Hi all,
I’m currently finishing up my gerontology prac and have come across a few differing opinions in regards to walking aids. A lot of the gerontologic population coming into the outpatients department have recently had a fall or been ill in hospital, and have been issued a walking aid by the hospital. Some clients have even just been given a walking aid by a family member or friend. When discussing the benefits of certain WA’s for certain clients with my supervisor, I expressed my belief that what the client wants is very important, and so it is extremely important to ask them what walking aid they prefer and what their goal is. For example, are they happy using a WZF or do they want to get back to using no aid or a walking stick? My supervisor disagreed with me, saying that our job is to get the client back to the most functionally independent they can be, so if they are capable of walking independently or with a stick, we should be actively pushing for that. Reflecting back, I do agree with her, BUT I also think that if someone is happy using a frame, then we could better spend our time (and theirs) helping them be functionally independent WITH that frame, rather than spending our time (and theirs) retraining them to use a stick or nothing at all… especially if that is not one of their goals. I can definitely see my supervisors point of view, but was just wondering if anyone else had faced similar situations, and what other peoples opinions on this are. Cheers, Ezza
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My gerentology prac sounds like it was very similar to yours. I never really came across this problem because most of my patients didnt want the frame.. and preferred to be as independent as possible.
But I see your point, that there's no point in spending time getting a patient back to a certain mobility level if they are happy and safe woth a frame.
On the other hand though, a frame can be very unpractical in certain situations, whether it be in the bathroom, going up and down stairs on their own etc, so it makes sense to get a patient back to using a stick if they are able to. I found alot of Doctors were handing out WZF int he community too soon which meant that the patients become reliant on the frames when they perhaps dont need to.
I guess you have to get a balance, weigh up the patients needs and goals as well as what their actual mobility level and come up with the best option for the patient.
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