week 4

Today i was asked to walk patient s, a new admission. Patient s had a stroke 3 months ago. He has a left arthrodesis, limiting his range of hip flexion and L sided weakness. Patient s uses a bed rail to roll onto his side and swing his legs over the edge of the bed. He needed assistance for sit to stand as he cannot get his weight forward with his limited amount of L hip flexion. Patient S was ambulating with a 2 wzf. I decided to stand on his left side, being his weak side. Once we were out in the corridor, my patient lost his balance and nearly fell to the right side. This was because he did not have enough pressure on the zf with his L hand, and his L foot lifted off. I then had to reassess what the best way to walk him was. i decided to stand on the left with my hand on his to assist with downward pressure in case it lifted off again. I also made sure that i was far enough behind him with my arm on his right pelvis so that i could stop him if he tilted off to the right. This was a far safer way of walking my patient and minimising the falls risk.