Discharge instructions are supposed to guide recovery after a hospital stay, ED visit, or surgery, but can feel overwhelming and unclear once the patient makes it back home. This guide explains what discharge instructions include, how to follow them step-by-step, and what you should do if you are unclear about anything. Whether you are recovering yourself or supporting a loved one, understanding your discharge plan can help you feel more confident during the recovery process.
What are Discharge Instructions?
Discharge instructions are written and verbal directions patients receive before they leave the hospital or healthcare facility to return home. They explain what happened during your visit, and how you can recover safely once you are home.
Of course, every patient situation is unique, but most discharge instructions include some universal information, including:
- Your diagnosis
- Medications to start, stop, continue, or change
- Symptoms you should look out for
- Restrictions on diet and activity
- Wound care procedures and/or instructions
- Follow-up appointments
- When to seek urgent medical attention
Discharge instructions should be treated like your recovery plan as opposed to simply a selection of paperwork. They are integral for bridging the gap between hospital care, and the care you’ll manage at home, and this is vital for reducing uncertainty and confusion during this essential part of the recovery process.
Unfortunately, traditional discharge paperwork does not always address or answer the questions you might have once you return home. Diagnoses are typically described using medical terminology, explanations can be generic, and instructions seldom explain what your condition means for your daily life. Questions arise late in the process when the care team is no longer present to answer them.
In order to address this care gap, Dimer Health is developing Dimer Connect, a secure HIPAA-compliant platform that replaces traditional discharge paperwork with personalized, interactive, two-way chat, discharge instructions. Instead of relying on a stack of papers, patients will receive a fully digitized care plan that is tailored toward their recovery plan, making it much easier to understand the next steps involved.
Why Discharge Instructions Can Be Hard to Follow at Home
Discharge instructions seem straightforward while you’re still in the hospital, and members of your care team explain the next steps to you, while answering questions you may have, and giving you paperwork before you leave.
However, once you get home, things can take a very different turn. You may feel tired, in pain, and trying to adjust to new medications, while also trying to remember what you were told. Your family members might also find themselves thrust into the role of caregiver, even if they weren’t present for discharge instructions. You also have to manage symptoms, follow-up appointments, change daily routines, and recover away from clinical support.
A lot of patients find this transition to be more challenging than they expected. Common reasons that discharge instructions have become more difficult to follow include:
- Instructions that are lengthy or written using unfamiliar medical terminology
- New medications, dose changes, or discontinued prescriptions that can be confusing
- Forgetting verbal instructions after leaving the hospital
- Caregivers not being present during the discharge discussion
- Follow-up appointments that have not yet scheduled
- Symptoms changing once you’re home, making it tough to know what is normal
- Questions arising outside of office hours
- New lifestyle routines that are difficult to incorporate into daily life
Medication management is one of the biggest challenges. During the transition from hospital to home, patients might leave with new prescriptions, changes to existing medications, or instructions to stop taking medications they’ve previously used. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reports that up to 90% of patients experience at least one medication discrepancy after leaving the hospital, illustrating just how common post-discharge confusion can be during the recovery process.
It’s important to understand that feeling uncertain doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong. Recovery often raises new questions that simply were not obvious while still in the hospital. Understanding discharge instructions helps improve recovery with greater confidence.
What Should Be Included in Discharge Instructions?
Every discharge plan is unique to the patient, and every recovery plan is different. But, there are a lot of core pieces of information that need to be included in all discharge instructions.
Knowing what to look for can help you understand your recovery journey more clearly, as well as identifying missing information before it becomes an issue.
Diagnosis and Reason for Care
Your discharge instructions need to clearly explain why you received treatment, what condition, illness, injury, or procedure was involved, and what your care team discovered during your stay.
If your diagnosis isn’t clear, don’t be afraid to ask questions before leaving the hospital. Understanding your condition, and ongoing care plan is the foundation for what comes next, and recovery expectations.
Medication List and Medication Changes
One of the most crucial factors of your discharge instructions comes in the form of your medication list. This should clearly explain:
- Which medications to start taking
- Which medications to stop taking
- Which medications to continue as normal
- Any changes to doses
- When and how each medication needs to be taken
- If and when prescription refills may be requested
Medication instructions play a major role in safe recovery at home. Before you leave the hospital, make sure you understand why each medication has been prescribed and what you should do if you miss a dose or face side effects.
Activity, Diet, and Recovery Restrictions
Recovering safely can often depend on making changes to your daily routine. Depending on your condition or procedure, your discharge instructions should include restrictions on lifting, driving, walking, exercising, bathing, and other everyday activities. It’s important to receive guidance about your diet and nutrition, as these can help support healing.
These recommendations are a crucial part of your recovery plan, and are designed to reduce the risk of implications.
Wound Care of Procedure-Specific Instructions
If you have had a medical procedure, your discharge instructions need to include detailed guidance on caring for your wound or incision. And there might be information about:
- Managing pain
- Changing dressings
- Bathing safely
- Keeping the area clean
- Identifying signs of infection
Following these instructions carefully is something that will help support healing and reduce the risk of infection. Taking pictures of a wound or incision site may be helpful for tracking progress or changes as recovery continues.
Follow-Up Appointments
Recovery is not something that ends once you leave the hospital. Your discharge instructions have to explain which appointments you need, when they take place, and whether you need to see your healthcare team.
If you haven’t already been scheduled, you need to ask how and when this needs to be done before leaving the hospital.
Warning Signs and When to Call for Help
Every patient needs to know which symptoms need medical attention, and discharge instructions need to clearly explain when you need to:
- Contact your healthcare provider
- Visit an urgent care clinic
- Return to the ED
- Call emergency services immediately
Knowing the difference between expected recovery symptoms and warning signs can help you seek the right level of care at the right time, providing greater confidence as you recover at home.
What to Do First When You Get Home
The first few hours after returning home are the best time to get organized, and there are just a few simple steps that can help make your recovery process better.
Don’t wait until something goes wrong. Becoming familiar with your recovery plan from the start will help you to feel more confident when dealing with your recovery plan. When you arrive home, work through this checklist:
Read your discharge instructions - Even if someone explained everything before you left the hospital, read through your instructions again. You might notice details you don’t remember hearing, or questions you didn’t consider at the time.
Keep your medications and paperwork together - Store your discharge paperwork, medication list, prescriptions, and appointment information in one easily accessible place. Having everything together makes it easier to find important information when needed.
Compare your new medication list against your old one - Check which medication you need to keep taking, which ones have changed, and whether you need to stop taking any.
Write down anything that isn’t clear - You don’t have to remember everything immediately, and memorize everything you have been told. Writing down important information makes it much easier to recall what matters.
Save important phone numbers - Keep the contact details for healthcare providers, specialists, pharmacy, and other important members of your care team. Knowing who you can call will save you time if questions arise, and saving phone numbers will ensure you don’t miss an important call from your care team.
Confirm your follow-up appointments - Make sure you check whether appointments have already been scheduled or if you need to arrange them yourself.
Share your discharge instructions - Consider keeping a simple record of your symptoms, pain levels, medications, temperature, and changes you might notice.
Track your recovery - Keeping track of your recovery and symptoms is something that can prove to be valuable during your follow-up appointments, and could help your healthcare team shape your long-term care plan.
How to Understand Medication Instructions After Discharge
Medication instructions are among the most important elements of your discharge plan, but they’re also one of the most common sources of confusion after leaving the hospital.
During your stay, your healthcare team might have started with new medication, adjusted doses, pausing existing prescriptions, or adjusted when certain medicines need to be taken. However, by the time you have left the hospital, it can be difficult to remember all of this essential information.
This is very common following surgery, hospital admissions, or treatment for medical conditions, where multiple medications might be prescribed at the same time.
If you want to review your medication instructions, these are some of the things you need to consider:
- Which medications are new?
- Which medications should you stop taking?
- Which medications should you continue taking?
- When should each medication be taken?
- Should your medications be taken with food or on an empty stomach?
- How long should you continue taking each medication?
- What common side effects should you expect?
- Which side effects require medical advice?
- When can prescription refills be requested
You should not assume that medication you’ve taken previously necessarily needs to continue after discharge. Similarly, you don’t stop taking new medication simply because you start to feel better.
If your medication list is unclear, you need to contact your health providers before making changes. Asking questions early is a great deal safer than making assumptions later.
You might consider a medication organizer, which a lot of patients find useful. You could also create reminders on your phone, keep a written schedule, and follow a new routine that makes it easier to follow your treatment plan during recovery.
Discharge Instructions for Different Recovery Situations
Although the whole point of discharge instructions is to help with safe and effective recovery, the information within will vary depending on your condition. Understanding what to expect helps you focus on the parts of recovery that matter the most.
After a Hospital Stay
Patients leaving the hospital often receive the most comprehensive discharge instructions because their recovery plan involves different aspects of care.
Hospital discharge instructions commonly include things like medication changes, information about a new diagnosis, follow-up appointments, symptoms monitoring, and referrals to other healthcare providers. Because of the complexity of these care plans, patients and caregivers might benefit from reviewing instructions together.
After an Emergency Department Visit
Discharge instructions following an emergency department visit are often provided within a relatively short period of time.
Although many patients have recovered well enough to return home, they might still have questions. Your discharge instructions might explain how to manage symptoms and when to take medications, as well as which red flags should cause you to seek further care.
After Surgery or a Procedure
Recovering from surgery often involves detailed instructions about how best to care for your body whilst healing.
Your discharge plan might include guidance on things like wound care, bathing, dressing changes, pain management, activity restrictions, and follow-up appointments with your healthcare provider.
During a Chronic Condition Flare-Up
Patients treated for a flare-up of a chronic condition, such as heart failure, COPD, or diabetes, often return home with updated treatment plans as opposed to entirely new ones.
Your discharge instructions might explain medical adjustments, home monitoring requirements, lifestyle recommendations, symptoms to watch for, and when you should contact your healthcare provider if your condition changes. Managing a chronic condition is an ongoing process, and your discharge instructions are designed to help you return to your normal care routine in the most effective way possible.
How Following Discharge Instructions Support Safer Recovery
Discharge instructions are designed to bridge the gap between the care you receive in the hospital, as well as what you’ll manage at home. When patients understand their recovery plan, they’re more likely to take their medications correctly, attend follow-up appointments, recognize warning signs early, and seek help before small concerns become more serious.
While following discharge instructions can’t prevent every complication or hospital readmission, they can certainly reduce it. Recovery is different for every patient, and some problems may develop despite following every process correctly. Clear discharge instructions, timely follow-up care, and access to clinical support can reduce unnecessary risk, and give greater confidence across the recovery process.
For healthcare organizations, helping patients understand their discharge instructions is an important part of improving continuity of care, and supporting long-term care outcomes.
How Providers and Health Systems Can Make Discharge Instructions Easier to Follow
Improving discharge instructions requires more than handing patient paperwork before they leave the hospital. Patients need to understand their recovery plan, medication changes, follow-up appointments, and warning signs before returning home.
Effective discharge planning extends beyond the hospital. Patients need a clear way of being able to ask questions, confirm the next steps, and receive support if new concerns arise.
To help address this challenge, Dimer Health has developed Dimer Connect, a secure HIPAA-compliant platform that replaces traditional discharge paperwork with personalized, interactive discharge instructions. Rather than simply relying on their paperwork, patients will receive a digital recovery plan tailored to their individual needs.
Get Help Understanding Your Discharge Instructions
Recovery is not something you have to navigate alone. Discharge instructions are much more straightforward when patients and caregivers have someone to explain the plan, answer questions, and help monitor recovery along the way.
Dimer Health helps patients understand what they need to do after discharge, and provides access to clinical support when more than just paperwork is required.
FAQ
1. What are discharge instructions?
Discharge instructions are written and verbal instructions to help patients recover safely once they’ve left a healthcare facility.
2. Why are discharge instructions important after leaving the hospital?
They help you manage your recovery safely by explaining medications and warning signs to look out for.
3. What should be included in hospital discharge instructions?
The instructions include your diagnosis, medications, activity restrictions, follow-up care, and red flags to watch out for.
4. What should I do if I do not understand my discharge instructions?
If you don’t understand your discharge instructions, contact your healthcare provider or pharmacist and ask for clarification.
5. How do I follow medication instructions after discharge?
Take your medications exactly as instructed, and ask your healthcare provider if you need to clarify anything.
6. What symptoms should I watch for after discharge?
Watch out for warning signs that are listed in your discharge instructions and seek medical help if they happen.
7. Who should I call if I have questions after leaving the hospital?
Contact the healthcare provider or care team listed in your discharge paperwork.
8. How can caregivers help patients follow discharge instructions?
Caregivers help you to organize and understand medications, symptoms, and follow-up support across the recovery journey.
9. Can better discharge instructions help reduce readmissions?
Clear discharge instructions and early follow-up can help reduce the risk of avoidable readmissions.
10. How does Dimer Health help patients understand discharge instructions?
Dimer Health helps patients understand their recovery plan, as well as providing clinical post-discharge support.