determining the appropriate discharge plan for the elderly patient. This is because all these issues are important and if they are not addressed appropriately then the patient might eventually find their way back to the hospital. The discharged patient should have adequate help from family or other caregivers that will ensure that Mr. Trosack can obtain and self-administer the medications prescribed, eat an appropriate diet and also live in appropriate conditions. These will ensure that they will be comfortable and there will be further cases of accidents within his house that will cause any further worsening of his condition and prevention of another accident. The elderly also feel lonely especially Mr. Trosack being a widower and living alone could be very lonely hence an appropriate plan will ensure that he has companionship and meaningful conversations and activities. This will help in the recovery process since they will ensure that medications will be given and taken appropriately and also the conditions in the house will not lead to any further harm t the patient (Alpher, E., O'Malley, T.A & Greenwald, J. 2012)

It is very important for an interdisciplinary team to be set that will determine the most appropriate discharge placement for Mr. Trosack. This will ensure that the best care will be given to him that will ensure a quick recovery of Mr. Trosack. The members of the interdisciplinary team can be the case manager, nurse, physician and social worker (Next step in care,2010). All these people have roles to play in order for the best placement plan to be developed for Mr. Trosack. The case manager is expected to gather appropriate information from the patient, family and social worker that will be useful to come up with an appropriate discharge plan. The case manager is expected to question the patient on where he lives, who he lives with and what he does for a living. The case manager should also get information from Family members, this is because they are people who are close to the patient and know him very well so they are in a position to give conclusive information that will assist in formulation of an appropriate placement plan.

A social worker should also be part of the team; this will ensure that the team will get appropriate information on the safety assessment of Mr. Trosack's apartment and if this apartment is appropriate for him to live in once discharged bearing the new medical condition. The safety assessment will give information on any changes that will be required to be made to the apartment to ensure that Mr. Trosack will be comfortable and ensure quick recovery. The physician also has a big role in the team; this is because he or she will determine whether Mr. Trosack is fit to be discharged and if discharged he will get the appropriate care that he requires for his recovery at home.

A nurse is also appropriate for the team; this should be the nurse who has been in charge of Mr. Trosack since the nurse has adequate information on his previous treatments and will be in a position to decide if Mr. Trosack should be discharged and the correct placement plan. These entire people have a great role to play when it comes to determining the appropriate placement plan for the patient to be discharged.From the safety assessment there are various issues that could affect the determination of the discharge placement of Mr. Trosack these are such as the space availability for him to maneuver with the walker, the flight of stairs; the food expired in the refrigerator, the old prescriptions in the medication cabinets. All these issues will pose a challenge to Mr. Trosack upon his discharge for instance there will be need to take trash and get groceries which will require the use of the stairs, his medicine should be placed in the medicine cabinet and to avoid any confusion the old prescriptions should be gotten rid off. The expired food in the fridge should be removed and replaced with fresh food since he requires eating well with his condition. If changes are not made concerning the safety conditions that have been looked at then his apartment would not be appropriate for his placement.

Discharge plan of care.

Mr.Trosack needs a lot of care when he is discharged, with the busy schedule of his son and wife who work for almost sixty hours these can be very difficult to give him all the care and support he needs to recover. The fact that previously they never visited regularly also is an indication that they are not in a position to take care of him well.

From the interview with the family members they seem not to understand why it is important for Mr. Trosack to take his medication regularly .this is a wrong notion to be taken by the family since they are the people who are expected to encourage Mr. Trosack to take all his medication in order to recover. These family members cannot be entrusted with the task of ensuring he takes all his medication since they themselves do not see the need for him to take the medication. They even do not know where he gets his groceries from, this means that they do not even care how he will access the groceries and food when he is discharged to his apartment. The apartment that he lives in is not quite safe for him to be placed since there are various things that will hinder his movement and his overall safety in the apartment. From these we can say that his apartment is not an appropriate place for him to be discharged as he lives alone and hence he will be lonely. It can also be concluded that his family is not in any position to take care of him as it is required when he is discharged to his apartment.

Social isolation affects an older adult's recovery from surgery or illnesses; this is because the patient needs great care and attention as they are recovering. When they are isolated they feel as though no one is concerned about them and this will bring about many thoughts of being abandoned not loved and so on. Patients should therefore not be isolated rather they should be surrounded by people who care for them and love them to give them the appropriate companionship that they require. Psychological factors therefore play a big role in ones recovery, the whole recovery process is psychological and when a patient is psychologically in distress then it means that they will take long to recover. If a patients mind is free and all their thoughts are happy and not stressing then they will recover quickly.

Mr.Trosack should therefore be placed in a care facility since his apartment is not appropriate and will not lead to his quick recovery. The facility should be got after a thorough assessment of Mr. Trosacks needs in the facility the family and hospital can be sure that there is continuity of care to the patient. The facility should be of convenience to the family in terms of accessibility so that they….....