Post-Hospital Syndrome

[TiredSam]

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35131678

I found the above article covered some interesting points about staying in hospital.

Not quite sure about post-hospital syndrome itself - the article introduces it as a concept mentioned by one author in opinion pieces, but by the end of the article is referring to "PHS" as if it's quite established. I'm used to seeing the media latching onto a tentative idea and presenting it as established fact, but in the space of one article? Maybe the the BBC website was having a christmas competition and the journalist was going for the office speed record in the "take an idea with an acronym and promote it to an established thing" category.

I think it's a rather tenuous idea because it seems based on the general idea of "stress", and they haven't excluded other explanations, eg it could be that some patients enjoyed their hospital stay so much that they decided to go back and get everything else fixed soon after. Patients who have a bad experience are just as likely to avoid going back at all costs, there are reported cases of ME patients who would rather die at home than go through another hospital visit.

Still, it's got an acronym now, so it must be a real thing.

Interesting article about the experience of staying in hospitals though.

 

[ahmo]

"What do we do to them? We sleep-deprive them, we malnourish them, we stress them, we disturb their circadian [sleep] rhythms, we put them at bed rest and de-condition them, we confuse them with lots of different people and new routines - we don't give them any control."

...They found that in the 30 days following the hernia operation, this subgroup was roughly twice as likely to visit the emergency department, and five times as likely to have to be admitted to the hospital as an in-patient. It seemed their previous stay in hospital had "de-tuned" them, making them more vulnerable to complications arising from the hernia operation, even though it is a very straightforward, same-day procedure.

 

[Forbin]

Well, the causes of "PHS" sound very much like the causes of "Hospital Psychosis" or "Hospital Delirium," (also known as "ICU Psychosis / Delirium" or just plain "Delirium"). This kind of delirium manifesting in a hospital setting seems to be pretty well established, mostly striking older individuals. It seems plausible that those same factors could have other consequences that are less obvious than delirium.

The Overlooked Danger of Delirium in Hospitals
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...ooked-danger-of-delirium-in-hospitals/394829/

Harvard: The dangers of hospital delirium in older people
http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-dangers-of-hospital-delirium-in-older-people-201111163810

 

[xrayspex]

interesting...I was never the same after few day hospital stay post-surgery 25ish years ago....but could be a lot of reasons for that...trauma of the surgery
I often wonder too if obscure "bugs" get into you when opened up....

well if hospital is traumatizing I would have to say that folks who stay in prison have it a million times worse
perhaps all institutional stays should be abhorred when possible

also my father didn't make it out of hospital alive after a back surgery....he got aspergillus at an injection site and that was his demise and he wasn't particularly unhealthy before all that....

 

[anciendaze]

While these doctors cover a great deal, I think they miss the historical perspective. When one aunt asked why it was that so many things doctors do, even to find out what is going on, make patients feel worse, I had a ready answer.

"That's been standard practice for centuries. They have to make things so unpleasant it will drive the demons out."