Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Advocating for rehab

A patient i had been working with was recently diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease (MND).
The patient had declined in mobility and therefore occupational performance since admission and from a medical perspective rehab was not appropriate.

HOWEVER - I thought different!
This patient was a 73 year old male who lives with his wife (who has started doing everything for the patient).
He has had some input from the Community Rehab team - and so the medical team thought it would be appropriate for the patient to go home with follow up. However he had declined since admission

Pre-admission he was walking and falling
Now he was only managing transfers - and it was deemed unlikely that he would gain much mroe ability to walk.

SO... As an advocate in MDT meeting i disucssed to the medical team and others that Inpatient rehab would be very beneficial to enable the patient to adjust to a change in occupational performance and learn to compensate for his reduced mobility. The PT supported me and the medical team (may not have understood) but at least trusted that we were making an appropriate recommendation.

SO...the patient was accepted for an inpatient rehab stay and i have set clear OT goals that the patient wants to achieve when he is in rehab.

Good outcome of advocacy and communication!

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