This summer could be called "Everything you always wanted to know about Geriatrics in 10 weeks." I’m really excited about this semester because I
believe older adults are living links to history. They are so interesting. If I wonder what people were thinking/feeling
in 1945 when they heard a particular story, I can just ask them. That’s great!
It’s like turning on the History channel and getting “movies on demand.” And there are no commercials!!!
I’m a little bit nervous about transfers because of the risk
of falling. I know that a broken hip can
be lethal to an older adult. Twenty-four
percent of people with a hip fracture will die within the first year. (See http://www.nof.org/
) That statistic will scare any OTAS.
I’m also nervous about writing a SOAP note in 30 minutes or
less. I worry that it won’t be “quality”
work. I like to seriously think about
and “craft” my assignments. But, you
don’t always get to choose your working parameters like your patient, or the
amount of time you spend with them, or the amount of time you spend writing up
your notes. So I’ll just have to do the
best I can. I have a good friend that resolutely
says “It is, what it is.” I may adopt
that motto for this summer.
I’m really looking forward to seeing OTs work in an
environment that is devoted entirely to geriatrics. I want to see what types of activities they
come up with for people with different diagnoses. I hope the OTs are creative and have a big
“bag of tricks.”
I’m looking forward to getting to know some of the clients
and watching their health improve. I
witnessed that at my last fieldwork, and it felt so good to see the clients get
better. It was almost like observing a
miracle.
We covered a lot of myths/truths this week – some that I’d
heard before and some brand new. The two
myths that piqued my interest were “Physical handicaps are the primary factors
limiting the activities of older adults” and “Pain is a natural part of the
aging process.” Both of these statements
are false. The biggest detriment to the activities to
older adults is stereotyping and ageism.
(See http://ageismhurts.org/what-is-ageism
for more information on ageism.) Also,
pain is not normal; it’s an
indication of a problem and needs to be looked into. I believe that we, as OTAs, can educate society
(both young and old) about these misconceptions and, hopefully, improve the
lives of older adults. However, I
believe we’re going to have talk about this loudly and often in order to dispel
the myths.
Lastly, until hearing Carmelita Karhoff’s presentation, I really
didn’t know what an ombudsman was. Now I
know a bit better – they make sure that a resident’s rights are respected. (See http://www.tjcog.dst.nc.us/aging/ombudsmen.shtml
) I now know that there is a law
governing the rights of residents in adult care homes, i.e., Nursing Home
Reform Law of 1987 or “Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987” (OBRA ’87.) See the AARP website http://www.aarp.org/home-garden/livable-communities/info-2001/the_1987_nursing_home_reform_act.html
for concise information about the law. The following is a quote from the website: The law was written to “ensure that residents
of nursing homes receive quality care that will result in their achieving or
maintaining their "highest practicable" physical, mental, and
psychosocial well-being.” Because of OBRA
’87 older adults no longer have to go to a nursing home to die. They can now go there to LIVE, and that’s a
change we can all celebrate.
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