A recent New York Times article http://well.blogs.nytimes.com * noted “In a 2013 paper, Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a professor of medicine and public health at Yale School of Medicine, described a syndrome that emerges in the days and weeks after a hospital stay: “Physiologic systems are impaired, reserves are depleted, and the body cannot effectively avoid or mitigate health threats.” He called this period of vulnerability “post-hospital syndrome.”
“The syndrome was identified as a result of new Medicare rules that hold hospitals responsible for re-admissions within 30 days after discharge. When health systems began studying patients who returned to the hospital soon after discharge, two critical facts emerged. First, the problem is common and widespread, occurring after nearly one in five hospitalizations of patients on Medicare. Second, and even more surprising, the majority of cases represent an illness distinct from the initial hospitalization.”
“It’s long been known that hospitals can be the source of illness — 1.7 million Americans develop hospital-acquired infections each year. But post-hospital syndrome is something different and more ominous.”
“Post-hospital syndrome is therefore not a relapse, it is a state of susceptibility that most often leads to a new affliction. Infections, for instance, which are known complications of a hospital stay, were just one small category of post-hospital illnesses tracked in a large study of Medicare admissions. Others included heart failure, gastrointestinal conditions, mental illness, nutrition-related problems, electrolyte imbalances and trauma (probably from falls and weakness).”
* to read the full NYT article “When a Stressful Hospital Stay Makes You Sick” by David H. Newman, highlight and click on open hyperlink
Doctor, Did You Wash Your Hands? ™ provides information to consumers on understanding, managing and navigating health care options.
Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H., is Clinical Professor, Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai; and Adjunct Professor, Baruch College ( C.U.N.Y.), Rutgers School of Public Health, and Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration.
This blog shares general information about understanding and navigating the health care system. For specific medical advice about your own problems, issues and options talk to your personal physician.