The two-week programme promises faster recovery, reduced medical complications and round-the-clock care and is fully integrated with the discharge advice of the cardiac surgeon
Apollo Hospitals in Hyderabad introduced the concept of ‘Home Discharges’ for all patients undergoing cardiac surgery at Apollo Hospitals. The Homecare Recovery programme is part of an integrated offering with cardiac surgery thereby constituting an end-to-end continuum of care for cardiac patients from admission to full recovery. The two-week programme promises faster recovery, reduced medical complications and round-the-clock care and is fully integrated with the discharge advice of the cardiac surgeon. This is the first time such a programme is being offered in Hyderabad and aims to set a new benchmark in post-discharge clinical care.
Dr Sangita Reddy, JMD, Apollo Group said, “This integrated care offering is a step forward in our vision of providing an effective continuum of care for patients. The program design as well as outcomes are on par with the best in the world and reinforce our values of clinical excellence. We are working to ensure the shortest stay of patients at the hospital and quicker and better recovery, but more important is with the comfort and the support of everyone in the hospital being available at home, either directly on the call, doctors or nurses visiting, remote monitoring, physiotherapy coming home and putting this into a neat clinically validated package and implementing this through Apollo Homecare.”
Apollo concluded that surgery is not complete upon hospital discharge; rather, it should extend into the patient’s home in the form of a professionally executed, planned recovery programme. Therefore, in conjunction with Apollo Homecare, it has devised a curated and personalised two-week recovery programme which is benchmarked with the global best-in-class cardiac surgery recovery programs. This programme is conducted by a team of qualified medical professionals including physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, and care coordinators who work collaboratively to deliver expert medical care and rehabilitation, all under the watchful guidance of the cardiac surgeon. Planned recovery is ensured through a structured day-to-day plan with physical and virtual follow-through with specific measurable goals and outcomes.
Dr AGK Gokhale, Sr Consultant Cardiac Surgeon said, “Adherence to the discharge advice is very important to the patient’s recovery and long-term health outcomes. A planned recovery programme not only helps patients to follow the discharge advice but also helps them recover faster through proactive mobilisation and rehabilitation and helps manage a majority of the post-surgical complications. We are certainly seeing this benefit being achieved for our patients”.
Dr PV Naresh, Sr Consultant Heart and Lung Transplantation and Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgeon, Apollo Hospitals, said, through the home care services we are extending the follow-up of the patients to their homes. Minor issues can be taken care of at home, they need not rush to the hospital for such problems. 93 per cent of pain management can be taken care of at home and there is no need for him to come to the hospital. Constant counselling while at home will help the patient to get advice and recover faster. Sometimes follow-up is needed for a longer period of six months to one year, which the patient can do by seeking counselling from home, without coming to the hospital frequently.
The programme offers multiple advantages. Patients benefit from a faster recovery, often up to two weeks faster than those who don’t opt for a planned recovery programme. This accelerated recuperation leads to better long-term outcomes as well. Moreover, patients receive care for common post-discharge medical conditions which reduce post-surgery complications, wound dressing, ongoing parameter monitoring, assistance with medication adherence, round-the-clock support from a dedicated coordinator and overall improved compliance to the surgeon’s post-discharge advice. In cases of emergencies, the hospital and cardiac surgeon are readily accessible, providing patients and their families with much-needed access and peace of mind.
Most importantly, the programme offers patients careful hand-holding and support throughout their recovery journey until they are restored to their best possible health. To date, Apollo Hospitals has successfully extended this programme to more than 300 to 500 patients and their families. Encouraged by their overwhelmingly positive response, Apollo has decided to incorporate home discharges into the standard care plan for every cardiac surgery done at the hospital.
