Prescription for Admission

About Prescription for Admission

Are you struggling to care for your parents’ medical needs and find their hospital admissions end in more frustration than help? If you’re tired of managing hospital admissions alone. Dr. Nugent will guide you through each stage of a hospitalization so you can plan ahead and advocate for your parents to get the best care possible. Tune in to discover how to get the best possible care for your parents while navigating the hospital admission and discharge process. If you're ready to feel less overwhelmed during a hospitalization. Hit play on the most recent episode NOW.

Publisher

Dr. Monique Nugent

Category

health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

6 Mar 2025

Latest episode

16 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

74 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   16 Oct 2026

   Episode 73: How Hospital stay preparation, Caregiver communication & Discharge planning Can Change Your Hospital Experience

   What if you could make a hospital stay less overwhelming simply by preparing before you ever walk through the hospital doors? As a hospitalist, I’ve seen how confusing and stressful hospitalization can be for patients and their families. I started Prescription for Admission to help you understand how hospitals work and feel more prepared to advocate for yourself or someone you love. In this final episode of the podcast in its current format, I’m getting very practical and sharing three things you can do to improve your hospital experience: prepare before a hospital stay, establish clear communication with your medical team, and plan for a safe discharge. Here’s what I want you to take away from this episode: Prepare before a hospital stay. Complete a healthcare proxy and an advance directive, have the important conversations with your loved ones, and establish a reliable system for keeping an accurate, up-to-date medication list. These steps help your medical team understand your wishes and make safer decisions when you cannot speak for yourself. Make caregiver communication more effective. I teach you my AIR method: communicate Early, tie conversations to an Action, and keep your requests Reasonable. Identify the right contact person, establish expectations early, and connect follow-up conversations to meaningful updates, such as test results or a physical therapy evaluation. Make discharge planning safer and more realistic. Have an honest conversation with your case manager about what you can and cannot manage at home. Talk about equipment, medication access, home support, physical and occupational therapy, and whether home is truly the safest place for recovery. You do not have to do it all alone. I also share why preparing for hospitalization matters even when you feel healthy, why knowing who can make medical decisions is so important, and how the lessons from previous episodes can help you support yourself or a loved one through a difficult time. This episode marks the end of Prescription for Admission in its current format, but not the end of the mission. I’m excited to continue these conversations with fellow healthcare providers and work toward making hospital stays safer, better, and more comfortable for every patient. Listen to this episode and take one practical step today to help you or someone you love navigate a future hospital stay with greater confidence, clearer communication, and a safer path home. Prescription for Admission is a podcast for Gen X and Millennial family caregivers navigating the healthcare system and medical system for loved ones living with conditions like diabetes, dementia, cancer, heart disease, and cognitive decline, helping them understand hospital care, navigate hospital stays, work effectively with doctors and specialists, organize medical records, connect with a case manager, seek a second opinion, become an effective medical advocate, and improve care coordination and discharge planning. Visit my website: ⁠⁠www.drmoniquenugent.com⁠⁠ (https://drmoniquenugent.com/) Shop & Resources: The Shop: Get the Book and other Advocacy Resources (https://drmoniquenugent.com/shop/) Hospital Smart Packages: Choose the perfect Hospital Smart Package for yourself (https://mnugent.kartra.com/page/vzI1) Follow us on socials for daily advocacy tips: ⁠⁠Instagram/@the_happiest_hospitalist⁠⁠ (https://www.instagram.com/the_happiest_hospitalist/) ⁠⁠Facebook/DrMoniqueNugent⁠⁠ (https://www.facebook.com/drmoniquenugent/) ⁠⁠LinkedIn/DrMoniqueNugentMDMPH⁠⁠ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/moniquenugent-mdmph/) ⁠⁠YouTube/@DrMoniqueNugent⁠⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/@Dr.MoniqueS.Nugent) ⁠⁠TikTok/@drmoniquenugent⁠ (https://www.tiktok.com/@drmoniquenugent) Support the Show If you found this episode helpful, please subscribe and leave a 5-star review. Your support helps us reach more people who need a map through the hospital maze. Prescription for Admission is a resource to help you navigate healthcare with confidence. Remember, you are your own best advocate.

2. 

   15 Oct 2026

   #27: Quick Tip - How to Advocate for Your Loved One With Clear Communication, Expectations & Feedback

   I'm sharing one of the most important lessons I've learned about helping families navigate a hospital stay: setting clear expectations for communication with the medical team. I understand why families sometimes feel they have to be confrontational to get answers. The healthcare system can be difficult to navigate, and not knowing what's happening to someone you love is stressful. But I've found that a better approach is to establish clear, reasonable expectations for communication early in the hospital stay. I call this my EAR system: Early, Actionable, and Reasonable. When you identify yourself as the primary contact, connect your communication requests to specific tests or decisions, and agree on a realistic time to follow up, you help everyone understand what needs to happen next. You also help ensure that the right person receives the information needed to make decisions and move care forward. I'm also talking about why your feedback matters. Whether you experienced excellent care or encountered problems, sharing constructive feedback with the hospital can help identify issues, improve processes, and make the healthcare system better for everyone. In this episode, you'll learn how to: Set clear communication expectations from day one. Learn how to identify yourself as the primary contact, ask for updates about specific tests or evaluations, and establish a realistic time to speak with the medical team. Use the EAR system to keep care moving forward. Understand how to make your communication expectations Early, Actionable, and Reasonable so you can get the information you need without creating unnecessary conflict. Turn your hospital experience into meaningful feedback. Discover how to share concerns with the appropriate hospital department and help bring attention to issues that could lead to lasting improvements in patient care. My biggest takeaway is this: you don't have to approach every hospital interaction as a battle. You can advocate for your loved one by communicating clearly, setting reasonable expectations, and following up when those expectations aren't met. And please remember that your feedback matters. If something went wrong, speak up constructively and ask how to make sure the issue is addressed. If something went well, sharing that matters, too. We all have a role to play in making healthcare better. Listen to this final Quick Tip episode to learn how the EAR system can help you stay informed, advocate for your loved one, and move their hospital care forward. Prescription for Admission is a podcast for Gen X and Millennial family caregivers navigating the healthcare system and medical system for loved ones living with conditions like diabetes, dementia, cancer, heart disease, and cognitive decline, helping them understand hospital care, navigate hospital stays, work effectively with doctors and specialists, organize medical records, connect with a case manager, seek a second opinion, become an effective medical advocate, and improve care coordination and discharge planning. Visit my website: ⁠⁠www.drmoniquenugent.com⁠⁠ (https://drmoniquenugent.com/) Shop & Resources: The Shop: Get the Book and other Advocacy Resources (https://drmoniquenugent.com/shop/) Hospital Smart Packages: Choose the perfect Hospital Smart Package for yourself (https://mnugent.kartra.com/page/vzI1) Follow us on socials for daily advocacy tips: ⁠⁠Instagram/@the_happiest_hospitalist⁠⁠ (https://www.instagram.com/the_happiest_hospitalist/) ⁠⁠Facebook/DrMoniqueNugent⁠⁠ (https://www.facebook.com/drmoniquenugent/) ⁠⁠LinkedIn/DrMoniqueNugentMDMPH⁠⁠ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/moniquenugent-mdmph/) ⁠⁠YouTube/@DrMoniqueNugent⁠⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/@Dr.MoniqueS.Nugent) ⁠⁠TikTok/@drmoniquenugent⁠ (https://www.tiktok.com/@drmoniquenugent) Support the Show If you found this episode helpful, please subscribe and leave a 5-star review. Your support helps us reach more people who need a map through the hospital maze. Prescription for Admission is a resource to help you navigate healthcare with confidence. Remember, you are your own best advocate.

3. 

   1 Oct 2026

   Episode 71: How Caregiver Support Changes When Someone Is Dying in the Hospital

   Dying in the Hospital: Comfort, Dignity, and Support for Caregivers What does it mean when your loved one comes to the hospital to get better, but instead, you realize they are dying? This is a difficult question, and in this episode, I want to challenge one of the ideas we often carry about hospitals: that if someone dies there, something has gone wrong. Sometimes, despite everything we do medically, a person reaches the end of their life while they are in the hospital. That does not mean you have failed as a caregiver. It does not mean the medical team has failed. And it does not mean we are stopping care. Instead, the care plan can change. We can focus on what matters most in those final hours or days: comfort and dignity. I talk about what dying in the hospital can look like, why trying to move someone home for hospice is not always the most comfortable or safest option, and how the hospital can provide caregiver support during an incredibly difficult time. In this episode, you'll learn: How to recognize when the goal of medical care needs to change from trying to fix every problem to supporting someone through the dying process. Why comfort and dignity should guide decisions about where someone dies, especially when moving them home may cause additional pain, stress, or discomfort. How caregiver support can extend beyond medical care, including nursing support, chaplain services, visitation accommodations, volunteers, and other hospital resources. If you are caring for someone who is seriously ill, or if you are facing the possibility that your loved one may die in the hospital, I hope this episode helps you let go of some of the guilt and understand that supporting someone through a peaceful, dignified death is still care. Listen to this episode to understand what dying in the hospital can look like and how you can focus on comfort, dignity, and meaningful support for your loved one. Prescription for Admission is a podcast for Gen X and Millennial family caregivers navigating the healthcare system and medical system for loved ones living with conditions like diabetes, dementia, cancer, heart disease, and cognitive decline, helping them understand hospital care, navigate hospital stays, work effectively with doctors and specialists, organize medical records, connect with a case manager, seek a second opinion, become an effective medical advocate, and improve care coordination and discharge planning. Visit my website: ⁠⁠www.drmoniquenugent.com⁠⁠ (https://drmoniquenugent.com/) Shop & Resources: The Shop: Get the Book and other Advocacy Resources (https://drmoniquenugent.com/shop/) Hospital Smart Packages: Choose the perfect Hospital Smart Package for yourself (https://mnugent.kartra.com/page/vzI1) Follow us on socials for daily advocacy tips: ⁠⁠Instagram/@the_happiest_hospitalist⁠⁠ (https://www.instagram.com/the_happiest_hospitalist/) ⁠⁠Facebook/DrMoniqueNugent⁠⁠ (https://www.facebook.com/drmoniquenugent/) ⁠⁠LinkedIn/DrMoniqueNugentMDMPH⁠⁠ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/moniquenugent-mdmph/) ⁠⁠YouTube/@DrMoniqueNugent⁠⁠ (https://www.youtube.com/@Dr.MoniqueS.Nugent) ⁠⁠TikTok/@drmoniquenugent⁠ (https://www.tiktok.com/@drmoniquenugent) Support the Show If you found this episode helpful, please subscribe and leave a 5-star review. Your support helps us reach more people who need a map through the hospital maze. Prescription for Admission is a resource to help you navigate healthcare with confidence. Remember, you are your own best advocate.

Who has been a guest on Prescription for Admission

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Emily Gorman
• Dr Joe Sherman
• Jenn Robb
• Dr Evan Nadler
• Dr John Lees

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.6 / 5

10 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 37 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

62

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32

Contact Prescription for Admission

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Prescription for Admission