Power Mobility and Safety Concerns
Power mobility allows people who are in long-term care to take part in their routine activities and leisure activities. These devices also raise safety risks, which need to be addressed.
Instead of excluding residents with certain diagnoses from the power mobility option that could be considered prejudicial risk management, most participants opted to adopt a teleological approach and allow all residents to try out the device.
Mobility
A power mobility device allows people who are unable to move around their homes or communities and participate in daily living activities that would otherwise be impossible for them. However, these devices may also pose a risk to the person who uses them, and also to other people who are in their space. Occupational therapists must carefully assess the safety needs of each client prior to making recommendations about powered mobility.
In an exploratory study (von Zweck 1999), OTs from three residential care facilities within the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority conducted qualitative interviews with residents about their use of power mobility. The goal was to develop a framework for client-centred power mobility prescribing. The results revealed four major themes: (1) the meaning of power mobility, (2) learning the rules of the road, (3) red flags concern about safety and (4) solutions.
Power mobility can boost the quality of life of individuals who have limited mobility. This is due to the fact that it lets them participate in daily activities at home as well as in the community. Self-care, active and recreational activities are essential to the mental and physical health of people who are older. For Suggested Looking at suffering from progressive diseases, power mobilty allows them to take part in these vital activities.
Most participants found it unacceptable to take away the resident's chair since it would result in a significant interruption to their life or course of action, and ultimately stop them from continuing to engage in the same activities that they used to do prior to the progression of their illness. This was especially relevant for those in the Facility 1 who had been in a position to use their power chair for a short time and were now dependent on others to push them.
Another solution would be to slow down the speed at which residents drive their chairs. However it could create several issues, including privacy and the impact on the rest of the community. In the end, taking away the chair of a resident was deemed the most drastic and least preferred solution to security concerns.
Safety
Power mobility lets people move more freely. They can also participate in a broader range of activities, and run errands. With the increased mobility comes an increased risk of accidents. For some, these incidents could cause serious injuries to themselves or others. This is why it is important to consider the safety of your client before suggesting they utilize power mobility.
First check if your client can safely operate their scooter or power chair. This could involve a physical assessment by a physician or occupational therapist or a mobility specialist, depending on the nature of your client's disability and their current health. In some cases, your client will need a lift for their vehicle to be able to load and unload the device at their workplace, home, or community.
Understanding the rules of road safety is a further aspect of safety. This includes sharing space with other wheelchair users, pedestrians and the bus drivers. A majority of the participants have mentioned this issue.
Some people learnt to drive their wheelchairs on sidewalks instead of driving in crowded areas or on curbs (unless the wheelchair was specifically designed for this purpose). Others drove more cautiously and paid attention to pedestrians in an area that was crowded.
The most popular and least desired option that was to take away the wheelchair of a person, was viewed as a double-punishment that would result in the loss of mobility, and also preventing them from taking part in activities with the community or at facilities. This was the viewpoint of the majority of those who had their chairs removed and included Diane and Harriet.
Other solutions that were suggested by the participants included educating other residents staff, family members and other residents on the proper operation of power mobility. This could include teaching the basics of driving (such as using the right side of the hallway) and encouraging residents to practice driving skills when they leave and helping them understand how their actions can affect the mobility of others.
Follow-Up
The capacity and willingness of a child to participate in life can be greatly affected by a power mobility device. Yet little research has been done on the experiences of children learning to use this equipment. This study employs the pre-post method to investigate the effects of six months of experience with one of the four early power mobility devices on children in the school age group with severe cerebral palsy (CP).
Qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 parents as well as pediatric occupational and physical therapists. Thematic analysis revealed three key themes. The first theme, 'Power for mobility The theme described how using a powered device affected more than just the child's locomotor skills. Learning to drive a mobility device can be a transformative, emotionally charged journey for the participants.
The second theme 'There's no recipe book' revealed that learning how to make use of an equipment for mobility was a process that developed in a cyclical manner over time. Therapists were required to discover the most appropriate solution for each child's needs and abilities. During the training phase and afterwards, therapists needed to be patient with children and parents. A number of parents and therapists emphasized the need to assist families celebrate their successes and work through challenges associated with the process of training.
The third theme, "Shared space", examined how the use of the power device can affect other people's lives and interactions. The majority of the participants in this study believed that people should always be considerate when using a power device. This was especially true when driving on public roads. Participants also said that they've witnessed situations in which property belonging to someone else had been damaged by the use of a power mobility device, or a person has been injured by a driver who didn't yield the right of way.
The results of this study indicate that power mobility and socialization training for preschoolers with CP can be done in a variety of classroom settings. Future research should continue to investigate the training and outcomes for this kind of intervention for children with CP. This will hopefully lead to the development of more uniform training protocols specifically for this group of children.