We had the opportunity to return to the same Whetstone Rehabilitation Center, however this time we shadowed with one of the Aides rather than a Physical Therapist. We followed on of the Aides in his daily tasks.
Daily Tasks:
The Aides at Whetstone assist the patients in most of all of their daily activities. This includes moving the patients, the patients bathing and nutrition needs, assisting in the physical rehabilitation of the patients, and patients daily requests. During most of our time there, the Aide made laps around the facility continuously checking on patients and attending to their needs. It was apparent that the largest part of their job was transporting and moving the patients. During this Shadowing experience we observed many of the problems the Aides face on a daily basis.
Most Prevalent Problems faced by these Aides in their every day tasks
The most prevalent problem faced by the Aides happens while transporting or assisting patients is mobility. Due to the frequency and need for this many of the Aides have received multiple injuries. While we were shadowing, we observed how unorganized the transportation procedures can be. Few precautions were taken due to interest of time. While the Aides would shift patients’ positions in bed, they would accidentally knock stuff off tables and chairs causing obstacles on the floor making the environment and process even more hazardous. Some patients who are too heavy and incapable of lifting themselves required a Hoyer lift with a full body sling to lift them and set them in the bed or wheelchair. We observed one such patient start to undergo the process, but the patient complained the device was painful and insisted on moving to the bed using the walker method. This method included the patient using a walker to get up from the wheelchair and then pivot to the bed.
We noticed that the Aides were not assigned to one patient individually but would help all patients and other Aides with a wide variety duties. One problem the Aide said he experienced frequently was motivation. Some of the patients admit into the rehabilitation center expecting to stay and are unmotivated to fix the problem they came in with so they can return home. While we watched some of the physical therapy processes, we noticed several of the problems we saw during our first visit to Whetstone. We saw the same problem involving physical therapists having to drag a wheelchair behind the patients while holding their gait belts when they were on a walk. This process is extremely tedious on the PT, and we watched several complications happen during the process. On one such occasion, a patient was hooked up to an oxygen tank on a wheelchair that a PT was dragging behind. The patient first exited a doorway while using a walker with the PT following behind holding the patient’s gait belt. As the PT was exiting the doorway, the wheelchair he was dragging clipped the side of the doorway, stopping the wheelchair and yanking the oxygen lines connected to the patient’s nose, causing the patient a great deal of pain.
Constraints Faced by Aides
- Most patients were very old and can not pick up on new things quickly / Learning curve
- Many patients are unmotivated to do PT for rehabilitation and expect to just stay at nursing home.
- Poor mobility of patients
- Life support is important and most of the time is attached to the back of to the wheel chair.