Can Skilled Nursing Help Seniors Who Undergo Surgery?
Post Surgery: Skilled Nursing Falls Church VA
Your dad is about to undergo a heart bypass. While you can help with cleaning his home, doing his shopping, paying his bills, and scheduling his appointments, you can’t do anything of a medical nature. That’s where skilled nursing comes in.
Use these tips to create the best care plan for his recovery from heart surgery. With a comprehensive plan in place, your dad’s recovery will go smoothly, and be less likely to find him returning to the hospital.
Get His Home Ready for His Return
When your dad comes home, make sure his home is ready for him. Climbing stairs after heart surgery may not be recommended. For now, he might need a temporary bedroom set up on the main level of his home. If he’s going to be using a walker while he regains strength, clear hallways and main walking areas to ensure he has room to get through to areas like the bathroom, kitchen, and sleeping area.
Stock up his kitchen with foods he’s allowed to eat. Get rid of things like potato chips, sugary snacks, and ultra-processed foods. Aim for lean proteins, including fish, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy. Have plenty for him to drink like seltzer, unsweetened teas, and milk.
Talk to His Cardiology Team
Talk to your dad’s cardiology team about his needs once he gets home. Make sure you understand how long the surgery will take, how long he’ll be in the hospital, and what his care needs will be going forward.
You might need to get prescription medications filled and in his home’s medicine cabinet for his return. He may need a recliner he can sleep in for now. He’ll need to have appointments set up with a physical therapist to become active without straining his heart.
Learn How to Cook Heart-Healthy Meals
Work with a nutritionist from a home health care agency. Family caregivers can learn how to plan and prepare a heart-healthy menu and what to do and not do when shopping for ingredients.
Arrange Skilled Nursing Care Services
Make sure you’ve covered your dad’s care needs before he returns. He’s going to be in pain. Pain medication administration with a skilled nurse is a good way to avoid issues with dependency.
He’s going to have an incision to care for. He needs to follow his surgeon’s advice, and that may be hard for him to do when he’s stressed after an expensive surgery. His nurse can change his bandages, check for signs of infection, and address any concerns.
He can have a nurse there to assess him for signs of anxiety or depression and record his pulse, oxygen saturation levels, and blood pressure. Skilled nursing can handle injections, IVs, catheters, and feeding tubes. Talk to an agency about incision care, health assessments, and dietary education are all other important aspects of skilled nursing care.