How do we support our patients?
- Facilitate the admission and discharge of our patients.
- Arrange for safe discharge with equipment such as a ventilator machine, suction machine, and an oxygen concentrator.
- Organize the discharge with indication to use Total Parental Nutrition, if needed
- Facilitate discharge of the newborn with some supportive care such as phototherapy.
- Organize and arrange for an escort internally and internationally via air through private arrangement requirements, Treatment Abroad, and Diwan support.
Outreach team for home care ventilated patients
Patients who are ventilator-dependent used to stay in the hospital for long periods of time as no service could be provided at home setting. Those patients used to spend their lives in the hospital for months, years until the weaning process could take place or until they eventually die. They lose their job, social life, marital life, and their independence.
Here at The Royal Hospital, the Patient Flow Service introduced the concept of home care for ventilator dependent patients. Family members are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the care of the ventilator. Thus, enabling their loved ones to be discharged to the home setting, share the family gathering, and meet their spiritual needs. The first case was discharged safely in 2010.
Often this requires some convincing taking this huge responsibility of a person’s life seemed almost impossible but with careful guidelines and support through the Involvement of a multidisciplinary team as needed it succeeded.
What can our paramedic do to help you?
- Assess the patient’s condition and describe the type of emergency handled.
- Early identification of the symptoms and good assessment followed by prompt management.
- Identification of physical, psychosocial, and spiritual needs or problems.
- Involvement of a multidisciplinary team as needed.
- Prevention and relief of suffering.
- Provide feedback to the discharge planning team.
- The decision to transfer to our Emergency Department or not with discussion with the discharge planner, or involvement of on-call doctors.
The introduction of the outreach team has made a remarkable difference in preparing patients and their families to accept the challenge of maintaining supportive care at home knowing that help is always at hand.
Preparation by the multidisciplinary hospital team experts in their field of practice has given confidence to families with good understanding of how to manage. This has prevented unplanned admission and prolonged hospital stay.
