During my clinical experience at UNE I have had many patients where I have ended my shift wondering what would happen to them after they left the hospital. During this time, one patient has stuck in my mind—this patient was in their 60s, had a history of alcohol abuse, lived alone, and was completely independent before their hospital admission. When I was taking care of this patient, they were completely dependent on the hospital staff to move them, they were not eating anything, and would only respond to staff when they wanted something. They had two sons who live in the same area as they do, but according to this patient, they do not help them much. They get all of their meals from their friend that cooks for them when they are together.
After leaving the hospital, this patient would need help with their activities of daily living, walking, and gaining access to their required medications and/or appointments. Again, this patient would need help gaining access to their medications and appointments, as well as food, and the overall education about their health condition and the ways in which would improve their condition. This patient would need a social worker, a case manager, and potentially home health for rehabilitation.
For the care of this patient, I am not sure if the health system or policy makers could have done better. I took care of this patient for only one day and was not able to see what happened to them in the end. I am also not sure if the health system could have done better due to my lack of connection with the patient. I was not able to establish a connection with them or build a rapport to truly talk with the patient about what was going on in their life. Looking at myself personally, I am not sure what I could have done better to help this patient besides what I did to educate them about their care, medications, future plans, etc. I think if I was able to have more time to connect with the patient during their stay, I would have been able to do more with finding resources and helping the patient with what they needed.
