The Lonely Patient’s Guide to Hospital Land: How to Make the Most of Your Hospital Stay

Some day when you least expect it, you may find yourself in a strange place in clothes and a bed that are not yours. 

You see other visitors dressed like you, some with the front of their bodies covered better than their backs. Most of them are lying in similar beds, some with devices attached to their faces, arms and chests. 

Outside your room, you catch a glimpse of the inhabitants of this strange place all dressed the same in blue or green pajama-like outfits. They speak to each other in a different language that sounds a little like English but you don’t recognize many of the words. They are writing on the pages of binders or on computers. You’re not the paranoid type but you have a suspicion that they are talking and writing about you and there is a binder with your name on it. 

No. You’re not in a foreign country, and you haven’t been abducted by aliens.

You are a patient. Welcome to Hospital Land. 

Being a patient in the hospital can be a disorienting experience. The transient confusion or delirium that older patients may experience can be triggered by illness but is certainly exacerbated by being in a completely unfamiliar environment. 

But even younger patients can feel unsettled. You’re not quite sure what you’re allowed to do on your own and where you are free to go. When I was 11 years old, I stayed at Burnaby Hospital for a few weeks with a painful flare up of rheumatoid arthritis. It was at first a stressful experience but the kind care of my nurses and doctors inspired me to work in healthcare one day. 

To make sure you’re prepared for the day you become a hospital patient, here are some tips to maintain your independence and sense of control and get the information you need about your condition and its treatment. 

Like the Lonely Planet guides for travellers, consider this the Lonely Patient’s Guide to Hospital Land. 

Your “Travel” Documents 

You don’t need your passport – just your CareCard or PHN (personal health number) and some essential information. 

I encourage everyone to keep a one-page summary of your medical history. This will be invaluable if you ever have to go to the ER or an urgent care or walk-in clinic. It should include a list of your allergies, chronic conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes, past illnesses and operations, and your family medical history. 

Bring a list of your medications, including the full name of each drug, the dose (i.e. 325 mg) and the directions (i.e. one tablet twice daily). 

What to Pack 

For comfort: ear plugs, music with earphones, reading material, word puzzles, an eye mask for sleeping, a toothbrush and toothpaste, warm socks, non-slip slippers and a sweater.

To keep you oriented: a calendar and a quiet, inexpensive clock. 

For communication: a pad of paper, pens, and if you need them, your glasses, hearing aids and teeth. 

What NOT to bring: expensive jewellery or electronic devices, wallets, purses, credit cards, your nicest clothes and shoes or other prized possessions. 

Don’t bother with perfume or cologne. Your neighbours may have allergies and respiratory problems, and you’re more likely to pick up an infection rather than your future romantic partner. 

Three Keys to a Better Hospital Stay 

1. Stay informed and in control. 

There are four things you need to know about every procedure or treatment (including surgery, medications and investigations): a. the purpose or reason for the procedure or treatment; b. common side effects or risks; c. serious side effects or risks; and d. alternatives or other treatment choices. 

2. Know your team. 

When they are all dressed in scrubs and lab coats, all health professionals and support staff look alike. Ask for each person’s name and role (e.g. nurse, respiratory technician, dietitian, physiotherapist, speech language therapist or specialty – family physician, hospitalist, surgeon or internist). 

Most importantly, ask who your attending or most responsible physician is. This is the quarterback who is overseeing your care in the hospital. 

Take a look at your wrist band now that you know you’re not vacationing at an all-inclusive resort. It usually has the name of your attending physician. This is the person to whom you should direct your questions. 

3. Set up a channel for communication. 

Prepare your list of questions. Key questions to ask your attending physician: What is the plan? What is the working diagnosis? What is the schedule of tests or procedures? What are the results of those tests? When is your expected date of discharge? 

This information could be shared on a white board in your room or a large pad of paper at your bedside. If you have a family physician, make sure he or she knows you are in hospital and that reports are sent to that office. He or she can provide important medical information to your hospital care team.

In an upcoming column, I’ll talk about advance medical directives including the MOST form used in all our hospitals to indicate what procedures and level of care you want and those you don’t want.

On Thursday, January 18^th, 2024, I’ll be giving a free online talk from 7 to 8:30 pm. The topic: The Lonely Patient’s Guide to Hospital Land: Making the Most of Your Hospital Visit. It’s part of the Burnaby Division of Family Practice’s Empowering Patients health education program. To register, email Leona at lcullen@burnabydivision.ca or call (604) 259-4450. If you aren’t able to make it to my talk, you’ll find videos and my slides on this and my other sessions on health and wellbeing at https://divisionsbc.ca/burnaby/for-patients/empowering-patients

Here’s a YouTube preview of what I’ll be covering:

A New Year Revolution Begins with Reflection on the Year Past

Davidicus Wong, MD January 1^st, 2024

A traditional annual ritual is our review our family calendar of events at the end of each year.

With each Christmas, my wife will find in her stocking the kitchen desk calendar in which every family member will record (in advance) our daily and weekly activities. I learned early in marriage that if it hasn’t been written in the family calendar a dinner, talk or other event has not officially been acknowledged. 

It was a great way to coordinate the activities of a busy family.

But before, we put away the past year’s calendar, we take the time to review it together with appreciation and reflection.

Although the year seems to have passed so quickly, when we recall holidays, birthdays and other special events celebrated together they seem to have happened long ago and we’re amazed how much we did in just one year. 

Together we reflect back on personal and family achievements – successfully completing another year of school, what my wife has accomplished with her kindergarten students and the patients I have assisted in my practice. We appreciate the challenges we navigated, what we have survived together and what we have learned.

A New Year comes with new promise – and promises we make to ourselves, often in the form of new activities and habits we’d like to try out or establish. 

I usually ask myself four questions.

1. What activities should I do more often in the New Year? What should I continue?

2. What activities should I do less often? What things should I reduce?

3. What activities should I stop? These take time, energy and attention but are neither necessary nor add value.

4. What can I create? What new activities will bring more value and enjoyment to my life?

We often identify resolutions – personal commitments to healthier new habits – or the elimination of old unhealthy ones, but when we frame our resolutions in the negative, we need to articulate positive alternatives.

I don’t recommend we start with a to do or self-improvement list. We all have someone in our lives who would be happy to provide a short or long list. If you need further suggestions, your family doctor would be happy to help. 

Goals should be consistent with your most important values and these should be considered from your long view – beyond even the span of one year. 

Consider starting with your mindset – the perspective with which we think of ourselves, our relationships and our world.

This doesn’t have to be a full-blown identity crisis. It’s just an honest assessment of the attitudes we bring to life. What approaches are not working so well? Can we consider more positive points of view?

I call this a New Year’s revolution. This is not a wholesale trashing of the status quo but an iterative cyclic review not unlike how scientists expand or revise their theories to accommodate new information and things that just don’t fit with our outdated narratives – the stories we tell ourselves.

Here are just a few provocative perspectives to fuel your potential New Year’s revolution.

1. The growth mindset (as opposed to the fixed mindset). If we believe our potential (our talent, skills and intelligence are fixed, we limit our personal growth. If we recognized that we are always learning and growing from experience, we’re more open to new experiences and willing to challenge ourselves to discover our undiscovered potentials.

2. Are you playing the traditional win-lose game at work, in school or in your relationships? The alternative is the infinite game, popularized by Simon Sinek. With this mindset, the point of the game is to keep the game going and not compete to be the sole winner. We lift each other up and work and play in ways that benefit whole of which we are an integral part.

3. Are you just one separate individual competing with all others in the rat race of life with the goal of gaining the most points in status, money or material things that no one gets to keep at the end of the race of life?. The alternative is recognizing that we are all connected and interdependent. Living my own life, raising a family with my wife, seeing my children grow up, losing my mother and supporting my patients through the evolution of their relationships and the vicissitudes of human life, I’ve come to recognize that we are all a part of the cycle of love. We receive love in many forms from innumerable benefactors, including family members, teachers, coaches, friends, neighbours and many others whom we will never know or be able to thank. We learn to accept love in all its human and imperfect forms, learn to love ourselves and learn to give that love forward to others.

Dr. Davidicus Wong is a family physician serving the Burnaby community and writing for the Burnaby Now since 1991. For more on achieving your positive potential for health, check his blog at davidicuswong.wordpress.com

Sunset off Waikiki Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii

Davidicus Wong