Five Ways to Make Your Hospital Stay More Comfortable

Thanks to the miracles of technological advances and medical research, not all surgeries require a postoperative hospital stay. While convalescing at home may sound more relaxing, the benefit of a short hospital stay for recovery is having the continuous support of nurses, care assistants, and daily face time with your physician. That being said, the hospital environment is not particularly restful for patients, with being woken every few hours of the night for medications and vitals, predawn waking for physician rounds, noisy hallways, rigid meal scheduling, and lack of privacy. Despite these limitations, when planning a surgery, here are five ways to make your hospital stay more comfortable:

Bring comfort items from home:

• A book, kindle, or magazines.
• A tablet or laptop pre-loaded with movies.
• Preferred toiletries: face wash/hand lotion/deodorant/lip balm/wipes/toothbrush/toothpaste.
• Sleep mask and earplugs.
• Chargers, cell phone, and earbuds, with music or podcasts pre-loaded.
• Washable fleece throw blanket.
• Changes of underwear. You won’t need socks/slippers, as most hospitals provide and require fall precaution socks with nonslip bottoms.
• Pump bottle of hand sanitizer to keep at bedside for you and any guests to use frequently.
• Clorox wipes for initially disinfecting the remote control and bed buttons.
• Pen and pad of paper for keeping track of questions and provided information.
• Eyeglasses case/contact lens supplies.
• Folder containing current medication list, medical provider info, copy of advance directive, and relevant legal paperwork such as trustee/power of attorney and DNR wishes, etc.

Embrace pain management: The immediate recovery period following a surgery usually involves discomfort and sometimes pain. Controlling patient pain is of primary importance in postoperative care. Being in relentless pain disrupts the healing process, by raising one’s blood pressure and interrupting the ability to sleep. Don’t be stoic! It can accelerate your healing to accept the prescribed medications for pain relief and closely follow the recommended schedule for gradually reducing and discontinuing the meds.

Limit visitors: While we all think we are going to want visitors in the hospital, the truth is that after surgery we may feel uncomfortable, fatigued, irritable or out of sorts (or all of the above!). It is okay to decline visitors until you return home, or to limit visits to a manageable 10 or 15 minute timeframe. Do not worry that this is being rude to your guests: if they care enough to want to visit, they should understand and prioritize protecting your health and promoting your healing.

Streamline progress updates: It can be exhausting to feel that you need to call and keep all of your loved ones updated on all the nuances of your recovery. Thanks to technology, it is very easy to have a family member be in charge of sending updates to an email list of close friends and family, or even to set up a blog to keep health updates available with minimal effort from the patient. These updates can include your wishes for visitation, meal delivery for once you return home, or any other needs.

Be flexible: As a patient, a crucial part of recovering from surgery is embracing flexibility. Rather than having rigid expectations for how you think you should be doing, or how long you think progress should take, take a deep breath and challenge that need for control. Being flexible and present in the moment as much as possible will allow you to prioritize your most pressing needs and not waste energy on things that can wait. Let others take care of you, and allow yourself to rest and follow the recommendations of your medical team. This will facilitate healing, and before you know it, you will be able to resume your normal routines.

If you have any concerns about determining potential changes in your care needs based on upcoming surgeries or new medical issues, please contact our expert team at Eldercare Services. No matter where you live throughout the country, we can connect you with the resources you need!