What is Transition Care, and What are the Benefits of Transition Care?
The stress and level of trauma experienced by someone who has gone through an accident or sudden adversity in health as well as the state of mind of their families is something most healthcare providers are not entirely aware of. Once the patient has been discharged from the hospital and declared to be ‘out of emergency’ the role of health care providers is assumed to be completed. While this may essentially be true there is a dire need for consideration of the patients’ immediate condition following the stay in the hospital. The patients are still under the effects of the accident or trauma- physically and psychologically. Understandably, major hospitals being tertiary care institutions are not able to provide the attention and additional care that the patients require once they are ready for discharge from the hospital. And this is where the need and role of Transition Care come in.
What is Transition Care?
It is the additional care and support provided to a patient who has just been discharged and is not yet ready to assume their normal life again. A patient who has spent some time in the hospital undergoing treatment and spending days in the bed naturally cannot be expected to show up at work the next morning. The days they need to recover however are very important and must be used rather productively instead of being at home hoping that mere rest would bring back a patient to normal life again.
Transition care forms a bridge between the hospital life and normal life- training the patients to develop on their muscle strengths as well as psychological fitness to ensure that they’re completely ready to resort to their regular routines. Without proper Transition care, the recovery of a patient may not just take way longer than it should but also, it might not be up to the level of recovery that is possible with professional help.
What Does Transition Care Involve?
Transitioning the patient from their recently habituated hospital life to recommence their work and life routine is a multi-level task conducted through the coordination of various professionals who help the patient recover in a holistic manner. The patients are supported, encouraged and motivated by specialists who take care of their basic functioning involving most major aspects of living- including orthopedic therapy and rehabilitation that gets their muscles strengthened to reassume their previous gait and muscle power, among others.
Without a doubt, the affected system is given the special focus and all the plans are tailored around the same. However, this is not sufficient to improve the overall health of the patient.
Some of the aspects of transition care that are focused on are:-
- Speech and Swallow Therapy as a part of neurological rehabilitation that is dealt by specialists in the field who improve upon the speaking ability, strength of the muscles in the neck. Those who have had a stroke or other neurological condition that have caused them to lose their ability to speak and comprehend things again as well as provide them with auditory assistance if required.
- Rehabilitation- Physical. For the improvement of skeletal muscles’ strength and integrity, physical rehabilitation becomes necessary and important. Those recovering from temporarily disabling accidents need to keep their limbs moving in order to prevent dystrophy of the muscles. The limbs are supported and worked upon through various methods of physiotherapy that help them regain near to normal or even normal function within a short period of time.
- Psychological Rehabilitation- those patients who have been through a significant amount of trauma undergo something known as post-traumatic stress disorder which does not allow them to assume a normal state of mind and this is understandable. Once someone has been through an accident, they need time to come to terms with what has happened to them. Keeping this in mind, top psychologists provide therapies and counselling sessions of various types to mentally support the patient.
How Does Transition Care Benefit the Patient?
The patient achieves the recovery from their injury or illness in a much more efficient, effective and speedy manner than they would without help and support from professionals. The patient is supported throughout their recovery phase through rehabilitation and physiotherapy. Their overall health is improved upon and they’re slowly but steadily able to function again without much assistance (through the means of occupational therapy).
- Through transition care, the patient receives a significant amount of medical supervision and health support from the nurses that they need to gain the physical and mental strength that they need to go about the life that they once led.
- The recovery of the patient is tremendously fastened and the whole process is a whole lot safer than if the patient would’ve been at home because in transition care centres, emergency medical teams are always present to deal with any situation that may arise and a medical doctor is always on call to look after the patients’ current ailments and complications.
- Transition care provides the patients a fair opportunity to regain their life and normal function again without having to take assistance from their family members and this works wonders on their mental state as they have hope again to be independent and carry about life without feeling obligated to anyone else.
- From curating a perfect diet plan enriched with the right nutrients and elements required to build upon health to getting once bedridden patients to walk again without additional support, transition care works to build upon a healthy living plan for the patient.
Those who seek transition care must be aware to look for well-established centres providing them the service at reasonable costs, having a reputation of well-maintained infrastructure and standards as everything plays a role in the overall improvement of the patient’s health.