No one enjoys spending time in the hospital. Spending even just a day or two in a hospital room feels like three times longer, compared to when you are having a vacation where time seems to fly by so fast. Waiting for the results of a surgery or a laboratory test makes the experience even worse, especially if your loved one is battling a serious illness.
Since you and the rest of the family play a big role in your loved one’s recovery, you need to do things that can lift the patient’s spirits. Here are some of the things you can do to improve your loved one’s stay at the hospital and make him feel more comfortable.
Bring Gifts
It is a universal gesture for people to bring something with them whenever they visit someone in the hospital. It can be food and drink hampers or flowers, or any particular item that can show the patient that you care for him.
For instance, you can provide the patient with a pillowcase from home or handcrafted gift you made on your own. Or, you can decorate the hospital room to make it feel more like home. You can also combine all your ideas and create an entire package for your loved one.
Empathize With the Patient
Try to observe your loved one’s situation whenever you visit him in the hospital. Does he look comfortable on his bed? If he is tall, then he must be feeling cramped on his bed for days. Choose the best time to speak with any of the nurses and ask them to see if they can extend the bed for him. Most hospital beds have an extendable feature to ensure that all patients are comfortable no matter what their height may be.
Meanwhile, if your loved one has been in bed for several days already, bringing a bed pad designed to increase blood circulation is a great idea, too. Patients can develop bedsores if they have only been lying down for an extended period. To avoid this problem, put a bed pad to make the hospital bed more comfortable for the patient.
Do Not Forget the Entertainment
One of the most common struggles that any patient has to bear in the hospital is boredom. So, consider bringing your tablet or books with you on your next visit. You can also subscribe to movie streaming sites so he can watch his favorite series. Or, you can simply bring a deck of cards that you can all play. Finding ways to make your loved one’s stay a little more tolerable is a great way to spend your hospital hours.
The bottom line here is that there are several ways you can make a loved one feel better while in the hospital. So, try to make the most out of your hospital visit and have fun. Doing so will help your loved one forget momentarily what he is going through. Although it may seem too small of an effort, making him feel that everything will be alright already means a lot.
