The “post-hospital syndrome”.

[Argirios Argiriou]

The New York Times.
03 August 2018

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She had developed a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in her lungs, probably resulting from inactivity. The clot exacerbated her heart failure, causing fluid buildup in her lungs and increased swelling in her legs. She also suffered another compression fracture.
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Disrupted sleep, as staff draw blood and take vital signs at 4 a.m. A distorted sense of day and night. Unappetizing meals often served at inopportune times.

Reduced muscle mass and poor balance following even a few days in bed. New prescriptions with unpredictable consequences. Shared rooms. Delirium. Pain.

“It affects your hormones, your metabolism, your immune system,” Dr. Krumholz said. “All these things have widespread effects,” leaving people depleted and less able to stave off other health threats.

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They could enable older patients, too, to wear their own clothes, get out of bed for walks (even with IV poles), eat enough to maintain their weight. They could assess how many lab tests patients actually need, and whether blood needs to be drawn before dawn.

“We should never wake a sleeping patient unless there’s a compelling reason, and that reason shouldn’t be our own convenience,” Dr. Krumholz said.
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