Research out of the University of Alberta in Canada states that when senior-friendly care is given after an elderly individual has surgery, there likelihood of a safer, more effective recovery goes up in a significant manner. Over the last couple decades, doctors have had a growing understanding of the fact that when a senior has emergency surgery, there are a lot of complications. Age-related frailty can go up, dementia is more likely to set in, and more severe complications–including death–become more likely to happen, too. This has led to how a lot of hospitals tailor their care for the senior population, but there’s still a lot of room for growth in this area.
The location of this care is not always important. In fact, for the purpose of this study, these seniors were located within a hospital. The hospital staff took big steps to help ensure that the care that they gave was redesigned to be more senior focused, though. For seniors in recovery, it was more like what you would expect to find in a nursing home. When emergency surgery is needed, there is very little prep work that can be done to help a senior gain some advantages. For example, you can’t ask a senior to quit smoking in order to give their heart and lungs some time to heal before heading into an emergency surgery. That’s the nature of an emergency, after all. And while these issues may not be severe in a middle aged individual who receives emergency surgery, the negative effects that have accumulated over the course of an additional 40 years can make recovering from a surgery much more difficult. Older patients are much more vulnerable than younger patients.
Even though emergency surgery can rarely be avoided, some lifestyle changes before surgery is ever needed can help a loved one have a much easier time if a surgical procedure is ever necessary. Prevention is still the best way to avoid surgery.
When surgery is needed, then following the established precautions and ensuring that transitional senior care is in place will ultimately be the best way to help an older loved one to fully recover from a surgical procedure. That can take place in a hospital or a transitional care facility. These are sometimes located within a nursing home. However, transitional care is not permanent, making it quite distinct in nature.
If this is something that your family might benefit from, be sure to speak to a hospital employee to help you get pointed in the right direction. And don’t be afraid to reach out to someone here for help, either. While we can’t do all of the same things that a hospital or a nursing home can, we can do a lot to help relieve the burden of care within the home. In-home care is designed to make life easier for the whole family, and after a hospital visit can be one of the most stressful times that your family might ever experience. We will be glad to be there to help.
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