Currently on my gerontology placement I am treating a 77 year old lady with parkinsons, she was admitted to the rehab ward I am working on from home as she lives with her husband and he was no longer able to cope with her reduced mobility. On her mobility chart above her bed it stated she was supervision for ambulation and 1x assist for bed mobility. While treating her she seemed to improve every day and I thought her ambulation and bed mobility were safe and independent. However I had also seen her walking around the ward by her self very confused with a festinating gate which did not appear safe. Initially after her improvements in the treatment sessions I was thinking about changing her mobility chart to independent for bed mobility and ambulation but I was slightly unsure if the improvements would carry over to when I was not there so I decided to wait a day or two before changing it. After I saw how confused and unsafe she was ambulating independently I realized that even though she was performing very well during treatment her mental state and possibly her medications were affecting her mobility and it would not be appropriate to change her mobility status. I now know that just because a patient is performing well during their treatment sessions it doesn’t mean it will carry over to when they are by themselves.
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2 comments:
It was really wise of you to wait for a day or two before updating the mobility chart. From your experience, I was reminded that a patient's mental state is definitely one of the essential considerations when deciding on their level of independence/mobility.
Good call gang. I think it is appropriate to make clinical judgements about the patients congintive state before making them independent.
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