The holidays are a peak time for people to drift from their usual routines—overeating, skipping medications, and ignoring early warning signs of chronic conditions.
For clinicians, this season requires extra guidance and proactive planning. These holiday patient safety tips highlight the practical strategies providers use to help patients avoid ER visits. From reinforcing smart dietary choices and daily monitoring to creating “pill-in-the-pocket” plans for patients prone to exacerbations, these are strategies clinicians are actively using—and sharing—right now on Healthcasts.
What tips do you offer to patients to help them stay healthy during the holidays? Log in or sign up to read the full post and see the consensus.
Key takeaways about holiday patient safety tips:
Internal Medicine
"Definitely meet patients where they are - don't expect perfection. Have them do little things (try to limit excess salt/sodium as much as possible, try not to overdo the calories). Also, they should try to walk every day - be as active as possible. Sometimes patients with CHF who have worsening edema during the holidays may benefit from 'PRN' diuretics."
Internal Medicine
"I try to encourage continuing exercise during the holiday to balance the extra calories that we tend to ingest. Take walks with their family, grab a coffee, and walk rather than sit at the coffee shop. Don’t stand by the food at a gathering, don’t go to holiday parties starving so you can make healthier decisions about food intake."
Internal Medicine
"For my practice, besides watching diet for patients with CHF, it is staying well while traveling. We discuss ways to avoid flu and COVID, and I stress the need for vaccinations. We review symptoms for each and need to stay home if ill, plus masking."
Nurse Practitioner
"I also give them a vitamin regimen to take, such as an MVI, zinc/elderberry, vitamin C 1000 mg per day, and helpful hints to stay away from illnesses and how to prevent infections."
Family Practice
"Regular monitoring of their chronic conditions however, they are able at home (ie, check BP daily) and stay consistent with in-office follow-ups throughout the holidays. Encourage them to always call us if not an emergency, and urgent care if they can’t get in touch with us."
Family Practice
"I encourage seasonal and other vaccines , to eat in moderation during the holidays, and continue or start walking at least 20 min/ day."
Family Practice
"I discuss the importance of not over-indulging just because it is a holiday...they can enjoy small amounts of holiday favorite foods in moderation, or portion control/freeze their favorite dishes to gradually enjoy small amounts at other times so they do not go crazy and eat a high volume of these "bad" foods at one time. Also advise on monitoring alcohol intake and keeping an eye on daily weights if they have a CHF history."
Family Practice
"I don't believe there are effective tricks to prevent this occurrence. Still, patients can enjoy the holidays by focusing on continuing their successful dietary adherence throughout the holiday season, allowing themselves to mildly indulge on the actual holiday day only."
Family Practice
"Push more water unless they’re on fluid restriction; get more active if they are indulging-increase their activity and burn some calories; also discuss dietary substitutions like lower sugar/carbohydrate for a healthy alternative; also advised patients to only take one cheat day in a holiday and not let the holiday extend for days and weeks on end."
Family Practice
"Try to keep a close eye on consumption of salt, etoh, and maintain a normal medication regimen. Plan accordingly for trips out of town and make sure rx refills are filled to prevent missed doses or access to med issues due to holiday pharmacy hour changes."
Looking for more strategies to help your patient stay healthy during the holidays? Read all of the comments on the post on Healthcasts.