My first time working with a Parkinson’s patient I was unprepared for what I was going to encounter, I was unaware of the emotions and feelings that I was going to experience when dealing with a patient with Stage 4 Parkinson’s. I was unaware of how much the disease affects a person in their activities of daily living and how they are able to express themselves. My patient was unable to speak more than a few words at a time and I was unable to show any facial expressions. This worried me in the beginning and I felt quite uneasy about dealing with the situation because I was unsure of how we were going to communicate effectively enough so that I was able to get all the information that I need and so that in turn he would also be able to understand
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For this reason I learnt to use the rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scale and the rate of perceived dyspnoea (RPD) scale in a more effective way. I become acknowledgeable in explaining well how the RPE & RPD scale worked and then getting the patient to point out what number he was feeling after and during the exercises that he performed. I was trying to achieve a way of communicating that was effective and also easy to determine with unnecessary struggle and effort needed. I made the assumption of him being less frustrated when expressing how he was feeling this way because he did not sigh as much when trying to speak. As facial expressions can not be shown because of muscle rigidity from the progression of Parkinson’s and lack of ability to speak I could not be certain that frustration was what he was experiencing at the time, but signs like the deep sighing lead me to that assumption. I was worried and troubled that he may have been feeling this way so I felt more pressured to come up with ideas that make it easy for him to portray what he is feeling. I learnt throughout the session that other objectives needed to be recorded more frequently to make sure the patient was safe from any contraindications of exercising through recording heart rate, and oxygen saturation after strenuous
For this reason I learnt to use the rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scale and the rate of perceived dyspnoea (RPD) scale in a more effective way. I become acknowledgeable in explaining well how the RPE & RPD scale worked and then getting the patient to point out what number he was feeling after and during the exercises that he performed. I was trying to achieve a way of communicating that was effective and also easy to determine with unnecessary struggle and effort needed. I made the assumption of him being less frustrated when expressing how he was feeling this way because he did not sigh as much when trying to speak. As facial expressions can not be shown because of muscle rigidity from the progression of Parkinson’s and lack of ability to speak I could not be certain that frustration was what he was experiencing at the time, but signs like the deep sighing lead me to that assumption. I was worried and troubled that he may have been feeling this way so I felt more pressured to come up with ideas that make it easy for him to portray what he is feeling. I learnt throughout the session that other objectives needed to be recorded more frequently to make sure the patient was safe from any contraindications of exercising through recording heart rate, and oxygen saturation after strenuous