Working With The Elderly

So I will admit, I came into this FW with a kind of a negative attitude. Elderly people make me nervous. This has a lot to do with the fact that I don't really know very many elderly people and don't have any experience at all with people in "nursing homes." My main concern is them getting hurt, mainly falling. No, not everyone is a falls risk but hey, I fall sometimes and I am not a falls risk. I was feeling better until I went on the CDC website (http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Falls/adultfalls.html) Here are some falls stats. just in case anyone else needs more stress in their life:

• One out of three adults age 65 and older falls each year.
• Among those age 65 and older, falls are the leading cause of injury death.
• The death rates from falls among older men and women have risen sharply over the past decade.

See where I'm coming from? Good grief! I'm taking everything week by week. Today my pt. was having pain in her hand. So the OTA working with her brought out the gait belt to help her stand so that she didn't have to push up on her w/c with her affected hand. Here is my thought, "oh please let me be able to just keep her here and sitting so that I don't have to use the gait belt!" This conversation with my instructor lead to me getting a wedgie. She gave me a wedgie to prove that as long as I'm right there holding on, they aren't going anywhere which made me feel a little better (the thought, not the wedgie) . Just to clarify, this was a teaching moment :-D

I have attached a mini-test on preventing falls. This test was created for nursing assistants but it definitely applies to us as well and anyone else working with patients. This "class" emphasizes the need for strong leg muscles. This was the issue with my pt. and why she was working on standing tolerance. Each week I start to feel a little bit more comfortable. A lot of this has to do with watching my peers. So far no one has gotten hurt, that's got to stand for something, right?

On a side note I did have fun today. Due to my pt.'s pain and the fact that she used thera putty caused me to change gears for my treatment session. We were going to do clay and nail care, instead I gave her a manicure. The goal was for her to do it herself but she was being D/Ced from OT today since she met all of her goals. She soaked and I had her scrub them but then I did the filing and the painting. I did allow her to attempt each process but it is much more fun to let someone else do it. Everyone deserves a treat every now and then, right? She has worked hard over these past 3 weeks! She couldn't even remember the last time that she had someone do her nails. Doing her nails made me feel good b/c I knew that having her nails done made her feel good. I kind of wish I could just do little old lady's nails but that I would mean that I chose the wrong career path. Maybe I'll do that for the party.

With all said and done, I'm having a pretty good time. It is definitely a great experience. Even though it is super scary to treat "real people" it is also more, well, real. My own personal goal for this FW is to just be comfortable in my own abilities. Hopefully each week will just get better and better!