Post-Hospital Syndrome — An Acquired, Transient Condition of Generalized Risk

By Harlan M. Krumholz, M.D.  |  N Engl J Med 2013  |  To promote successful recovery after a hospitalization, health care professionals often focus on issues related to the acute illness that precipitated the hospitalization. Their disproportionate attention to the hospitalization’s cause, however, may be misdirected. Patients who were recently hospitalized are not only recovering from their acute illness; they also experience a period of generalized risk for a range of adverse health events. Thus, their condition may be better characterized as a post-hospital syndrome, an acquired, transient period of vulnerability. Read more