Health South is an inpatient rehabilitation clinic, which typically houses close to a 100 patients. The patients range from all ages, but most are geriatrics. The usual patient stay is 10-14 days, however some stay longer or shorter depending on their progress. At Health South there are physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapist, nurses and medical doctors. They all work together to provide the care that is needed for the patients. I will be spending most my time observing physical therapy, but I plan on observing all disciplines to expand my understanding of what patients are going through. In this facility there are five rehabilitation gyms, and each specializes in different rehabilitation. My supervisor is Tim McCutcheon.
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Depending on the extent of the patients impairments, what is possible during therapy changes a lot. We saw patients that were walking on their own and need little assistance, all the way to patients with severe dementia that were completely dependent on all activities including eating. Dr. McCutcheon and Cameron found ways with each patient to improve their impairment, at an intensity that is challenging but yet beneficial. Until this week I had only seen a couple patients with obvious dementia. This week alone I worked with four patients with varying degrees of dementia. I also did some research at home. I learned, Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia and mostly affect memory but can affect other important mental functions. I also learned that dementia can affect much more than just memory, it can affect all functions of the brain. I also spoke to Dr. McCutcheon and researched the Trendelenburg position. This position is the standard for patients that are so hypotensive that they are about to faint or already have. The idea is that this position increases venous return, therefor increasing stroke volume. I found a meta-analysis (cited below) that states the Trendelenburg position does not yield more venous return or increase stroke volume than being in a supine position. I showed Dr. McCutcheon the meta-analysis and we had a great discussion on
Depending on the extent of the patients impairments, what is possible during therapy changes a lot. We saw patients that were walking on their own and need little assistance, all the way to patients with severe dementia that were completely dependent on all activities including eating. Dr. McCutcheon and Cameron found ways with each patient to improve their impairment, at an intensity that is challenging but yet beneficial. Until this week I had only seen a couple patients with obvious dementia. This week alone I worked with four patients with varying degrees of dementia. I also did some research at home. I learned, Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia and mostly affect memory but can affect other important mental functions. I also learned that dementia can affect much more than just memory, it can affect all functions of the brain. I also spoke to Dr. McCutcheon and researched the Trendelenburg position. This position is the standard for patients that are so hypotensive that they are about to faint or already have. The idea is that this position increases venous return, therefor increasing stroke volume. I found a meta-analysis (cited below) that states the Trendelenburg position does not yield more venous return or increase stroke volume than being in a supine position. I showed Dr. McCutcheon the meta-analysis and we had a great discussion on