After discharge: a daily check-in for the first 30 days at home

For hospitals and clinics: a daily WhatsApp or phone check-in for discharged elderly patients in their language, with your team and the family told when a patient goes quiet.

The gap after discharge

An elderly patient goes home after a fracture, an angioplasty, a stroke or a long infection. The first month decides whether they come back. The family is often in another city or country; the discharge sheet says “take these, come back in two weeks”; nobody asks on day four whether the medicines were taken or whether the breathlessness is worse. A daily question, in the patient’s own language, with the family looped in, is the cheapest follow-up a hospital can run.

What the patient receives

• One WhatsApp message each morning in their language (21 languages, including ten Indian ones): “Did you take your morning medicines?” with buttons for taken, not yet, and please call me. For patients without WhatsApp, an automated phone call where they press 1.
• A reminder, then a phone call if they do not reply. Afternoon, evening and night medicine reminders listing the medicines by name.
• Danger words recognised in their language — chest pain, fell, cannot breathe — raise an alert at once; so does “please call me”.
• Readings sent as a reply or a photo (blood pressure, sugar, weight, oxygen) are read and kept in one place; a summary is produced monthly.

What your team receives

• Your nurse station’s WhatsApp number added as each patient’s local contact, so it is asked to check when neither the patient nor the family can be reached.
• During a pilot, a short email to your coordinator each morning: who answered, who did not, who asked for a call — and at the end, each patient’s 30 days of answers for the follow-up visit.
• Nothing to install: during a pilot we enrol patients with your coordinator at discharge, and each patient’s consent is recorded on WhatsApp before the first message.

What it is not

It is not remote patient monitoring with devices, not a triage service and not a doctor. It never changes a dose or offers advice; a patient who says they are unwell is pointed to your team and the emergency number. Clinical decisions stay with your clinicians.

Running a pilot

Pick one ward or one condition — orthopaedic discharges over 65 are a good start — and 30 patients. The pilot is run by hand with your coordinator: patients are enrolled at discharge, and after 60 days you have the numbers: answer rate, alerts raised, readmissions among enrolled patients. Pricing for a pilot is per enrolled patient per month; write to us with the ward and the numbers.

Ask about a pilot See every feature

Questions families ask

Related

• After hospital discharge: a checklist for elderly parents in India
• After a heart attack, angioplasty or bypass: supporting a parent in India from abroad
• Parent care for employees whose parents live far away
• How we protect your family’s information

Athnova Care tracks and coordinates care. It does not diagnose, prescribe or replace a doctor. In a medical emergency call the local emergency number.