Hello Anthony,
what you say may be very true but we have more of a problem brewing here
with the nurses' "no lift" policy causing a decrease in the quality of life
or reduction in progress in rehabilitation, particularly in aged care and
neurology, but also in acute care.
Anyone else experiencing this? and how are you dealing with this?
Cheers,
Anna.
Anna Lee
Principal,
Work Ready - Industrial Athlete Centre
Physiotherapist and Occupational Health Consultant
Write to me at [log in to unmask]
Visit me at www.workready.com.au
Snail mail:
Suite 3, 82 Enmore Road,
Newtown NSW 2042
Australia
Tel: (02) 9519 7436
Mob: 0412 33 43 98
Fax: (02) 9519 7439
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, 2 March 2000 0:20
Subject: large catheter bags
> I am a physiotherapist working on an acute
> orthopaedic ward and one of the things that I feel
> that delays the catheterised patients' recovery of
> independent mobility [with an appropriate walking
> aid] is a large catheter bag . These patients are
> got out of bed by the nursing staff and sat in
> their chair, which is where they remain until it is
> time to go back to bed, unless I or one of my
> colleagues gets them up for a walk, do exercises,
> etc. It is not always because they are unable to
> walk, they just don't. However, if they are fitted
> with a leg bag or a valve then their recovery of
> mobility does not seem to be so slow. This is
> anecdotal because I have not had the time or
> opportunity to actually measure their recovery
> time or distance walked. However, as soon as these
> patients get to our offsite orthopaedic rehab unit
> the large bag is replaced by a leg bag or valve
> almost instantly ! I would be interested to know if
> anyone else has this problem, and if they did, was
> it resolved. If so, how ? Personally I think it
> happens because the patients do not present with a
> toilet need to the nursing staff and on a busy
> orthopaedic ward one less patient to walk lightens
> the load. I have tried encouraging the use of leg
> bags at least [the ward manager baulked at the cost
> of valves, although it costs much more for every
> day these patients stay in hospital longer than
> necessary] by asking both the nursing staff and the
> patients for this to be done. The leg bag may be
> there one day but the large bag [with its wonky
> carrier] is there the next, largely because the leg
> bag is replaced by a large bag at night - is this
> so that they do not have to walk at night ?
>
> Your thoughts would be much appreciated
>
> Anthony Morgan
>
>
>
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