It’s a general rule in our family, if one of us is in the hospital, another of us will be with them 24hrs a day until they can leave. Pay particular attention to make sure everyone who touches your loved one sanitizes their hands. Also, get full care instructions from the surgeon and make sure it is followed.
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Absolutely critical advice in this day and age. Every time they get meds, ask what they are getting & if you don’t recognize the name, ask questions. I also keep notes .... I don’t make it obvious, but as soon as ‘whoever’ leaves the room, I write it down. In January, a hospitalist lied about something ... when she realized I disagreed with her, she told me I didn’t ‘remember’ correctly and I told her I didn’t have to ‘remember’ anything because I take notes and I promptly pulled them out and read them to her for the day/time in question. She almost wet her pants & even after my relative got home, I got calls from her to make sure we understood medication instructions and that everything was ok. I will say that the really good nurses/docs appreciate having someone there they can talk to and who will help them with the patient - the cardiologist told my relative’s son that the quality and management of her care was directly affected for the better by my being there .... he also brought up that I was there every day at 6 a.m. when he made rounds.
We have third world medicine with med students being trained on robots instead of live people.
This cohort is the least curious, least motivated group of doctors I have ever seen.
We have discovered that as well. The really good caregivers will embrace you as a member of the care team. To the contrary. it is the ones that don't appreciate the role you are playing in your loved ones care that you need to really keep an eye on.