Protected hospital discharge is a form of health care aimed at ensuring continuity of care. In practice, the patient suffering from acute (or chronic) diseases is discharged to be taken care of by other operators more prepared to face the cycles of treatment or other complications due to the same diseases. The protected discharge, therefore, guarantees the safe transfer of the patient from one hospital to another or from the hospital to his home, where he can be followed by a team specialized in home health care. The protected discharge is particularly indicated for "fragile" patients, that is for those who, for serious acute or chronic diseases, need continuous assistance even outside the normal hospitalization. At our Pharmamedic Center, users can also request a secure discharge service. This service also includes social assistance, health and nursing services. The first ones include personal hygiene care, meal assistance, ambulation, help to move, hydration and prevention of bedsores; the latter include rehabilitation treatments such as massage therapy, physiotherapy, postural rehabilitation, etc. ; while the latter include dressings, bandages, injections, drip, treatment of bedsores up to more complex interventions for the help of ostomy patients, cancer patients or other types of patients suffering from serious diseases. These services, in addition to ensuring continuity of care to the patient, are also particularly useful for family members, who can count on a valid health support even after the resignation of their loved one from the hospital or clinic.

The protected discharge also serves to fill the small and large gaps in the public health system, where for some time we have witnessed shorter hospitalization times and a chronic shortage of beds. The protected discharges also avoid the so-called unnecessary hospitalizations, or those periods of hospitalization that, for particular conditions of the patient, such as advanced age, can easily be managed at home. This service also offers other benefits, such as the reduction of post-hospitalization complications and the risk of a new short-term hospitalization, as well as greater patient adherence to treatment and a strengthening of the quality of the medical and health care service. The protected discharge, however, is the final phase of a care path that must start from the first days of hospitalization or in the clinic. The phases of hospital discharge are in fact beginning with the evaluation of the patient's clinical condition. The assessment is carried out not only by the medical staff, but by all the social and health care figures involved in the care path of the patient. Through an integrated approach of the clinical evaluation of the person, the most suitable therapeutic protocol can be prepared to guarantee its continuity of care.

The evaluation also includes the analysis of the functional abilities of the patient and aims to identify the psycho-physical skills necessary to face the cycles of treatment. This phase of analysis also includes the analysis of social support, aimed, however, to identify any external shortcomings of caregivers and to seek support figures for the treatment path. The care plan is thus defined and customized not only on the basis of the patient's condition and therapeutic needs, but also on the basis of the lack or presence of other support structures or assistance figures.

Should these, at the end of the assessment, not be present, they can be requested to our Pharmamedic Center, which will provide the hospital discharge service protected to guarantee the full and complete continuity of care for the person.