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Discharge Day after Heart Surgery
Discharge Day
When you are ready to leave the hospital, you will go through a careful discharge evaluation to make sure you meet all the necessary criteria.
We will also walk you through everything you need to know to manage your care once you leave the hospital.
Before you can leave the hospital, you must meet several discharge criteria:
- Stable vital signs
- Able to get out of bed at least three times daily and for all meals
- Able to "ambulate" or walk around with a staff or family member, or even independently
- Adequate pain management
- You've had a bowel movement
- You are able to eat and drink
If you meet these criteria, you are ready to be discharged from the hospital. Your case manager will finalize your discharge plans whether you are:
- Going home from the hospital
- Need outpatient physical therapy
- Transferring to a nursing facility for additional care
Our staff will remove any drains, lines, or catheters. We will also check your incision, which should be clean, dry, and intact, with little to no drainage or infection.
We review any discharge medications with you and your family. Prescriptions are sent to your local pharmacy except for the pain medication, which is provided to you on a special form.
When you are discharged, we will go over:
- Discharge medication instructions
- A follow up appointment 2-3 weeks after discharge to see your cardiothoracic surgeon or physician assistant for a post-operative visit and wound check.
INTERESTED IN AN ONLINE SECOND OPINION?
The Stanford Medicine Online Second Opinion program offers you easy access to our world-class doctors. It’s all done remotely, and you don’t have to visit our hospital or one of our clinics for this service. You don’t even need to leave home!
Visit our online second opinion page to learn more.