Recovery and Discharge

After your transplant surgery, you will be in the intensive care unit. The time you spend in intensive care varies a great deal depending on how ill you were before the transplant and how well you are recovering after the operation. In the intensive care unit you will be cared for by transplant surgeons as well as doctors who specialize in caring for critically ill patients. The goal of the service while caring for you in intensive care is to stabilize your condition enough so that you may be safely transferred to a regular floor. When your condition has stabilized, you will be transferred to the transplant patient unit.

After you are transferred to the patient unit, the transplant team will monitor the function of your new organ, as well as complications such as infection, and medication side effects. Your medications may be adjusted frequently during this time. Once on a transplant floor, your transplant surgeons and physicians, along with others involved in your care, will begin to plan for hospital discharge. The exact date of your discharge can be difficult to predict in advance. Your physical recovery, as well as the functioning of your new organ, and complications can all help your doctors determine your date of discharge. Even when given a possible date of hospital discharge, a fever or abnormality in a blood test may mean that your discharge must be postponed.

The hospital transplant clinical specialist will see you daily during the week once you are transferred from the intensive care unit. You will be informed of who your post-operative transplant coordinator is; your post-operative coordinator is a registered nurse who will be your primary contact in the transplant office. Your coordinator will coordinate all care after discharge home.

Learn More

• Risk of Infections
  Information on recognzing and preventing infections following transplant surgery
• Transplant Medications
  Information on the types and use of common medications for transplant recipients