Leaving the hospital: getting the equipment part right

Start before discharge day

The best time to arrange home equipment is while you are still admitted. The hospital’s discharge planner or case manager does this professionally — ask to speak with them early, tell them what home actually looks like (stairs, who is there during the day, where the bathroom is), and ask directly: what equipment will be needed, and who is arranging it?

There is also a paperwork advantage people only learn about later: the clinical documentation plans want — the face-to-face encounter, the functional notes — is being written right now, during the admission. Equipment set in motion before discharge rides on documentation that already exists; equipment chased three weeks later often needs a new appointment first.

Equipment at the bedside

For facilities we partner with, our walker and nebulizer closets put stocked equipment on the unit itself — a patient can leave with the walker in hand at discharge, and the insurance work follows afterward. If your facility does not have one, a discharge order faxed to (800) 594-1226 or phoned in can still be coordinated quickly — tell us the discharge date and we work to it.

How the closets work → — and if you are a discharge planner or case manager reading this, this page is for you.

Questions to ask before you leave

• What equipment is ordered, and from whom? Get the supplier’s name and number. If nobody can answer, the order may not exist yet.
• When will it arrive — before or after I do? A hospital bed that arrives the day after a discharge is a night on the couch.
• Who will set it up and train the caregiver? Delivery should mean assembled, tested and demonstrated — not left in boxes.
• What supplies come home with me, and what runs out first? Dressings, catheters, ostomy supplies and formula sent home from the ward are a starter quantity, not a system. The resupply arrangement is the system.
• Who do I call when something is wrong at 7pm? Write it down before you leave.

Getting the home ready

• Decide which room the recovery actually happens in, and clear the route to the bathroom.
• If a hospital bed is coming, sort the room and the power before the van arrives — the preparation guide.
• Walk the house against the home safety checklist — a discharge after surgery or a fall is exactly when throw rugs and dark hallways collect their toll.
• Fill the prescriptions and arrange the follow-up appointments before the energy runs out. The first days home are busier than anyone expects.

If the discharge is today and nothing is arranged

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