We’re back to discuss how nurses, caretakers, and family members can come together to support a patient’s recovery. We want to help teams connect as they advance patient goals, whether they’re in short term rehab, long term, community, or home care! In the first post of this series, we looked at the ways Activities Directors have put RESTORE to use with their long term patients. In this post, we’ll first talk about the benefit to nursing and restorative teams before finally covering tips for utilization!
Restorative Nursing
We’ve all heard the phrase, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” Restorative services provide hope and independence to residents by working with them to improve functionality. RESTORE activities brings interactive, skill-based fun to your nursing tool kit! For patients, daily practice is critical. And practicing outside of the therapy gym will help to prevent functional decline. Using RESTORE in conjunction with traditional treatment is ideal because it allows the resident to focus on what they can do rather than what they can’t. Take Mrs. Vanessa Cummings, a resident at Elmhurst Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, for example. Vanessa was experiencing pain in bilateral LE and had difficulty standing. But, after playing & standing for 5 minutes she said, “I know this serves a purpose, it helps me forget about the pain when I focus on the fun of the game.”
Put it Into Practice
To support the interdisciplinary collaboration between rehab and nursing services, patients no longer on therapy caseload can include RESTORE as part of a maintenance program. For example, a therapist can assign sessions to a care partner (nursing or restorative care) for supported play with the patient 2-3 times per week. Working on medication management with a patient? Play Pill Skill using hand over hand guidance to ensure your patient locates the correct medication bottle. Then help facilitate movement to appropriate pillbox location. The game allows players to practice this task repeatedly in a fun, positive environment. It also builds their confidence as they move onto replicating the task in real life.
I hope this post provides some tangible ways to use and implement RESTORE both in and out of the gym. If you’re a non-therapy professional, we want to hear from you! Share a favorite experience, patient progress story, or photo by emailing amanda@restoreksills.com. We can’t wait to hear from you!
Follow RESTOREskills on Facebook & LinkedIn for updates on our platform, new game announcements, testimonials, tips, and much much more! To schedule an obligation free demonstration of our on-demand therapy platform with our team, please contact us at info@restoreskills.com or call (330) 968-2879. We look forward to supporting your goals!