Who is Columbus Inpatient Care (CIC)?
- We are a private, physician owned group of hospital based physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. We provide medical care while you are admitted to the hospital since most primary care doctors do not provide hospital based care.
- We are affiliated with Mount Carmel East Hospital, Mount Carmel Grove City Hospital, Diley Ridge Medical Center and Mount Carmel Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit.
What should I expect while admitted to the hospital?
- After the decision is made for you to be admitted to the hospital you will meet a CIC provider. The CIC provider will interview you, examine you and formulate/discuss a plan of action for your hospital stay. Depending on the reason for admission you may need a consultation with a specialist (cardiology, urology, nephrology, surgery, etc). You will also meet supportive staff such as physical/occupational therapists, case management, social workers, radiology technicians who will help in caring for you. Therapists will assess your mobility (if needed) to ensure you are safe to discharge home and not a fall risk. Case management and social workers will continue to address barriers of discharging you and help with back up plans in case you cannot immediately discharge home.
- People don’t come to the hospital for good sleep so expect interruptions in the evening such as blood draw, blood pressure or oxygen monitoring, medication administrations, etc.
What happens if I cannot discharge home due to medical or mobility reasons?
- If your medical team decides that it is unsafe for you to discharge home then they may recommend a skilled nursing facility or inpatient rehabilitation, as a bridge to going home or long-term care/assisted living facility if you need a more permanent placement may be recommended.
What should I expect if I am being discharged home with home care?
- Home care may be recommended if you need intermittent medical care at home (wound care, IV antibiotics, serial vital signs measurements, help with some activities of daily living, medication assistance). This usually means a nurse coming to your home a few days a week, not every day.
What does home with 24/7 supervision mean?
- You need to ensure you have a family member or friend home with you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week until told otherwise. This is for your safety. If you are unable to have 24/7 supervision after this is advised, then alternative discharge plans will be suggested such as a temporary placement at a skilled nursing facility.
What’s the difference between skilled nursing facility and inpatient rehabilitation?
- A skilled nursing facility (SNF) is temporary placement in a residential community for someone who needs 24/7 supervision and skilled level of care for medical problems or continued therapy sessions. Nursing staff is present around the clock. Physical/Occupational/Speech therapy sessions would happen a few days a week (if needed). Meals and medications are provided by the facility. Social services are available for discharge planning. A medical provider will see you at least once a week to address medical concerns.
- Inpatient Rehabilitation is also a temporary placement but a bit more intensive than a SNF. It is hard to qualify for inpatient rehab but if you qualify and it’s deemed necessary by your medical team then you should take the opportunity. Here you will have 24/7 supervision by nursing staff and meals and medications will be provided by the facility. A medical provider will see you at least five times a week to continue addressing medical concerns. Case management or social services is available for discharge planning. Usually, wound care and nutrition services are available for consultation. The therapy team is intense depending on your needs. In order to qualify for inpatient rehab you would need to be able to participate in 3 hours of therapy (physical, occupational, speech) broken up throughout the day.
- CIC is affiliated with the Mount Carmel Inpatient Rehabilitation unit in Westerville, OH as the sole medical provider for patients staying there.
After discharge from the hospital:
- Don’t pick up prescriptions from the pharmacy until you are home. If you are being discharged to a nursing facility or rehab unit then you may still have medication changes.
- Make sure you match your medication list at discharge with the medications you have at home to ensure you are taking the most updated medications prescribed for you.
- If you have medications at home that are not on your list, please keep them in a labeled bottle and put the bottle in the back of the cabinet until you clarify with PCP if it’s safe to discard medication in appropriate manner.
How to discard medication?
Carry an updated medication list and health history list everywhere you go.
- This should include:
- Current Medication List (label with date list was made)
- Medical History (high blood pressure, diabetes, migraines, etc or anything you have been diagnosed with)
- Surgical History (any surgeries you have ever had)
I am being discharged with an Opioid narcotic. What now?
- For the most part, opioid pain medication (such as Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, Morphine, etc) is used as a temporary measure for pain relief. These medications should be tapered down as your pain improves until completely off.
Opioid pain medication is addictive and can worsen your medical problems if used longterm when not needed
Why am I on a blood thinner?
- If you have vascular disease, cardiac disease or stroke then you may be advised to take a baby aspirin daily.
- If you have been diagnosed with a blood clot or have atrial fibrillation then you may have been prescribed a therapeutic blood thinner such as Coumadin, Eliquis, Xarelto, Pradaxa, etc.
- You might be on a low dose blood thinner medication to prevent blood clots from forming (prophylaxis) while in-hospital if recommended.
What’s HIPAA?
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act: A law that stipulates how personally identifiable information is maintained and protected by the healthcare industry. Designed to protect you from fraud and theft and maintains your medical privacy. Only individuals that you identify can gain access to your medical information.
When is a Geriatrics consult helpful?
- Mount Carmel has a full time Geriatrician available to consult while you are in the hospital. They specialize in treating those that are 65 years old and over. If you have complex medical problems, admitted after a fall or have confusion or have an extensive medication list you may benefit from seeing a Geriatrician. They pay attention to your quality of life and focus on your overall goals of care.
You may be asked about resuscitation levels or code status. What is that?
- When you are admitted to the hospital, we want to make sure that your wishes are upheld including what to do if something happens such as your heart stops beating or you stop breathing.
- In Ohio, there are three levels of resuscitation:
- FULL resuscitation “full code”. We do everything. Fix the fixables, treat the treatables. If you stop breathing or your heart stops beating we do everything including chest compressions, shocking (if indicated) and putting you on life support (ventilator).
- DNRCCA. Do not resuscitate, comfort care arrest. Meaning, we still fix the fixables and treat the treatables BUT in the event that your heart stops beating or you stop breathing then we would focus on comfort measures only. We would not perform aggressive measures such as compressions, shocking or placing you on life support.
- DNRCC. Do not resuscitate, comfort care only. Here we would only be focusing on comfort measures without disease modifying treatments.
