Catching the Small Signs: How a Skilled Nurse Helps to Prevent Health Setbacks at Home
Constantly wondering if the next medical emergency is just around the corner can be exhausting, but, by partnering with someone who has a trained clinical eye, those worrying health risks can be addressed before they escalate. Families of patients—as well as the patients, themselves—shouldn’t have to live in this grinding state of hyper-vigilance, nor should they think that they have to become medical experts overnight: This is where the private skilled nursing that Vital Bridge Wellness provides can help. Our nurses are steady, comforting partners who help to restore calm and protect the quality of life for all involved through their hospital-level clinical judgment and compassion.
The Delicate Balance: Managing Health and Daily Habits
Creating (and following) simple, daily habits for those with certain chronic conditions can often become a stressful balancing act. One such example is drinking water for someone with Congestive Heart Failure. While a patient’s heart doctor might prescribe a diuretic pill to help clear fluid from the body, their kidney doctor may urge them to drink more water to help protect their kidneys. This conflicting advice can lead to confusion for the patient and their family on how much water they should drink.
With the help of a private skilled nurse, all doctors’ instructions and the patient’s specific conditions and health status would be taken into consideration. Their hospital-level knowledge and advocacy skills can help to pull all of this together, leading to proactive care, such as recommending compression socks, elevating the legs, and, in the above example, talking with the heart and kidney doctors to determine the optimum level of daily fluid intake. Getting a patient’s hydration right is critical: It helps to keep the skin from stretching and breaking open, decreasing the likelihood of severe infections and helping to avoid trips back to the hospital.
Beyond Checking Vitals: Knowing When a Reading is an Emergency
Patients, family members, and other standard caregivers may often need a hand in interpreting any changes in vitals, especially for patients with chronic conditions. While all caregivers can provide daily personal support, they may not have the level of clinical judgment a private skilled nurse does, and, in some states, they can be legally limited on the care that they can provide. For example, under Georgia state regulations, non-medical home aides are legally restricted from opening pill bottles or administering medications.
A private skilled nurse, however, brings hospital-level clinical judgment and nursing care, which means that, instead of just writing down a reading, they can help identify appropriate next steps for the patient—based upon a change in their vitals—that can lower the risk of emergency visits. Take oxygen readings, for example: A skilled private nurse can immediately identify if the reading is dangerously low and take the necessary steps to determine if the reading indicates a true medical emergency or is simply inaccurate and needs to be repeated.
Rebuilding Trust: Connecting to a Patient’s Past
Managing health conditions does not have to mean a total loss of independence, even when there are important tasks that need to be done in order to keep you or a loved one healthy. Medication is just one example: A family member or caregiver may need to remind or administer a prescription to a patient who may feel crowded, overwhelmed, or as though they have lost their ability to have a say in how their health is handled. It’s a frustrating cycle for all members involved—but it doesn’t have to be.
Vital Bridge Wellness nurses act as a third party who always takes the patient into consideration. More than that, our nurses will listen to their patients and get to know them. Perhaps a loved one was once a medical professional but is now having difficulty agreeing to regularly take their medication. When spoken to from a peer-to-peer level and with an understanding of the patient’s background, the patient may be more willing to follow their prescription plan. Through forming connections beyond each patients’ conditions and treatment, our nurses can help reduce the number of small issues that could turn into emergencies requiring hospitalization.
Noticing the Warning Signs: Uneven Leg Swelling and Blood Clots
Vital Bridge Wellness practices whole-person care combined with proactive oversight, making our nurses more likely to notice the red flags that could lead to an emergency room visit if not properly addressed.
One area that our nurses pay particular attention to is the state of the patient’s skin. Skin requires just as much monitoring and care as a patient’s heart and lungs, especially for older adults who frequently bump into furniture and can get small scratches that escape their notice. Left alone, these small wounds could become infected and cause a fast-spreading, painful skin infection, like cellulitis. Our nurses bring hospital-level clinical judgment right to the comfort of the home, helping to treat early warning signs like these before they can lead to a hospital visit. Another example is the early identification of uneven leg swelling, which can indicate a potential blood clot; early identification often allows that condition to be treated at home with a simple prescription pill rather than an invasive hospital stay.
When You or a Loved One Need Extra Care
Below are a few signs that it might be time to upgrade your (or a loved one’s) home routine with the help of Vital Bridge Wellness:
- Frustration or confusion around taking daily medications
- Conflicting directions from different doctors
- Vitals being noted, but with a lack of transparency over what they mean for daily health
- Small, unusual physical changes, such as a swollen ankle, sudden fatigue or patchy red skin
- An exhausting cycle of repeatedly going to urgent care for situations that feel like they could be managed at home
“Independence” isn’t about struggling through health challenges alone: It’s about having a medical professional walk alongside you so you can enjoy your life with dignity and comfort. Vital Bridge Wellness is here to provide you with that support and relief through our advanced, hospital-level clinical judgment—there in the comfort of the home—delivered with a steady presence and a deeply caring heart. If the thoughts in this article spoke to you, we invite you to reach out for a private clinical consultation.