Dr. Kathleen Weissberg, Select Rehab
Maintaining or improving a nursing home resident’s daily living is of great importance to quality of life. It is also one of the quality measures that the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid use for the Five-Star Quality Rating system and report on Nursing Home Compare. Additionally, there are several state survey federal tags relating to Activities of Daily Living (ADL), which are aimed at ensuring that a nursing resident’s abilities in activities of daily living do not diminish unless circumstances of the individual’s clinical condition demonstrate that a decline was unavoidable. The theme of ADL ability is of high importance not only to CMS, but also to our residents.
As a caregiver, it is important to encourage independence in seniors and to provide the opportunity for them to maintain a better quality of life for themselves. Because of the many demands on our time in our daily roles in health care, it is easy to get into the habit of doing things “for” individuals rather than “with” them. Let’s face it — it can be more efficient to do everything yourself. But is that helping elders to maintain function, improve quality of life, stay healthier and live independently longer.
The true art of caregiving for the elderly extends beyond task-oriented responsibilities and includes engaging in activities that help maintain a healthy spirit and body.
In this session, you will learn about ways in which you can assist an individual with everyday activities of daily living while supporting independence and helping him/her keep a sense of self-respect. Participants in this session will be introduced to the Critical Element Pathways for Activities of Daily Living and Rehab/Restorative Care. This session is designed to provide an overview of person-centered ADL strategies and techniques caregivers can implement to facilitate independence. Looking at each individual’s deficits and customizing the ADL routine, assistance, cueing, compensatory strategies and adaptations needed are important for each resident to maximize independence. Participants will be presented with common adaptive devices and compensatory approaches used for self-care activities including techniques to facilitate performance with cognitively impaired individuals and those with dementia. Participants will be offered a synopsis of the philosophy and goals of a Restorative Nursing Program for Activities of Daily Living. While many sites employ dedicated Restorative Aides, it is imperative that all caregiving staff are trained in rehab/restorative techniques to enable highest practicable well-being. Person-centered care directed at self-performance of ADL affords the resident the opportunity to stay connected in the environment, give a sense of purpose and promote higher self-esteem. Finally, because Restorative Nursing and Therapy services work so closely together, triggers that might indicate a referral to therapy services for each of the programs will be reviewed.
Session Objectives
At the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Explain the role of the Rehab/Restorative Nursing Assistant in facilitating independence in activities of daily living
- Identify common adaptive devices and techniques used for self-care activities
- Describe evidence-based task-centered ADL approaches for individuals with cognitive decline (i.e., dementia)
- State the correlation and purpose of the ADL and Restorative Critical Element Pathways for nursing care
- List resident characteristics that might trigger a referral to skilled OT, PT, or SLP therapy services
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