When recovering from illness, surgery, or injury, the comforts of home can often promote healing better than an unfamiliar hospital setting. Home healthcare allows patients to receive skilled nursing care while remaining in their residences.
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More affordable and convenient than facility care, home nursing provides personalized attention focused solely on the patient. From assistance with medications and wound care to mobility and therapy, in home skilled nursing care offers optimal care delivery. Let’s understand how in-home care can help our loved ones to recover faster.
1. Lower Exposure To Infections
Hospitals house countless germs that can jeopardize already vulnerable patients. The CDC estimates that 1 in 31 hospital patients suffer healthcare-associated infections. Home nursing limits contagion exposure and lowers infection risks by allowing care within the patient’s controlled environment versus high-traffic hospital units. Nurses follow rigorous sanitization and hygiene protocols during home visits as well. Recovering at home reduces troubling infection risks.
2. More Restful Recovery Setting
The constant noise of hospital units impedes quality sleep essential to healing. At home, patients can follow normal Sleep cycles in a quieter, darker setting. Sleeping in one’s own bed aids comfort too. Home nurses schedule care to accommodate natural sleep-wake patterns. The fewer sleep disruptions, the faster patients tend to regain strength when resting peacefully at home.
3. Customized Patient-Centered Care
In crowded hospitals, care gets delivered on nurses’ demanding schedules rather than optimally aligning with patient needs. At home, nurses cater to the patient’s preferences including flexible scheduling of care like bathing, medication administration, and wound reassessments. Home nursing allows care on the patient’s terms to best support healing. There are no restrictive visiting hours limiting family involvement either.
4. Lower Risk of Medical Errors
Hospitals generate an estimated 251,000 medication errors annually according to the National Library of Medicine. At home, there are fewer environmental distractions during medication administration enabling nurses to take time to verify and explain every prescription. With no fellow patients competing for attention, home nurses devote undivided focus to the patient’s regimen and updates to prevent concerning medical mix-ups.
5. Quicker Recovery And Rehabilitation
Studies demonstrate that patients recuperating at home walk earlier, suffer fewer complications, and regain strength and energy faster than their facility-bound counterparts. The familiar home setting motivates mobility and independence for faster recovery. Any physical, occupational or speech therapy also occurs in a comfortable environment surrounded by loved ones, aiding participation and progress.
6. Reduced Risks Of Falls And Injuries
Unfamiliar and hectic hospital units increase patient fall risks, resulting in nearly 1 million falls occurring in hospitals annually. At-home nursing allows care within adapted living spaces already set up for mobility support like grab bars, shower seats, and accessible furnishings. Home nurses further educate on fall prevention and exercise safely within known surroundings for lower injury risk.
To Wrap Up
The comforts of home provide patients with a less stressful, lower-risk setting to regain health with the assistance of skilled nursing care. Home nursing allows personalized attention based on individual needs rather than rigid hospital systems. Faster rehabilitation, fewer infections, fewer errors, more rest, and fall prevention at home facilitate optimal recovery. With rigorous training and protocols, today’s home nurses deliver excellent care within the healing sanctuary of home.
