Many people are not ready to go home right after surgery. While they are not sick enough to warrant staying in the hospital, they are not yet well enough to take care of themselves. These are the people nursing homes were created for. People tend to think of these places as homes solely for the elderly but they are not. they are for anyone, of any age, who needs post-hospitalization care or around the clock care from nurses. The nurses on staff have training in a variety of illnesses and conditions. Whether someone has just undergone a hip replacement surgery or suffers from restrictive lung disease, there is a nursing home out there that can help. Residents in a nursing home will receive various forms of therapeutic treatments. These include respiratory, physical, occupational and other therapies. Physical therapists administer this kind of treatment.
Physical therapy is a big part of the nursing home experience following a surgery The goal is to get the person back to the level of functionality they had before the surgery or life event. If full recovery is not possible they work with the person to get them as close as they can. At the very least, it can help people with pain and to better be able to do every day tasks so that they can live as independently as possible.
Therapy usually includes exercises to help increase a patient’s strength, flexibility, balance, endurance an coordination. The kinds of exercises typically are stretching, moves to strengthen the body’s code, strength training with weights or by other means and walking. Respiratory therapists have other tools to help people with conditions such as restrictive lunch disease breath better. Even patients without it but who have had recent surgery benefit from the breathing exercises.
It is often hard for people to accept going to a nursing home. They are hardwired to see any stay as a final descent into old age, which it is not. Nevertheless, it is important to pick one that they will not fear so that they can make the most of the experience and really start the healing process. That process is long enough for patients who have had major surgery or who have a chronic condition such as restrictive lung disease.
There are a few things to think about when picking a nursing home:
- Do they offer the services the person needs? If they have restrictive lung disease, are there respiratory therapists? If they had a hip replacement surgery does the facility offer the physical and occupational therapy for that?
- Are there nurses there 24 hours a day? The condition in question may or may not need 24-hour skilled nursing care but if it does, you need to find out in advance if it is available before the person goes there.
- Do they offer therapy for after the person goes home? Some offer outpatient therapy and many conditions will continue to require it. It can be nice for the person to have some continuity of care by staying at least with the same company, if not the same person, they started with.
