Successful Rehab for Today’s Older Adults: Functional Assessment and Intervention for the Geriatric Client – Susan Blair

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Aging successfully is one of the most important goals for today’s older adults. For rehabilitation therapists, this can be rewarding and challenging with endless functional possibilities but limited clinical resources. This creative course recording presents fresh, exciting information to help older adults achieve their functional goals. Aging is not a prerequisite for becoming frail and chronic health conditions do not have to limit an older person’s ability to age in place successfully.

Can you relate…An elderly client of mine had old worn rugs in her sunroom, which I identified as a significant fall risk. I placed the old rugs in her garage, so her family could dispose of them properly. I used double sided rug tape to secure the new, safer rugs securely to the floor. A week later, her son telephoned me to let me know that his mother had retrieved the old rugs and placed them on top of her new ones to protect the new rugs from becoming dirty!

Older adults value possessions, their home, and their independence. Understanding and respecting choice and developing client-centered goals are critical skill for therapists working in any clinical setting. Join Susan Blair, one of only two occupational therapists who is dually credited by the AOTA Board in physical rehabilitation and in gerontology, as she presents her unique approach to creating an optimal therapeutic environment with today’s geriatric clients.

1. Contrast utilization of rehabilitation services for older people.
2. Select cost effective geriatric assessment tools applicable to older adults in rehabilitation settings.
3. Choose successful therapeutic interventions to provide geriatric patients with meaningful and purposeful activities.
4. Explain understanding of geriatric comorbidities such as diabetes, COPD, CHF, and depression and their implications for developing frailty.
5. Select effective outcome measures appropriate for geriatric clients.
6. Formulate education resources using patient centered goals with geriatric clients.

A NEW ROADMAP FOR GERIATRIC REHABILITATION

• Evidence-based practice
• Ethical considerations for the role of therapy with older adults
• Emerging clinical practice settings

UPDATE ON FRAILTY

• Techniques to distinguish frailty in vulnerable older adults
• The current recognized criteria for frailty
• Interventions to reduce frailty
• Realistic goals when failure to thrive is present

INVOLVEMENT OF THE GERIATRIC PATIENT IN GOAL SETTING AND COMMUNICATION

• Develop client-centered performance goals
• How to incorporate effective interactions with older adults
• Learn appropriate techniques for communication with older adults
• Strategies to address the challenges of low vision and hearing deficits

ASSESSMENT SOLUTIONS: COST-EFFECTIVE, PRACTICAL, STANDARDIZED/INDIVIDUALIZED, MULTIDISCIPLINARY TESTS

• ADL assessment
• Depression scale
• Frail scale
• Cognitive evaluations
• Sustained activity assessment

THE ROLE OF DEPRESSION

• Tips to recognize symptoms in the older adult
• Strategies to minimize the impact of depression on functional outcomes
• What is the therapist’s responsibility in depression intervention?

IMPROVED OUTCOMES FOR FALL PREVENTION AND HOME SAFETY

• Fall risk assessment Intervention algorithm
• Educational resources

MEDICATION MANAGEMENT: AN EMERGING EPIDEMIC FOR OLDER ADULTS

• Tools for assessment of medication management skills
• Teaching older adults about medication safety
• Medication management device resource

STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESSFUL THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTIONS

• The four barriers to independence: Low vision, accessibility, mobility and cognition
• Physical activity for the older adult is function
• 135 functional activities to do inside a home
• How important is memory and reminiscing?
• Digging in the dirt: Therapeutic gardening Man’s best friend: Pet therapy
• When driving is in question?
• Community resource creation