A Complicated Question
Rehabilitation after surgery differs per person and per surgery. Surgical staff–and their associated skill–also contribute to how long the rehabilitation process takes. Nursing after the fact can increase or decrease recovery time. Good nursing with emotionally sensitive, empathetic nurses will produce results faster.
There isn’t necessarily a straightforward answer when it comes to rehabilitation. Short-term rehabilitation is based on various factors. It could be that a year’s rehabilitation is realistically short-term if the operation was intensive enough. Maybe a month is too long.
As a general rule of thumb, short-term rehabilitation tends to take about six weeks; though again, that differs per situation and per facility. Personal circumstances will affect associated time in recovery, and for some operations, that might be definable in different ways.
Nursing In Recovery Is Key
Skilled nursing and accompanying therapy help expedite recovery, making short-term rehab truly short-term by different measures. Post-op recovery often requires much skill, sometimes more than the surgery itself.
As patients age, this becomes even more considerable. Healing from minor surgery, like that involved in stitches, will take longer in more elderly people than in younger individuals. Recovery from a fall or illness in an elderly person could take months, where someone in their prime would only need a few days or weeks to get back to normal.
Post-Surgery Treatment Impacts Recovery
There are a few reasons that strong patient plans are necessary for surgery. Even after recovery, an overall wellness plan must be put in place for best results in long-term health stability. With a dedicated staff made of certified nurses and other professionals who deal with specific age groups or conditions, it becomes possible for individuals to get better faster.
You can’t rush recovery. Your body doesn’t tend to respond to that. In fact, the stress involved in pressuring an individual to heal could negatively impact their rehab. There is a study that is a bit controversial. Whether it’s scientifically accurate is hard to pin down, but the dramatic results are worth thinking about regardless. It’s known as the “rice experiment.”
The Rice Experiment
A Japanese gentleman yelled at one jar of rice, did nothing for another, and was kindly complementary to the third. The one he was kind to fermented, the one he was mean to purified, and the “control” jar decomposed as rice normally does–you can read about it here.
Basically, how we treat things and people will have a direct physical impact. Even if you’re skeptical about this experiment, consider that on a molecular level, particles act differently based on how they are observed. So if particles and rice act differently based on how they’re treated, so will human beings!
Faster Results Through Post-Op Skill
For best results in rehab, it’s important to surround recovering individuals with people that can help them recover quicker. Certified nurses are fine for that task, but beyond certification, they need to have a personal and emotional investment in their patients. Nurses that care about what they do, are more willing to go above and beyond to see their patients thrive.
That’s one of the best things about The Arbors in Amarillo, Texas. This Baptist-based community is strongly rooted in faith, and that means staff operate under a spiritual direction and calling, which tends to help short-term recovery stay short-term. The goal of The Arbors is to create an environment of quicker recovery, so you can get better, and actually stay better. To learn more about the Arbors, contact us today!
