Doctors and other medical professionals must have a process for following up with patients to minimize the risk that the patient suffers any adverse reactions to the care that they received. Follow-ups also involve monitoring the effects of the treatment that the patient received, and the patient’s recovery from any procedures. Proper aftercare aims to provide timely interventions if something goes wrong.
Circumstances that can reveal poor aftercare process include:
Lack of after treatment. A doctor must take reasonable care to ensure that their patient receives the after treatment they need to continue their care. This could include instructions or referrals for other procedures.
Failure to anticipate or prevent complications. When a doctor fails to observe certain symptoms or pay adequate attention to the patient’s medical history, preventable complications may arise.
Failure to monitor the patient. After a medical procedure or administering a new medication, part of the aftercare process is to monitor the patient for signs of complications such as allergic reactions, infections, sepsis, and other adverse reactions to the treatment. The attorneys at Youman & Caputo can file a Philadelphia claim for failing to monitor a patient if you or a loved one are injured due to improper oversight.
Failure to diagnose new problems. Sometimes, new problems arise as a result of a new treatment or surgical procedure. A good aftercare process includes measures designed to identify these new problems when they arise, perform necessary tests, and take appropriate action to deal with those problems.
Following surgery, a good aftercare process begins from the moment the patient is wheeled out of the operating room until even after the patient’s stitches are removed. The goal is to make sure that the patient suffers no complications because of the surgery.