Home Care Managing Your Care

Baptist Health Home Care works together with your doctors, your family and your caregivers to ensure you get the treatment and the resources you need while you are receiving and managing care at home.

Things To Remember

• Before you leave the hospital, make sure you understand your written discharge instructions and the treatment plan you are to follow at home.
• Educate yourself about your condition. Ask your healthcare provider for reliable information.
• Thoroughly read all medical forms and information provided to you, and make sure you understand them before you sign anything. If you don't understand something, ask your nurse or therapist to explain it.
• Provide your Home Care specialist with accurate and complete information about your medical history, including all medications and supplements you are taking.
• Tell your nurse or therapist about any allergies you have or negative reactions you have had to medications in the past.
• Ask about the purpose of any medication and any side effects.
• Don't be afraid to tell your nurse or therapist if you think you are about to receive the wrong medication or treatment.
• When you get test results, ask questions if you don't understand what they mean.

Please discourage friends and family from visiting you when they are ill, and remember that hand washing - by patients and caregivers - is the best way to fight infections.

Ask For Help

• Enlist a trusted family member or friend to be your advocate, asking questions you may not think of when you are under stress or not feeling well.
• Make sure your advocate understands your preferences for care and your wishes concerning resuscitation and life support. If you have an advance directive, share it with your advocate and provide a copy to Baptist Health Home Care.
• Review consent forms for treatment with your advocate before you sign them. Make sure you both understand the details of the agreement.