Making Your Hospital Discharge Easy

Planning for your discharge begins on your first day with us. Our goal during your stay in the hospital is to start you on the road to better health. Ensuring that you understand the next steps and are involved in making those decisions is essential to your full recovery.

If you need to arrange for continuing health care after your discharge from the hospital, you’ll receive information and assistance from your attending physician and the other members of your health care team. All of our patients are entitled to receive a sufficient amount of time before discharge to arrange for their continuing health care needs.

As a patient of one of our facilities, you also have the right to be informed by the hospital about any special appeal process to which you are entitled by law if you disagree with the hospital’s discharge plan.

Discharge Checklist

Make sure you have the following information before you leave the hospital.

• Discharge summary. This includes why you were at the hospital, who cared for you, your procedures, and your medicines.
• Medicine list. This includes all your new and former prescriptions, over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and supplements. Ask if there are any medicines you can stop taking or that are not okay to take together. Also make sure you know why, how, and when to take each one.
• Prescriptions. Check that your pharmacy has your new prescriptions and you have a plan to get them filled.
• Follow-up care instructions. Beyond medicine, these can include:
  • Foods or activities to avoid
  • Tests or appointments
  • How to care for incisions or use equipment
  • Warning signs to watch for
  • Daily living adjustments (like how to get into bed)
  • Whom to call with questions
• After-hospital services. Know how much support you’ll need in these areas:
  • Personal care: bathing, eating, dressing, toileting
  • Home care: cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping
  • Health care: taking your medicines, doctor’s appointments, physical therapy, wound care, injections, medical equipment
• Local resources. Ask your discharge planner for help finding local support groups or other after-care services.