Power Mobility and Safety Concerns
Power mobility allows individuals who are in long-term care in their everyday activities and leisure pursuits. The devices can also pose safety concerns, which must be addressed.
Rather than exclude residents with a specific diagnosis from the power mobility option that could be considered risk management prejudicial, most participants chose to take a teleological approach and let everyone trial a device.
Mobility
A power mobility device is a way for people who are unable to move around their community or home, and to participate in activities of daily living that they might not otherwise be able to participate in. These devices could be a danger not just for the person who uses them but also to others who are in their surroundings. Occupational therapists need to carefully examine each client's safety requirements to provide the most appropriate recommendations for powered mobility.
In an exploratory study carried out by OTs at three residential care facilities of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, qualitative interviews were conducted with residents to assess their power mobility use. The objective was to establish an environment that allowed for a client-centered power movement prescription. The results revealed four major themes: (1) power mobility meaning, (2) learning road rules, (3) red flags - safety concerns and (4) solutions.
Power mobility can improve the quality of life of people who have mobility limitations. This is due to the fact that it lets them participate in daily activities at home as well as in the community. Participation in self-care, productive and leisure occupations is crucial for physical and mental health of older adults, and for those who are suffering from progressive illnesses, power mobility offers the opportunity to keep participating in these important activities.
Participants found it unacceptable to remove a wheelchair from a resident's home in order to alter their life story and trajectory and stop them from engaging in the same things that they had prior to their illness advanced. This was especially the case for those in Facility 1, who had been capable of maintaining their chairs for short durations and were dependent on others to push them around the facility.
Another solution would be to slow down the speed at which some residents drive their chairs. However this could cause several issues, including privacy and the impact on the rest of the community. In the end, taking away the chair of a resident was deemed the most drastic and least desired solution to safety concerns.
Safety
Power mobility allows disabled people to move around more easily and take part in a wider range of activities and run around. However, with increased mobility comes a greater chance of accidents. These accidents could result in serious injuries for certain. It is essential to consider the security of your clients prior to recommending power mobility.
The first step in assessing safety is to determine whether your client is able to safely operate their power wheelchair or scooter. This may include an assessment of physical health by a physician, occupational therapist or mobility specialist, depending on the nature of your client's impairment and their current health. In some instances your client will require a lift for their vehicle to be able to load and unload the mobility device at their home, community or workplace.
Learning visit the next website of road safety is an additional aspect of safety. This involves sharing space with other pedestrians, wheelchair users and drivers of trucks, cars or buses. This topic was mentioned by the majority of participants in the study.
For some, this meant learning to drive their wheelchairs on sidewalks instead of driving through areas that were crowded or over curbs (unless specifically designed to do this). Others drove more slowly and looked out for pedestrians in a crowd.
The last and least preferred option, which was to remove a person's wheelchair, was viewed as a double punishment as it would mean losing mobility and preventing them from participating in the activities of the community and facilities. This was the view of most participants who had their chairs removed among them Diane and Harriet.
Other suggestions made by the participants included educating other residents as well as family members and staff on the safe operation of power mobility. This could include teaching the basics of driving (such as the correct side to walk on in the hallway) and encouraging residents to practice driving while outside and helping them understand how their behavior affects the mobility of other people.
Follow-Up
The capacity and willingness of a child to take part in the world can be profoundly affected by a power mobility device. There has been little research on the experience that children experience when they learn to make use of these devices. This study employs an approach that is pre-post to study the impact of 6 months of use using one of four early power mobility devices on the children in school with severe cerebral palsy (CP).
We conducted qualitative interviews with 15 parents and also occupational and physical therapists for children. Thematic analysis revealed three major themes. The first theme, 'Power to move explained how using a powered device affected more than just locomotor abilities. Learning to drive a power mobility device can be an emotional, transformative journey for participants.
The second theme, 'There's no such thing as a recipe book,' showed that the process of learning to use a power mobility device was a bespoke process that unfolded over time in a cycle. Therapists were asked to decide what was appropriate in light of the child's capabilities and requirements. During the training phase, and following, therapists were required to be patient with children and parents. Therapists and parents alike spoke of the need to help families celebrate their accomplishments and solve problems associated with the training process.
The third theme, "Shared space", explored how the use the power device can affect other people's interactions and lives. The majority of participants in this study believed that people should always show consideration for other people when using their mobility device. This is particularly true when driving in public spaces. Participants also shared that they've seen instances in which property belonging to someone else was damaged due to the use of a power mobility device or an individual had been injured by a motorist who didn't yield the right of way.
Overall, the findings of this study suggest that short-term power mobility and socialization training appears feasible for preschoolers with CP in certain classroom environments. Future research should continue to investigate the effects of training and results of this type of intervention with young children with CP. This could lead to more standard training protocols for children suffering from CP.