Home nursing after surgery: what a nurse does and how to prepare

What does a home nurse do after surgery?

A home nurse does the clinical care that would otherwise mean a trip back to hospital: dressing the wound, giving injections and IV medicines, looking after catheters, drains and feeding tubes, and checking temperature, pulse, blood pressure, oxygen level and blood sugar. Which of these your family member needs is set by the surgeon’s discharge instructions.

Wound care

The nurse removes the old dressing, looks at the wound for signs of infection or opening, cleans it as the surgeon has instructed and applies a fresh dressing. How often dressings are changed varies a great deal between operations and dressing types, so follow the discharge summary rather than a fixed rule. Some surgeons remove stitches or staples at the clinic and some allow it at home; the discharge summary or the surgeon will say which.

Medicines by injection or drip

Many patients go home on injections, for example the blood-thinning injections some surgeons prescribe after orthopaedic or abdominal operations, or on a course of IV antibiotics. A nurse gives these at the prescribed dose and time, checks the cannula site, and watches for reactions. For injections and IV medicines the nurse will ask to see the doctor’s prescription first.

Catheters, drains and tubes

Urinary catheters, surgical drains and feeding tubes all need clean handling. A nurse checks that they are draining properly, keeps the insertion site clean, records the output if the surgeon asked for it, and changes or removes them only on the doctor’s instruction.

Checks and records

At each visit the nurse can record temperature, pulse, blood pressure, oxygen saturation and, for people with diabetes, blood sugar. A written record the family keeps between visits is very useful when you next speak to the surgeon.

What a home nurse does not do

A home nurse does not diagnose new problems, start or stop medicines, or change doses. Those decisions belong to the treating doctor, and the nurse’s job is to tell you promptly when the doctor needs to be involved.

Patients who still need continuous monitoring or frequent changes to treatment are generally safer in hospital. If you are unsure whether your family member is ready for care at home, ask the surgeon before discharge rather than after.

When the question is about treatment, such as a new symptom, a medicine that does not seem to be working, or a change in the plan, book the surgeon’s follow-up or a doctor consultation, online or at home.

How to prepare for the first nursing visit

Before the nurse arrives, keep the discharge summary, the prescription and the medicines in one place, buy the dressings or supplies listed at discharge, and clear a clean, well-lit surface near the patient. The first visit goes faster when the nurse does not have to search for anything.

• Discharge summary, prescription and any wound-care instructions from the hospital.
• All medicines, including injections, in their original packs.
• Supplies the hospital listed: dressings, gauze, gloves, syringes and catheter bags.
• A clean table or tray near the bed, good light, soap and a towel for hand washing.
• A list of allergies, and whether the patient takes blood thinners or insulin.

Warning signs after surgery

Call the surgeon promptly if the wound becomes more red, swollen, hot or painful, leaks pus, starts to open, or if there is a fever. Call 108 or go to hospital for chest pain, sudden breathlessness, heavy bleeding or fainting.

• Redness spreading outward from the wound, or a bad smell from the dressing.
• Fever or shivering.
• Pain, swelling or warmth in one calf, which can be a sign of a blood clot.
• Vomiting that stops medicines or fluids staying down.
• Very little urine, or a catheter that has stopped draining.
• New confusion or unusual drowsiness, especially in older patients.

Do not wait for the next scheduled nurse visit if you notice any of these. Tell the nurse as well, but the surgeon or hospital needs to know first.

How many nursing visits will be needed?

It depends entirely on the treatment plan. A course of daily injections means a daily visit for as long as the course runs; a dressing may need changing every day or only a few times a week; and some patients need a nurse for several hours at a time.

Single visits suit care that happens once or a few times a week. When a patient needs a nurse every day for weeks, a monthly nursing plan books the same nurse each day at one plan price, which also means the nurse gets to know the wound and the patient.

Recovery is not only nursing. After many operations, especially joint replacements, physiotherapy at home is what gets a patient walking confidently again, and the surgeon may ask for follow-up blood tests, which can be done through home sample collection.

Booking a home nurse through Aish Health

On Aish Health you choose the nursing service, the visit length and a slot for your address in Hyderabad, and see the price before you pay. Slots start from 30 minutes ahead where a nurse is available, and the booking screen shows the earliest slot for your pin code.

• Nurses are reviewed and approved by the Aish team before they can take bookings, covering identity, qualification, certificates and experience documents.
• Once a nurse accepts, their name and phone number appear on your booking, so you can share the discharge summary before they arrive.
• The visit starts with a one-time code from your account, and another code closes it.
• You can ask for a male or female nurse, subject to availability.
• Cancel before a nurse accepts, or more than 1 hour before an accepted slot, for a full refund; within 1 hour there is no refund.

See the services, visit lengths and prices for your area on the home nursing page.

Frequently asked questions