WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.220 Welcome to the Light Keepers podcast. I'm Clayton 00:00:03.220 --> 00:00:05.759 Vandiver, your Light Keeper, with the show dedicated 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:08.660 to everyone who wants to get the very most quality 00:00:08.660 --> 00:00:12.119 out of life that they can. My co -host, as always, 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:14.900 Charlene, our very own licensed clinical social 00:00:14.900 --> 00:00:17.879 worker in the state of Florida, who is joining 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:20.699 the conversation this week about what happens 00:00:20.699 --> 00:00:23.460 when you get discharged from the hospital. We 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:26.920 talked last week about what happens in the hospital. 00:00:27.500 --> 00:00:29.420 And now we're going to talk about what happens 00:00:29.420 --> 00:00:32.700 next, right here on this episode of the Light 00:00:32.700 --> 00:01:04.180 Keepers Podcast. Before we start, please leave 00:01:04.180 --> 00:01:06.180 your questions or comments below. We love to 00:01:06.180 --> 00:01:08.400 hear from you. Questions this week will be answered 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:12.299 on the show next week on the next episode of 00:01:12.299 --> 00:01:14.400 the Light Keepers podcast. Every Wednesday evening, 00:01:14.579 --> 00:01:18.239 7 p .m. Eastern. Charlene, good to have you again 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:21.760 with us here. What happens when you get discharged 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:24.819 from a hospital? Well, and a lot of people don't 00:01:24.819 --> 00:01:27.260 know what to expect with that because it can 00:01:27.260 --> 00:01:29.519 vary depending on why you were in the hospital. 00:01:29.939 --> 00:01:33.140 Most of the time when someone is discharged from 00:01:33.140 --> 00:01:36.719 the hospital, one of two things is going to happen. 00:01:36.760 --> 00:01:39.680 They're either going to go home with instructions 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:42.200 to follow up with their primary care physician 00:01:42.200 --> 00:01:45.969 or their specialist, whatever is required. On 00:01:45.969 --> 00:01:48.370 the other hand, sometimes when someone is discharged 00:01:48.370 --> 00:01:51.489 from the hospital, they may not be ready to go 00:01:51.489 --> 00:01:54.650 home yet, and they may need a little more help 00:01:54.650 --> 00:01:57.049 to get themselves ready to go home, at which 00:01:57.049 --> 00:02:00.489 point they would be discharged to a rehab facility, 00:02:00.890 --> 00:02:04.230 which is pretty much kind of like a nursing home, 00:02:04.310 --> 00:02:06.409 except they do physical therapy there, and you're 00:02:06.409 --> 00:02:11.719 not there permanently. Okay. When you are in 00:02:11.719 --> 00:02:14.780 these sorts of facilities, is your family a part 00:02:14.780 --> 00:02:16.939 of that visit? Are they able to be with you as 00:02:16.939 --> 00:02:19.919 they would be in a hospital? So every facility 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:23.180 has its own visiting hours. So I would encourage 00:02:23.180 --> 00:02:25.539 everyone to check in with that facility and find 00:02:25.539 --> 00:02:29.479 out what the visiting hours are before setting 00:02:29.479 --> 00:02:33.379 up any preconceived ideas about when they can 00:02:33.379 --> 00:02:36.060 visit and how much time they can spend with their 00:02:36.060 --> 00:02:38.520 loved one. Now, something that a lot of people 00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:41.969 don't realize, And this is very important to 00:02:41.969 --> 00:02:46.069 know, especially during the COVID pandemic, when 00:02:46.069 --> 00:02:49.849 people were being discharged to facilities, sometimes 00:02:49.849 --> 00:02:53.669 the facilities were not nearby. And that's something 00:02:53.669 --> 00:02:56.449 that the patient and the family has no control 00:02:56.449 --> 00:03:00.780 over. The hospital will try to work with the 00:03:00.780 --> 00:03:03.159 family to discharge their loved one to a facility 00:03:03.159 --> 00:03:07.300 that's of their choosing or is nearby. But if 00:03:07.300 --> 00:03:10.580 there is no availability, the hospital is not 00:03:10.580 --> 00:03:13.360 going to let that person sit there. They're not 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:16.060 going to hold someone past the point that they're 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:17.840 ready to discharge because they're not getting 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:21.539 paid. Medicare, the insurance company, will not 00:03:21.539 --> 00:03:25.159 pay. once that person is no longer meeting set 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:28.639 criteria to be hospitalized. And so what happens 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:31.460 then is if a bed is not available at the facility 00:03:31.460 --> 00:03:35.819 that the family wants, the hospital caseworker 00:03:35.819 --> 00:03:39.219 will set up a discharge to the first facility 00:03:39.219 --> 00:03:42.500 that they can find to accept that patient. That's 00:03:42.500 --> 00:03:45.020 not always in the same town. It's not always 00:03:45.020 --> 00:03:48.560 in the same state. So who sets up all of those 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:51.319 travel arrangements and getting there? The case 00:03:51.319 --> 00:03:54.020 worker at the hospital would be the one responsible 00:03:54.020 --> 00:03:57.319 for setting that up. Now the trick there is they 00:03:57.319 --> 00:04:00.300 don't always set up getting them home. That's 00:04:00.300 --> 00:04:04.240 usually left up to the family. I see. And during 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:07.460 the COVID pandemic, I was working in the hospital 00:04:07.460 --> 00:04:10.900 at the time, and it was not uncommon for us to 00:04:10.900 --> 00:04:13.180 discharge patients because the facilities were 00:04:13.180 --> 00:04:16.040 taking fewer people. There were more people being 00:04:16.040 --> 00:04:20.199 discharged from the hospital, and we were discharging 00:04:20.199 --> 00:04:22.879 people as far out as three and four states over. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:27.459 Wow. Well, let me ask you, what other options 00:04:27.459 --> 00:04:30.180 are there when you're leaving the hospital? What 00:04:30.180 --> 00:04:34.189 other potential? scenarios might we have? So 00:04:34.189 --> 00:04:37.689 the other possibility is returning home with 00:04:37.689 --> 00:04:40.810 physical therapy being set up at home because 00:04:40.810 --> 00:04:43.949 some people may have a better support network. 00:04:44.110 --> 00:04:47.730 They may be able to do that at home. Some people 00:04:47.730 --> 00:04:50.009 just have really strong aversions to going into 00:04:50.009 --> 00:04:52.230 a facility. Maybe they've had a bad experience. 00:04:52.250 --> 00:04:54.509 Maybe they've had a bad experience with a family 00:04:54.509 --> 00:04:58.209 member. The option there is that they can go 00:04:58.209 --> 00:05:02.480 home. and physical therapy can come to them and 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:06.620 they can finish recovering at home. Okay, so 00:05:06.620 --> 00:05:11.259 physical therapy can follow you in a way. You 00:05:11.259 --> 00:05:14.860 don't have to go into like a rehabilitation center. 00:05:14.980 --> 00:05:18.519 Physical therapy, occupational therapy, most 00:05:18.519 --> 00:05:23.220 rehabilitative therapies can follow you home. 00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:26.620 Now it can become complicated if you are needing 00:05:28.300 --> 00:05:31.160 very detailed equipment, like if you need a specific 00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:33.980 piece of equipment to be able to do that physical 00:05:33.980 --> 00:05:37.639 therapy, that may not be practical. But there 00:05:37.639 --> 00:05:41.540 again, if you can be transported, if you can 00:05:41.540 --> 00:05:44.120 move, if you're mobile, then you may be able 00:05:44.120 --> 00:05:47.759 to go to an outpatient rehab to do that physical 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:51.220 therapy. Like for example, if you've got a broken 00:05:51.220 --> 00:05:55.129 leg or you've had a hip replacement. you're going 00:05:55.129 --> 00:05:57.769 to need to be doing exercises that you may not 00:05:57.769 --> 00:05:59.889 have the equipment at home to be able to do. 00:06:00.290 --> 00:06:04.670 And during those situations, if you can be transported 00:06:04.670 --> 00:06:08.000 to an outpatient rehab facility, then you can 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:10.540 do that rehab there and go home afterwards. Well, 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:12.279 you also have the benefit in those facilities 00:06:12.279 --> 00:06:14.899 of having a coach, if you will, someone to lead 00:06:14.899 --> 00:06:16.920 you through those to make sure you're doing them 00:06:16.920 --> 00:06:19.759 right and getting the most benefit out of doing 00:06:19.759 --> 00:06:21.699 them. Correct. They're very well -trained, well 00:06:21.699 --> 00:06:23.579 -skilled. We've got some great rehabilitation 00:06:23.579 --> 00:06:28.410 centers. uh here in uh in our town and it's just 00:06:28.410 --> 00:06:30.949 amazing to see them working with their patients 00:06:30.949 --> 00:06:34.310 absolutely yeah they're very very are there any 00:06:34.310 --> 00:06:36.750 other scenarios and i know you were talking about 00:06:36.750 --> 00:06:38.930 a fellow i forgot his name now but you were talking 00:06:38.930 --> 00:06:42.269 about a fellow that um that had an interesting 00:06:42.269 --> 00:06:45.170 experience through the hospital stay and and 00:06:45.170 --> 00:06:48.189 in leaving and i think the name that we came 00:06:48.189 --> 00:06:52.209 up with was a very generic uh you know bob bob 00:06:52.209 --> 00:06:56.279 yes everybody Identities have been changed to 00:06:56.279 --> 00:06:59.180 protect the HIPAA privacy, of course. Actually, 00:06:59.220 --> 00:07:04.660 we were talking about creating a bob to go into 00:07:04.660 --> 00:07:07.439 the hospital and kind of a test patient to just 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:13.399 provide a possible experience of what someone 00:07:13.399 --> 00:07:15.519 would encounter going through the hospital system, 00:07:15.699 --> 00:07:19.060 including going through discharge and rehabilitation. 00:07:22.120 --> 00:07:26.620 Again, it really does depend on why the person 00:07:26.620 --> 00:07:28.660 was in the hospital. And I'm going to give you 00:07:28.660 --> 00:07:30.759 a good example, like I was mentioning with the 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:33.600 broken leg or the hip replacement. That's going 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:35.819 to be a very different type of rehab than someone 00:07:35.819 --> 00:07:38.759 who is in the hospital for a heart attack. There 00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:41.199 are different types of rehab. There's cardiac 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:45.480 rehab. There is even concussive rehab if you 00:07:45.480 --> 00:07:48.939 have a brain injury. Okay, like a traumatic brain 00:07:48.939 --> 00:07:52.819 injury, a TBI. And it seems like if you had movement, 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:56.259 the inability with a broken leg, broken hip, 00:07:56.439 --> 00:08:00.079 knee replacement, if you're having mobility problems, 00:08:00.300 --> 00:08:02.480 the rehab is going to be very different than 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:06.620 if you, after you've had heart issues, I suppose 00:08:06.620 --> 00:08:09.100 you don't want to get terribly excited, but you 00:08:09.100 --> 00:08:11.879 can still move around. Correct. In fact, they 00:08:11.879 --> 00:08:13.959 encourage movement, I think, to get you back 00:08:13.959 --> 00:08:16.500 on your feet as soon as possible, it seems. When 00:08:16.500 --> 00:08:18.379 you're coming out of a hospital these days, it 00:08:18.379 --> 00:08:21.699 seems like they want you back on your feet. If 00:08:21.699 --> 00:08:23.519 they could, I think they'd walk you from the 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:28.079 operating room back to your room. No, I'm kidding. 00:08:28.139 --> 00:08:34.500 It's not that bad. Actually, no. Actually, they 00:08:34.500 --> 00:08:36.620 do want you up and walking as soon as possible, 00:08:36.700 --> 00:08:38.659 though, because that minimizes the risk for blood 00:08:38.659 --> 00:08:40.759 clots. Oh, that's right. So that is important. 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:43.519 That is important. But the discharge process 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:46.179 can be different for everyone, like I said, depending 00:08:46.179 --> 00:08:49.379 on why they're in the hospital. But the bottom 00:08:49.379 --> 00:08:51.940 line, what it is most likely going to include 00:08:51.940 --> 00:08:55.620 is a caseworker at the hospital who is going 00:08:55.620 --> 00:08:59.200 to work with you to set up your discharge plan. 00:08:59.870 --> 00:09:02.070 Now that in and of itself can be complicated 00:09:02.070 --> 00:09:04.730 because depending on the quality of the hospital, 00:09:05.049 --> 00:09:10.509 there have been situations where discharge plans 00:09:10.509 --> 00:09:13.490 have been created without the patient's participation. 00:09:14.350 --> 00:09:18.690 And that can happen. Visit the website at aguidinglight 00:09:18.690 --> 00:09:21.570 .org or to make a tax -deductible contribution 00:09:21.570 --> 00:09:25.730 just write to the address right here on the screen 00:09:25.730 --> 00:09:30.169 below me. Help others find the resources and 00:09:30.169 --> 00:09:33.009 information that they need. We sincerely hope 00:09:33.009 --> 00:09:35.149 you'll join the conversation in the coming weeks, 00:09:35.289 --> 00:09:38.129 and your questions and comments below will add 00:09:38.129 --> 00:09:41.169 to that conversation. Speaking of that, hit the 00:09:41.169 --> 00:09:45.529 like and subscribe buttons. It's free. And hit 00:09:45.529 --> 00:09:47.889 that little bell. Click the bell that tells you 00:09:47.889 --> 00:09:50.309 when our next episode is going to be airing so 00:09:50.309 --> 00:09:53.769 you don't miss a single show on the Light Keepers 00:09:53.769 --> 00:09:57.029 podcast. I'm Clayton Vandiver, your Light Keeper. 00:09:57.500 --> 00:09:58.500 We'll see you here.