Leaving the Hospital After Your Visit

During your stay, your health care team will talk to you about your after-hospitalization care needs, antiicpated discharge date, and how to receive your follow-up care.  Once your doctor has written your discharge order, our goal is to have you on your way as soon as possible.  We can speed things up by giving you a special discharge appointment time.  This also helps open up beds for your fellow veterans entering the hospital.  Everything that needs to be done before discharge will be taken care of before your appointment time.  You and your family will have time to prepare for your return home. Setting a discharge appointment time also helps your VA staff to do a better job of communicating with you and your caregivers.  We have prepared a helpful to do checklist  that you can follow the day before your discharge.

Discharge Appointments

• Improve patient satisfaction because -
  • Plans can be made ahead of time for needed equipment, transportation, and services;
  • It is more convenient and less confusing. 
• Improve quality of care because -
  • Patients are not rushed on the day of discharge;
  • Patients don’t wait as long for tests and test results.
• Improve the use of hospital resources because -
  • Waiting times for beds are reduced;
  • Patients enter and leave the hospital at a steady rate.

Having a scheduled time for discharge from the hospital lets everyone – patients, caregivers, and staff - be organized and ready on the day of discharge.

Lost and Found

If you have lost any personal items during your stay, tell your nurse. You may also call our medical centers to inquire about Lost and Found:

Gainesville

Toll Free: 800-324-8387, ext. 6532
Local: 352-376-1611, ext. 6532

Lake City

(ask the operator about Lost and Found)
Toll Free: 800-308-8387
Local: 386-755-3016

Survey of Healthcare Experience of Patients

You may be contacted for feedback about your stay shortly after your discharge. Your comments will help us to continue to meet our goal of providing quality health care to our veteran patients. It is important that we have your correct phone number at time of discharge, especially if you will not be going to your own home.

For additional information about this survey and other tools, please visit our Customer Service page.