Going Home - International Patient Departure Guide

Going Home – Discharge Guidelines

The comfort, familiarity and warmth your home can provide while you are recovering from a surgery is unmatched. We understand your eagerness and desire to travel back to your home country and home as early as possible. However, your surgery, condition and treatment might warrant an environment which is sterile, where you can be constantly observed and monitored by us for a certain period of time until your health condition becomes normal and you are ready to fly back. Only when this is achieved will we plan your discharge and issue a fit to fly certificate. Before getting discharged, please ensure you clearly understand the kind of care, rehabilitation, physiotherapy that you might need to continue doing once you are back home. Also clearly understand the medication regime that you need to follow and the diet and nutrition requirements that you have to follow to get back to better health. Please look at the discharge guidelines given below as you plan you travel back home post treatment and discharge from our hospital.

Practice moving independently

You will be supported and encouraged to get out of bed and slowly take that first step and walk around. You may feel tired and weak at first. The sooner you resume activity, the sooner your body’s functions can get back to normal

Pre-discharge discussion

Your treating physician and the nursing staff will discuss the medication regimen, diet and nutrition, any rehabilitation and physiotherapy that you need to continue doing once you are back home. Understand this clearly.

Collect your discharge summary

Please collect your medical reports, medication prescription, discharge summary and diet recommendations before you leave the hospital. Also check when you should have a review again with the medical team.

Pay the medical bills before discharge

Please ensure you settle all the bills prior to discharge. You can either do a cash settlement if you are not covered by insurance or if you are claiming back the reimbursement from the insurance provider Alternatively you can also pay by cash and settle all the bills.

Your diet and activity requirements

Clearly understand your nutrition and dietary requirements, when you can resume what level of activities, when you can head back to work, when you can lift heavy objects, what kind of rehabilitation or physiotherapy you have to do during the recovery period at home.

Prepare your home for your recovery

Once you are given a fit to fly certificate by our hospital and you fly back and reach you home, please ensure that its patient friendly and caters to any specific requirements which the medical team might have told you to arrange for in your house for faster healing and recovery.

Frequently Asked Questions

What things do I need to know before I go home?

Here is a list of questions you may ask your health care professional before leaving the hospital:

When are the medicines that I should take and when? Can I take vitamins, supplements, herbs, etc that I was taking earlier?
What should I do if I experience any acute pain, infection, fever, bleeding, etc?
When should I come back for a review?
What will happen to my stitches or staples?
What should be my diet during the recovery period? Are there foods that I should eat or avoid?
When and how can I take a bath?
Can I lift weight? Can I bend over?
When can I start driving and when can I go back to work?
When can I have sex again?
How long will it take to recover?

What is the role of the care given during the discharge process?

As a care given of the patient getting discharge, please collect information by speaking to the doctors and nursing staff and ensure that the following is taken care of:

You have collected the discharge summary and other reports,
You have handled insurance and billing,
You have understood what kind of care should be given at home,
You know when you have to bring the patient back for review and any follow up care at the hospital,
You know what you should do in case of any emergency at home and
You know what are the medicines to be given.