Rehabilitation
Rehabilitation is generally designed to facilitate recovery from illness, injury or disease to a normal level of functioning. Usually this involves medical and physical treatment and rehabilitation, however, a person’s recovery has a myriad of other aspects for holistic rehabilitation. In the case of Hannah, she has both her physical restrictions to overcome as well as social adjustment to her new situation and her rehabilitation will also involve her family’s adjustment to changes to her lifestyle. In rehabilitation, the nurse plays an important role in advocating for a client and working with the family and the multidisciplinary team to best meet Hannah’s needs.
Rehabilitation has grown into a holistic concept that focuses on the whole person, based on an awareness of the functional independence of psychological, physical, social and vocational factors (Short, 1981, p145). There are many ways to define rehabilitation, including as “a process aiming to restore personal autonomy in those aspects of daily living considered most relevant by patients or service users, and their family carers” (Sinclair and Dickinson, 1998) Hannah’s psychological needs include holding onto independence, especially as she is of an age where independence is of particular importance and adjusting to her situation. Her physical needs include adjusting to paraplegia and overcoming her current learning and communication impairments. Social needs include adjusting to her situation, coping with people’s reactions to the change and adapting to be able to continue to socialise with her friends and family and vocational needs involve working towards a return to work or study.
In a rehabilitation unit, Hannah is constantly surrounded by medical staff to assist her in her rehabilitation and provide constant support and encouragement whereas in the community, Hannah needs her social network to provide a level of support that enables her to continue he rehabilitation outside the unit.
Within
Rehabilitation has grown into a holistic concept that focuses on the whole person, based on an awareness of the functional independence of psychological, physical, social and vocational factors (Short, 1981, p145). There are many ways to define rehabilitation, including as “a process aiming to restore personal autonomy in those aspects of daily living considered most relevant by patients or service users, and their family carers” (Sinclair and Dickinson, 1998) Hannah’s psychological needs include holding onto independence, especially as she is of an age where independence is of particular importance and adjusting to her situation. Her physical needs include adjusting to paraplegia and overcoming her current learning and communication impairments. Social needs include adjusting to her situation, coping with people’s reactions to the change and adapting to be able to continue to socialise with her friends and family and vocational needs involve working towards a return to work or study.
In a rehabilitation unit, Hannah is constantly surrounded by medical staff to assist her in her rehabilitation and provide constant support and encouragement whereas in the community, Hannah needs her social network to provide a level of support that enables her to continue he rehabilitation outside the unit.
Within