Preparing the home before leaving hospital
Written by Léa Marchand, State-registered nurse · · 2 min read
Reviewed on · Reviewed by Thomas Berthier
What is best sorted the day before discharge so the first nursing visit is spent on care, not on hunting for supplies.
Key points
- Three documents secure a discharge: the discharge prescription, the report and the medicines list.
- Prescribed equipment must be delivered before discharge, not ordered on the day.
- The first nursing visit is for care: prepare everything that can be prepared the day before.
- A named hospital contact avoids losing two days over an incomplete prescription.
Documents to keep at hand
The discharge prescription, the hospital report, the Carte Vitale and the top-up insurance certificate are enough to start care.
A missing prescription does not block the first visit: we call the ward or the GP. But it costs time that could have gone into care.
Equipment delivered by the provider
Hospital bed, pressure-relieving mattress, drip stand, walking frame: delivery is often scheduled for discharge day, sometimes later. Check the stated time.
Prescribed dressings, syringes and compresses should be collected from the pharmacy before the first visit. We do not carry stock on a patient's behalf.
Making the home workable
An accessible water point, decent lighting in the room where care will take place, and a clean surface for equipment are enough.
Clearing the path to the bed, removing slippery rugs and providing a stable chair markedly reduce fall risk in the first days.
The forty-eight hours before discharge
A discharge is rarely decided on the day: it is decided two days earlier, when the ward announces a date. That is when to call the practice, the pharmacy and the equipment supplier, in that order.
We then confirm that the first visit is feasible, its approximate time and the exact list of what must be at home. A refusal for lack of capacity is known at that point, not on the evening of discharge.
If an anticoagulant is started in hospital, ask the ward for the monitoring schedule: the first blood test, often an INR check, frequently falls within three days of the return home.
Relatives: what to ask of them, and what not to
A relative can prepare the room, handle deliveries, keep the visit calendar and hold the access codes. That is already considerable, and it genuinely changes the first days.
A relative should not perform technical care, judge a wound or adjust a treatment. Confusing help with care exhausts families and delays useful alerts.
We leave a single sheet at home with the numbers to call, the visit times and the signs that justify not waiting for the next one.
What we check at the first visit
That the discharge prescription matches the medicines actually present at home.
That the person and their relatives understand the treatment.
Vital signs, pain, and the state of the scar or puncture site if there is one.
Frequently asked questions on this page
- What if the discharge prescription is missing a procedure?
- We contact the ward or the GP the same day. Care already prescribed goes ahead; the rest is regularised without interrupting treatment.
- Who orders the hospital bed?
- It is prescribed in hospital and delivered by a supplier. Ask for the delivery date before discharge: it governs the return home.
- Should someone be present at the first visit?
- A relative helps a great deal the first time, for access codes, medicines and household habits.
Terms explained
- PRADO
- The health insurance discharge support programme: an adviser arranges the first community appointments from the hospital before discharge.
- Prescription
- A doctor's written order stating the procedure, frequency and duration. Without it, nursing care cannot be delivered or reimbursed, apart from procedures allowed in direct access.
- Home hospitalisation (HAD)
- A structure delivering hospital-level care at the patient's home, with its own medical coordination.
- Handover notes
- The written record of a visit: what was done, what was observed, what must be watched. The shared memory of the care episode.
- Anticoagulant
- A medicine that slows blood clotting to prevent a clot. It requires watching for bleeding and, for some, regular blood tests.
- INR
- A blood test measuring clotting, used to adjust the dose of vitamin-K antagonist anticoagulants.
Official sources
What we write is based on public references you can check for yourself.
- Reimbursement: what is covered, what you payAssurance Maladie (ameli.fr)
- Preventing serious falls in older adultsHaute Autorité de santé
This page is informational and replaces neither a medical consultation nor a prescription.