Advocating for loved ones in the hospital

Beyond flowers and a card

Hospitals and their staff are vital to providing medical care and services for more serious medical concerns. Whether it is routine surgery, a more complex one or treating a significant medical illness, we are thankful every day to have such places to help us and our loved ones in our time of need.

But hospitals can also overwhelm people. If you don’t go there often but find yourself there to support an ailing loved one, hospitals can be like an ant farm of activity: patients moving from here to there, family members coming and going, a confusing maze of hallways and floors and waiting areas that may become your unexpected “home” for hours, days or weeks.

When your loved one is a patient, you want to do all you can to help improve their health. But how do you advocate for them effectively?

There are a few things you can do in advance to prepare to be the best advocate for your loved ones if they are hospitalized:

Respect the rules

A facility sets visiting regulations for a reason, and family members and visitors should follow them. The guidelines allow visitors to interact with the patient while respecting other patients’ privacy and preventing family members or visitors from interfering with staff members while they are caring for patients. This is especially important during shift changes, when important communication needs to happen between nurses and others to accurately “hand off” the patient to the next shift.

Provide information

Create a document, electronic or on paper, listing your loved one’s name, date of birth, known drug allergies, routine medications any medical conditions and their surgery history. Be sure to update this periodically. Include your name, relationship with the person, phone number and email address, so the care team can contact you.

Sync up with staff schedules

Learn when attending physicians usually make their rounds and try to be present (visiting hours allowing) if you can. Nurses usually make their rounds within the first couple of hours after shift change (often at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.), so be present if possible.

Speak for the patient

Patients often can be their own advocates, asking the right questions and giving accurate answers and information. But sometimes illness, age or mental decline requires that another family member or trusted friend speak for the patient. In these cases, having the patient name a “healthcare proxy” will allow this to take place.

The creation of a healthcare proxy should be completed and updated before any hospitalization that may require someone to act as a substitute decision-maker on important decisions.

A healthcare proxy gives the person selected the same amount of medical decision-making power as the patient. In Arkansas, this person is known as the healthcare agent. The healthcare agent is allowed to act in the patient’s place for the purposes of their health. This authority is only limited by the instructions that are left in the healthcare agent form found on the Arkansas Department of Health website.

Be aware that this document is not a substitute for the designation of a power of attorney. A power of attorney refers to when you name someone to make any necessary legal or financial decisions on your behalf if you are temporarily or permanently incapacitated.

It is also not a substitute for a living will or an advanced directive document. Some medical situations might require decisions about beginning or continuing lifesaving or life-sustaining measures such as ventilators, cardiac resuscitation or tube feedings. These difficult decisions are best made through a living will that the individual creates well in advance, instead of leaving them to a healthcare proxy. The best way to be sure things are managed according to your wishes is to make them clear to everyone else through a living will.

Hospitalizations can be stressful for patients and their families. The best way to eliminate concerns and fears about decision-making and information-sharing is to have a plan in advance.