Meaning & use
convalescent care
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountablemedical
Nursing and support given to someone who is recovering from illness, surgery or injury and is not yet strong enough to live independently.
Grammar: Uncountable: she needs convalescent care, not a convalescent care.
Patterns
- convalescent care for someone
- receive convalescent care
After her hip operation, she spent a month in convalescent care.
Many insurance plans cover convalescent care for a limited number of weeks.
The clinic offers convalescent care for patients who live alone.
Common combinations
- receive convalescent care
- He received convalescent care in a quiet seaside home.
- convalescent care facility
- The convalescent care facility has a physiotherapy room.
- need convalescent care
- Patients who need convalescent care are often discharged to a nursing home.
- short-term convalescent care
- Short-term convalescent care helps people regain strength.
- provide convalescent care
- Some hospitals provide convalescent care on the same site.
Synonyms and how they differ
- recuperative care
- It is nearly the same but sounds more clinical and is common in healthcare writing.
- rehabilitation
- It involves active therapy to regain skills, whereas convalescent care is mostly rest and nursing.
- aftercare
- It covers any support after treatment and is wider than care during recovery in a home.
- nursing care
- It describes the type of help and does not imply recovery as convalescent care does.
Opposites
Word family
- convalesce verb
- to regain health slowly
- convalescence noun
- the period of recovery after illness
- convalescent adjective
- recovering from illness
- convalescent noun
- a person who is recovering
Commonly confused: convalescent care or acute care?
convalescent care vs acute care
Acute care treats sudden, serious illness. Convalescent care helps during the slower recovery that follows.
Practice
After a long hospital stay, Maria moved to a home that offers ____ until she can walk unaided.
Choose one answer.
Convalescent care supports recovery after treatment. Acute and intensive care are for the serious phase of illness, which is already over here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “convalescent care”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.