Live well: Rehab. nursing

[cougarnurse]

This is a decent article: Live Well: Rehabilitative nursing » Evansville Courier & Press

Rehabilitative nursing is more than administering medicines, charting a patient's progress and changing bandages on wounds. It involves a holistic approach to nursing that includes working with a team of medical professionals to coordinate all patient care and provide education and support to the patient, family and friends.

"The patients have been acute in a hospital situation but they have certain needs that have not yet been met," said Janet Reed, a registered nurse specializing in rehabilitative care at HealthSouth Deaconess Rehabilitation Hospital. "We can try to meet those needs so they can get back out into the public and function with their family, friends and work again."

In an acute-care setting, nurses don't have the time to focus on what the patient's needs are after they leave the hospital, said registered nurse Michelle Peaches. "They need to focus on getting (a patient) well. We focus on getting patients doing what they were doing before they were sick."

Rehabilitative nurses at HealthSouth spend spend eight to 12 hours a day with patients seven days a week getting to know them, assessing their disabilities and weaknesses and providing patient education on everything from coping with a long-term disability to avoiding future risks.

"We get a (daily) report so that we know everything that has happened since we last saw the patient," said registered nurse Tammy Carroll. "It's important to know if they are oriented. If I come back to the room, do they remember my name? Can they put on their shirt, or do I need to help them? So we have to spend a lot of time with them to know how we need to help them."

Watch the latest Live Well video to see Reed, Peaches and Carroll working with patients at HealthSouth and hear them talk about the challenges and rewards of nursing at a rehabilitation setting