Mr. Milton’s Foothold Story: The Challenge of Refusing Skilled Nursing Care
Their Story: Meet Mr. Milton, suddenly the primary caregiver for his wife who discharged home from the hospital after a brief stay due to a severe urinary tract infection. She was hospitalized for three days, then was ready for discharge. She was still very weak so it was recommended that she go into a skilled nursing facility for intense occupational and physical therapy.
The problem: Wife refused to go to the skilled nursing facility.
Returning home proved to be very challenging for Mr. Milton. His wife needed help with getting out of bed, help with dressing and bathing and she was having episodes of incontinence. Mr. Milton was feeling very overwhelmed and was beginning to have pain in his hip. Mr. Milton reached out to their primary care physician and I received a referral to assess and provide training.
Assessment of Mr. Milton’s and his wife’s functional status was done. The physical limitations and strengths of each were determined. Mr. Milton and his wife indicated several goals that they wanted to achieve. They indicated which tasks were difficult to do and their areas of concern.
The care plan was developed:
Determined a support system: Mr. Milton and wife opted not to seek help from a daughter who lived nearby. They currently had a housekeeper who came twice a week to do cooking and cleaning. They were able to increase the hours and duties of their housekeeper to include helping to care for wife.
Home/environment modifications were recommended.
Proper safety equipment recommendations and training was done.
Education on proper incontinence management.
Training to Husband, Wife and housekeeper on how to safely perform activities of daily living (ADLs) — dressing, toileting, grooming, bathing, etc.
Establishment of exercise program for wife to regain strength.
Conclusion:
Wife regretted not going to the skilled nursing facility, citing fear of being mistreated in the facility and concerns about her husband as the reasons she mistakenly chose not to go.
The Miltons were receptive to all recommendations and made many changes in the home setup and they also obtained the recommended safety equipment. Because the housekeeper was now serving as a hired caregiver, many of the strenuous duties of caring for wife were now being done by the caregiver.
Wife was getting stronger, and gaining confidence in her skills, becoming more independent. The Miltons will continue utilizing the caregiver for as long as needed.
Consuela Marshall, Occupational Therapist
Today’s blog is inspired by an actual client case. To hear Mr. Milton's, listen to the Caregiver’s Finding A Foothold Podcast, Episode 15: An Opened Door into the Cares of Mr. Milton.
The podcast is available on the FindingAFoothold.com website and on all major podcast streaming sites.
Call into the podcast’s call-in line to tell your caregiving challenge and receive a free response to your struggle on an upcoming podcast show. Call-in button and number are located on the website.
Visit the consult page of the website, find out how to schedule a free 15 minute consult to discuss your caregiving challenges.
Subscribe to the podcast. Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Instagram.