Is There an 'S' on my Chest?
I see patients that often require two people to assist with transfers or the nursing staff uses mechanical devices to get these people up in a chair. The problem is that I don't always have a second person to assist me when I get someone up in a chair and the nursing staff is busy.
So what do I do? I pivot the patient using techniques that I learned from the years I have been doing this. Is it safe? Always. I would never intentionally jeopardize a patients safety.
If I can do it using transfer techniques that will get a patient up and moving faster then I would expect the same from others that see the patient for therapy. This is the problem. Not everyone can do a pivot transfer safely.
Am I given these patients to see because I am able to effectively get them up and moving and I don't need a nurse to assist me or devices to get a patient up? Are my techniques better than the PT's with transfers, or is it that I am stronger?
I recognize that some therapists and assistants are lazy and do not want to put in the full effort to get people up and moving. They would rather see a patient in bed for supine leg exercises or after nursing has transferred them (via Hoyer lift) they will have a patient do sitting LE exercises.
It is easier for me to take on those patients because I know they will get transferred to and from a plinth and if all goes well they will stand using a FWW within a week. I would hope most PT's and PTA's would not "cheat" a patient out of therapy by doing simple treatments an aide can do. I figure if I can transfer a 300+ pound person from supine to sit at the edge of bed and then pivot that person into a wheelchair every other therapist should be able to do that as well.
Is this a superhero complex? No I just want the patient to succeed and if one person is not capable of doing it then step aside and let another take the place.