Post Hospital Sickness can be prevented.

Throughout a hospital stay, people commonly expect to have a medical condition treated completely so they can recover fully, go home and stay home. But it's normal for a hospitalization to result in a new health problem that's serious enough to require hospital readmission in 30 days.

The occurrence, called "post-hospital syndrome" by Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, is roughly explained as an acquired, transient period of extended risk for sickness after a hospital stay, one that results in re-hospitalization. Occasionally the readmission is related to the cause of the early hospitalization, and at times it's because the patient acquired a new infection in the hospital. But often there's a clearly new reason for readmission. This syndrome is more usual than you may think. Indeed, research from 2009 found that nearly 20 percent of Medicare patients who are released from a hospital – which contribute to about 2.6 million older adults in the U.S.A – develop an acute medical condition within the following 30 days that demands another hospitalization. Many of these recent medical disorders have small connection to the original diagnosis.

More currently, a 2015 study from Loyola University in Maywood, Illinois, found that almost 8 percent of patients with post-hospital sickness – since they had been hospitalized in the previous 90 days for cardiovascular or digestive system disorders, hip fractures or other conditions – had to be readmitted to the hospital in a period of 30 days of undergoing discretionary outpatient hernia surgery. In another 2015 study, researchers from Yale found that 50 percent of older patients were hospitalized for a cardiac attack were readmitted in a year, and 56 percent of those who were in the hospital for pneumonia returned for another hospital stay within a year.

Some of this escalated susceptibility originates from the general stress of the hospital experience and the sleep disruption that follows, experts say. Furthermore, humans may not get the physical activity or nutrients they require, which can cause them to be worn out throughout a hospital stay. "People are thrown off their game – the disturbance of the hospitalization shows to affect all of the physiological systems," Krumholz explains. "We know that when healthy people are sleep-impoverished or stressed or malnourished that their immune systems can be impaired." If patients are depressed or have poor social support, these factors increase their risk of developing post-hospital syndrome.

As well as the risk-producing phenomena in the hospital, "there's a new set of self-care activities the patients require to address, like new rehabilitation activities, new medications and the activities of daily living when the patient departs," notes Dr. Aaron Leppin, an associate professor of health services research in the Knowledge and Evaluation Research Unit situated at the Mayo Clinic located in Rochester, Minnesota. A patient's capability to do what it takes to stay out of the hospital may be threatened. This is true, he adds, if the person's ability to get around physically or survive psychologically are impeded, if the person has no one to assist provide physical or emotional support, or the previous patient is not able to afford to pay for the medications, therapy and care required.

Though "the reason for hospital readmission is usually different from the reason for actual hospitalization, it is always difficult to say that two hospitalizations in a short time-frame are absolutely unrelated," says Dr. Hallie Prescott, an assistant professor in the division of critical and pulmonary care medicine at the Michigan University. Following a hospitalization, patients are usually depressed, debilitated, sick and have changes to their medications. Some prescriptions were stopped, others [are] started – and are more vulnerable to developing more medical setbacks such as infection. So, while a hospital readmission may be for a new medical condition, it is expected to be associated with the actual hospitalization at least indirectly.

Plus, many "health conditions interact in complicated ways," Leppin notes. If a patient has knee replacement surgery and he is unable to move around when he gets home, he could be sad and miserable, experience a downturn in immune function and develop an injury infection which is able to send him back to the hospital. That is to say, how well or poorly a patient recovers from one hospitalization could affect his possibility of demanding a subsequent hospitalization.

What is the solution for post-hospital syndrome? Experts say it requires to begin at the hospital, with raised attention to noise-control, physical activity, proper nutrition and other factors that affect patients' hospital episodes. "We ought to be thinking about how the hospital can become a more encouraging and healing domain, a place where we have reduced stress rather than increasing it," Krumholz says. Definitely, "there needs to be increased focus on physical therapy and activity throughout the hospitalization," Prescott says. "We are increasingly realizing that, particularly for patients in intensive care divisions, bed-rest may be extremely detrimental. Patients can become weak within just a few days in the hospital, and that makes it more difficult to take care for oneself at home from the hospital."

Throughout their stay in hospital, patients or their relatives should also advocate for quiet periods in order to rest with no disturbances so they can get the rest they required, experts say. And patients require to communicate with their health care providers about new symptoms since at times bringing these to your doctor's attention may aid reduce the risk of re-hospitalization. As the date of release approaches, patients should talk about their needs and concerns with their health care providers and know what they'll be supposed to do when they get home. This includes ensuring that you comprehend the post-hospitalization medication prescription. "Frequently, medications are changed throughout a hospitalization so it is relevant to evaluate which medications should be discontinued or began again at hospital discharge," Prescott says.

What's more, it's relevant to make sure that everybody – the patient, relatives, hospital doctors and outpatient doctors are in agreement with the post-discharge scheme. "Ensure to ask questions when the plan doesn't make sense or seems insufficient," Prescott advises. "Patients should be informed of what medications to take, what follow-up engagements or additional screening is required and who to call if they have an inquiry or new symptom."

Some hospitals have advanced their post-release efforts by offering phone calls or home visits to know how the patients are doing after they've been released, Leppin notes. "This is particularly important in the first 48 hours after release as patients figure out what the 'new normal' will be for a while." Another relevant window is 7 to 10 days after release, when the results of problems that were missed begin manifesting themselves. These follow-up steps can make a difference in decreasing the risk of readmission. A 2015 research from the University of San Diego found that isolated patient monitoring (also called telehealth) cuts the rate of hospital readmissions for any cause by at least 50 percent among patients with cardiac failure.

Once home, patients can take measures to prevent themselves from demanding a return to the hospital by carrying out the fundamentals of healthy living such as eating well, staying physically active, obtaining sufficient sleep and being well informed about their health status, medical condition and likely complications. Therefore trust your intuitions, and let somebody know as soon as possible if you need assistance or are experiencing any complication.