I am currently on my gerontology placement, which for the most has been enjoyable. I am finding it difficult however to motivate patients to exercise. The common excuses are “I’m too tired, after lunch, I’ve just had a shower, I’m waiting for a cup of tea” etc etc. As most of the patients have some form of dementia it is difficult to reason with them rationally on the benefits of exercise etc. Initially I tried to explain why I need them to do exercise and physio, but this was unsuccessful as patients would look at me confused and simply tell me to “go to hell, bugger off or they’ve had enough”.
I found this to be quite disheartening, seeing as I was only doing it for their benefit and not for my own amusement. I’ve now learned I need to speak to them with some form of understanding of they wants and try to meet these. Such as bringing them a cup of tea after physio if they are about to miss the tea trolley due to physio. I have found this to be rather more successful but I still get a few patients who simply try to fit me into their routine rather than the other way around.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Cob, your doing your best! It is difficult to work with pt with dementia, I had one on my gero prac she just simply won't get out of bed when I go to her, I found that she was in a better mood and will comply with everything when the family is around or if the family has just visited. So I think picking how pt behave around certain situations will help ALOT especially with dementia population
Post a Comment