The Orthopedic Discharge Packet to Get Before You Fly Home

Do not leave your records inside someone else’s portal

International patients should leave with a portable record of what happened. Patient portals change, passwords expire and support desks become harder to reach once you are home. Save your core documents as files you control.

The CDC identifies continuity of care as a specific concern in medical tourism. A clean discharge packet reduces the number of things your home clinician has to reconstruct.

The core medical documents

Ask for the operative report or detailed operative summary, discharge summary, current medication list with doses and duration, wound-care instructions, activity restrictions, thrombosis-prevention plan, rehabilitation protocol and copies of key post-operative imaging.

If pathology, cultures or other test results were important to the case, make sure you know how final results will reach you if they are not complete at discharge.

For an implant, get the identifiers

Joint replacement patients should receive implant identification information. Keep the manufacturer, product family and component identifiers with your operative record.

This matters for future imaging, dental or medical history discussions, adverse-device notices and any later revision evaluation. INVIMA provides public medical-device registration information in Colombia, but your own record should identify what was actually implanted in you.

Make the follow-up plan explicit

Write down the date and format of the first follow-up, who reviews the wound, who handles medication questions, and what symptoms require urgent evaluation. Confirm how to send new X-rays or photos securely if requested.

Also identify the clinician at home who will handle routine follow-up. Do not assume a local surgeon will automatically take over a recent overseas operation; arrange that relationship beforehand when possible.