Caring for clients with rehabilitation needs

As a nursing assistant, you will care for clients that have some form of physical or mental condition that may interfere with their everyday activities. For example, they may have a stroke or other injuries to the brain or spinal cord, heart attack, amputation, or substance abuse.

These individuals require rehabilitation, which is a process that helps a client return to their highest possible level of physical, psychological, emotional, and economic function.

Together, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, nursing teams, doctors, psychologists, social workers, dieticians, and clients and their families form the rehabilitation team.

Rehabilitation care is provided by physical, occupational, and speech therapists, and you should not confuse rehabilitation with restorative care, which is provided by the nursing team.

Restorative care includes actions and procedures that support rehabilitation care, and the goal is to maintain the skills learned in rehabilitation.

Now, there are three main phases of the rehabilitation process, and they include the acute, subacute, and chronic phase.

The acute phase refers to the first 24 hours after an injury or surgery and includes techniques and procedures that keep the person alive, such as life-supporting measures, constant monitoring, and prevention of early complications. The next phase is the subacute phase, which typically lasts 7 days.

The goal of this phase is the stabilization of the client’s condition and prevention of immobility complications, such as blood clots, which are clumps of blood that can stop blood flowing through a blood vessel; pneumonia, which is an inflammation of the lungs; pressure ulcers, which are caused by breakdown of the skin and the underlying tissue when resting in the same position for too long; and contractures: a condition where muscles and tendons become permanently shortened and rigid.

Other aspects of this phase include proper nutrition, proper positioning, personal hygiene, skincare, range-of-motion exercises, and urinary and bowel care.

The last phase is the chronic phase of rehabilitation. The chronic phase of rehabilitation covers procedures and techniques that are used to restore or maintain the client’s ability to perform everyday activities, to move independently, and to communicate with others.

This phase is also important for restoring or maintaining the client’s mental health and cognitive skills and educating the client and their family about the condition.

Finally, in the chronic phase of rehabilitation, a person restores old skills or gains new skills to earn money and become financially independent.

Now, there are three main types of rehabilitation, and they include physical rehabilitation, emotional rehabilitation, and vocational rehabilitation.

First, let’s start with physical rehabilitation, which helps clients overcome physical disabilities. Physical rehabilitation can be subdivided into physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.

Now, let’s focus on physical therapy, which is provided by physical therapists. Physical therapists primarily focus on the large muscles of the client’s body and gross motor skills.

They help clients regain or maintain balance, coordination, endurance, strength, posture, and flexibility. Physical therapy can be combined with the use of supportive devices, like braces or splints, which help support and rest a weak joint or limb in the ideal position; prosthetic devices, which are devices that replace a missing part of the body; and assistive devices, like canes and walkers, which promote the client’s independence and make everyday activities easier.

On the other hand, occupational therapy is provided by occupational therapists. Occupational therapists focus on small muscle groups; fine motor skills; and help clients become more independent in everyday activities, such as personal hygiene, bathing, dressing, eating, and drinking.

Moreover, an occupational therapist teaches a client to use assistive or adaptive devices, such as swivel spoons or utensils with built-up handles.

Finally, speech therapy is provided by speech therapists. These healthcare professionals help the client restore speech, but they also help them regain or maintain the ability to chew and swallow. This type of physical rehabilitation is common in individuals with brain conditions, such as a stroke.

Switching gears and moving on to emotional rehabilitation. During the rehabilitation process, your clients will experience a wide array of emotions: from feeling sad, lonely, and unmotivated to feeling frustrated and angry.

Have patience, develop a good relationship with your clients, understand their emotions, help them, and provide emotional support each day.

Finally, we have vocational rehabilitation. “Vocation” means job or occupation, so vocational rehabilitation helps people regain the skills for their previous job or learn new skills to get another type of job.