Dynamic, Caring Professionals at Great River Health
Southeast Regional Medical Center uses a team approach to help patients
in the Inpatient Rehabilitation Program regain physical, communicative,
and social abilities to become as independent as possible. Because the
Rehabilitation Unit is in the hospital, team members come from throughout
its large staff of experienced healthcare professionals. Teams are developed
based on patient's specific needs and remain with patients throughout
their stays.
Patients and their families are the most important members of the rehabilitation
team. The team meets weekly to discuss progress and set new goals. Therapists
work together to ensure that skills learned in one type of therapy continue
in other therapies. The medical director, case manager, and nurse visit
patients together Monday through Friday to monitor patient goal progress
and medical needs, and to answer questions.
Team members and their roles:
Case manager/social worker - This professional helps patients, and their families adjust to and cope
with new disabilities, whether short-term or permanent. The case manager/social
worker also coordinates financial assistance, including insurance, disability
payments, and state and federal funding; family education; and discharge
planning, including the information and counseling needed to make informed
decisions about further care.
Chaplain - Chaplains help patients and their families use their spiritual resources
when adjusting to life-changing disabilities. A chaplain answers questions
and, if desired, helps establish advance directives such as a living will
and durable power of attorney.
Dietitian - Clinical dietitians oversee patients' nutrition. They teach patients
and families about specialized diets and work with other team members
to ensure meals are nutritious and appropriate for patients' levels of
ability to prepare and eat.
Family - The family is the patient's major support system. The rehabilitation
team will ask family members to participate in care and therapies to help
patients achieve maximum results.
Medical director - The medical director oversees patients' recovery and prescribes therapies.
The medical director may ask physicians in other specialty areas to become
part of the rehabilitation team.
Nursing staff - Nurses in the Rehabilitation Unit help patients achieve as much independence
and endurance as possible. Besides providing medical care, they spend
time teaching patients self-care skills such as eating, dressing, and
toileting.
Occupational therapist - Occupational therapists evaluate patients' perceptions, sensations,
motor function, and cognition. Then they develop treatment programs in
self-care, dressing, eating, homemaking, and muscle strengthening and
coordination. They also evaluate the need for special devices to help
patients adapt to living at home.
Patient - The patient must provide more initiative, hard work, and determination
than anyone else on the team. Patients have three hours of therapy daily.
They are encouraged to do as much for themselves as possible during and
after rehabilitation.
Physical therapist - A specialist in how the body moves, a physical therapist helps patients
improve coordination, muscle tone, and endurance to increase mobility
from sitting and reaching to walking. A physical therapist determines
whether braces or prostheses are necessary.
Psychologists - Psychologists are professionals who specialize in cognitive and psychological
evaluations. They counsel patients and family members and help them adjust
to changes that occur when a person has a disability. Psychologists also
advise other team members on treating patients who have difficulty with
emotional or cognitive behavior.
Speech/language pathologist - Speech/language pathologists help patients regain speaking, understanding,
reading, and writing skills that may have been lost because of stroke,
surgery, or injury. Speech/language pathologists also evaluate swallowing
disorders and design treatment programs to promote the return to a normal diet.
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