When I was on my gerontology placement (inpatient setting), I found that they had a very quick turnover rate (around 5 days for the majority of the cases). The patients were in and out in less than a week !! During the patient’s stay on the ward, I had to assess the patient, treat the patient as appropriate, and prepare their discharge. At first it was quite a handful as I found that it was quite difficult to assess the patient in one go as they fatigue easily or their cognitive state limits their ability to be assessed. So by the time I get around to treating them properly they will be out to another ward. This placement gave me the opportunity to learn to modify assessments to assess the most appropriate and manage my time effectively. I also had lots of chances to do handovers ! In addition to that, I found that in an inpatient gerontology setting, most of the patients were confused or deconditioned which limits the treatment choices. Sometimes, the only treatment I do with them is ambulation (for a very short distance) because that is all they can manage and it was very difficult to convince them to do more.
As the placement progressed, I learnt that some patients had better compliance at a specific time of the day (am Vs pm), or they had a better mood when their family was around so I try to plan my day around that so I can get the most effective treatment out of the patient.
1 comment:
With the issue of limited treatment choices, I find it very hard to only do just the very basic of treatment techniques (eg: only amb). I always think that it is important that the patient get the optimal treatment at every session. But this is not always the case, like with your gero patients. I suppose even the shortest of treatment sessions beats none at all!
Lastly, the suggestions about how to have a more effective treatment session are great! I will keep that in mind if I do encounter a non-complaint patient in future.
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