Thursday, April 5, 2012

Medical Travel - How to Plan For the Return Home


After having surgery in Mexico, the last thing a patient should be worrying about is the logistics of your recovery. The key to successful health travel is planning. The patient needs to know exactly where he or she will be every step of the way before ever getting on the plane. Post-operation logistics, hotel or hospital stay arrangements should all be taken care of. But with a little bit of planning, the entire trip can be stress-free, allowing the patient to focus on healing.
After Mexico Medical Procedures
Whether the patient is having a minor procedure or something more major, he or she might not have considered what will happen afterward. If the patient is only scheduled for a simple procedure such as dental work, there might be no need to plan anything after the initial appointment. The dentist might be able to send the patient home the same day without any concerns.
However, most people who choose medical travel are looking to have more major procedures performed. For many of these procedures, patients need to stay in the area to be monitored for several days after, and some of them may even require patients to be in the hospital for monitoring. All patients should check with their physician before the procedure, and make sure they know how long they'll need to stay in the country afterward.
If the patient is planning a trip without the aid of a company, hotel fare can be steep. A good health travel coordinator can get significant discounts, allowing patients to stay in the area at a much lower cost. Nonetheless, medical travel is still much cheaper than domestic procedures, even if patients end up paying full price for hotel accommodations. Obviously, if the patient is going to be staying in a hospital, he or she will have to discuss the rate in combination with other individual procedures. Patients should be careful to choose a good hospital - it is vital to get good care before, during, and after each procedure. Again, a good medical travel company can help here, because they will know what the best hospitals are without having to do extra research.
Heading Home After Medical Travel
The most important thing to consider after health travel is the state of a patient's medical records. If the procedure has been at all major, the patient will need to get a full record of the procedure to the doctor who will be following up care at home. If the patient worked with a company thus far, it is very likely that they will be helping to establish care during your time at home, and they will almost certainly be able to facilitate the prompt and thorough transfer of all relevant medical records. If a patient is not working with a company, it is often wise to set up a record transfer before ever going in for the procedure. Especially if a patient expects to be traveling alone, without family or friends able to interface with the hospital during the recovery period, planning as much in advance as possible is a tremendous help.
The Importance of Aftercare
Once the patient have returned home and given all medical records to the local physician, he or she should make sure that all instructions given by the surgeon are followed as closely as possible. Patients should never hesitate to ask any questions they might have, and should absolutely contact their regular doctor or the surgeons who performed the Mexico medical procedures in question if any parts of the instructions are unclear. Almost every surgery available through health travel requires certain careful steps after the work is completed, from avoiding certain situations to changing lifestyle to taking certain medications. If the patient doesn't follow these steps exactly, it can seriously undermine the healing process.
Finally, the patient should ensure that his or her family, friends, and coworkers are prepared for an absence. If having major Mexico medical procedures performed, there is a potential for a long recovery time simply because of the complexity of the surgery. No matter whether the patient chose to have the surgery locally or chose to have it done in Mexico, he or she would still be out for a while, and close associates need to know that. Most employers will be understanding and work with patients to plan time off, allowing for the time needed to truly heal.
Many patients find that family and friends may be more difficult to schedule, as some of them may want to come visit, and may have difficulty imagining being able to visit if the patient is abroad. But with proper planning and a little attention to logistics, everything can be arranged before the patient leaves, assuring a calm and relaxing recovery period that will maximize each individual's ability to heal and get the most benefit from surgery.

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