Without a doubt, elder care services are growing. There are many reasons for that, and we’ll get into them more thoroughly in a future blog. But we’d like to focus on one today: more healthcare is taking place in the home.

At first you might think “well that’s a shame. Shouldn’t senior care happen at a hospital as much as possible? After all, that’s where all of the professionals are, so isn’t that where the best help is?” We can understand why you’d think that, but in truth, it’s important to get out of the hospital as soon as your doctor says you can leave. It doesn’t matter whether a person is in for a surgery or some other ailment — a hospital is not where you want to stay longer than necessary.

While we certainly don’t want you to feel you should leave the hospital before you’re ready, there are actually some very good reasons to head home as soon as you can and take advantage of some in-home healthcare. Why? Glad you asked.

Hospitals Are Where The Sick People Are

You know where the sick people are? At the hospital. Everyone knows that. But when we say something like “hospitals are where the sick people are,” it might be obvious but it’s incredibly true.

Hospitals have that smell that doesn’t necessarily smell good but certainly gives the impression that someone is cleaning it rather often (they are). There are antibacterial gel dispensers everywhere, and a sink in every room. So it must be incredibly clean, right?

Well, yes and no. While every effort is made to kill the germs running around a hospital, some germs are going to get missed and some germs are going to be too strong to kill with traditional methods. They’re not cleaning to keep things better than the average home; they’re actively doing battle to avoid germs from killing everyone in the hospital!

Nurses, doctors, janitors, and other staff are moving between floors throughout the day, even if it’s to head out for a walk or down to the cafeteria. When they do that, they’re touching elevator buttons and handrails and meeting up with colleagues with whom they might shake hands. And that colleague might just have come in contact with someone who has a serious infectious disease but didn’t know it yet. (Also, it pains us to say that doctors don’t wash hands nearly as much as they should.)

All this to say “hospitals are crawling with germs.” And when someone like a senior has had surgery, open wounds are one of the most common ways that germs are introduced. Similarly, seniors already have compromised immune systems; one with a respiratory infection is going to be even more likely to contract something even more life-threatening.

More than 2,000,000 infections are picked up in hospitals every year, and seniors are more at risk than people with stronger immune systems. Getting out of the hospital and into home healthcare is simply the safest thing you can do.

Seniors Get More Dedicated Care

When it comes to hospitals, there are so many people that a senior has to deal with on a given day. There are multiple nurses on each shift, and then a complete changeover when the shift changes after 12 hours. Most seniors also see multiple doctors, because doctors get days off too. That’s a lot of information being handed off from one person to the next, which could lead to a loss of communication…and that could lead to big problems.

When it comes to at-home healthcare, seniors will be taken care of by a select few nurses who have been selected by us to take care of their needs. These nurses are chosen because they are the ones who are most familiar with the care a particular senior needs. While nurses have sick days too, there are fewer nurses among whom information has to be exchanged…and that’s a very good thing.

Oh, and let’s not forget the advantages that come with getting to know a nurse well. Our nurses get very close to their patients, which often means friendships form. That can go a long way to helping with the healing process!

In-Home Care Is Significantly Cheaper

We all know that the cost of healthcare is going up across the board. But nowhere is it getting out of hand faster than in medical hospitals. Hospital stays are thousands of dollars a night, and that’s just for the cost of being watched over by the staff. Add any sort of medical monitoring and the cost goes up and up. That’s because hospitals spend a lot of money on the hospital itself, many of which have accouterments that don’t improve healthcare but are simply pleasing to the eye.

At-home healthcare is simply a cheaper option, even if monitors have to be brought into the home. Sometimes the more reasonable cost is because nurses aren’t needed 24-hours a day. If a senior needs elder care services just eight hours a day, then that reduces the cost by two-thirds. And even if the senior is in need of constant in-home care, the cost of nursing is considerably less because home healthcare simply doesn’t have the overhead associated with hospitals.

Get Back Into The Swing of Things

One of the worst parts of being in the hospital is that you can’t really do anything. Sure, you can read a book, watch TV, or…well, if you’re not into internet devices, not much else. All of that “doing nothing” can wear on a person, no matter their age. We’re meant to be do-ers, and being forced to stay in a single room and not do can wear someone down mentally. Plus, there’s always noise in the hallways, alarms going off at the nurses’ station, or someone interrupting you when you’d rather just be left alone.

That’s what makes in-home healthcare such a great option. It allows seniors to get back to a more regular life in their own home, a place where they can feel comfortable. Now they’re they’re able to get back to their hobbies and everything else they enjoy doing (so long as their surgery recovery allows it). It’s also a place where they can accept visitors in a nicer environment…one that doesn’t have visiting hours!

Once again, we’d advise seniors to get back home and take advantage of elder home care as quickly as possible. You don’t want to pick up any infections, and you don’t want to worry about miscommunications between healthcare professionals.

When you’re ready to leave the hospital and require home healthcare, contact Specialized Nursing Services today.

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