Role of the Occupational Therapist on a renal unit
The role of the OT is to assess individuals’ who have difficulty in completing their activities of daily living while on the ward or at home. This can include activities such as personal care, transferring on/off bed/chair/toilet, meal preparation and domestic tasks such as, housework, laundry and shopping. Additionally, the OT addresses the psychological and social impact renal patients often experience.During the admission, the OT can:
- Provide small pieces of equipment to maximise and individual’s function
- Carry out home assessments to assist/teach the individual new techniques and to check the home environment and advise/adapt if necessary
- Assess for packages of care to assist in transition from home to hospital
- Advise and teach fatigue management techniques
- Direct/refer to community agencies who can offer support and advice at home.
The renal-specific things that an OT needs to know to work on a renal unit are best covered by starting with the Core Pathway.
Melissa Macleod
Role of the Physiotherapist on the renal unit
The majority of our work involves maintaining or improving mobility and function through exercise, and preparing the patient for discharge. The other aspect of our role is chest physiotherapy. Input may be required to assist the patient in achieving adequate lung volume and clearing secretions.
We understand that patients can feel unwell post dialysis so most of the input is on non-dialysis days. Unfortunately we do not have the resources to treat patients whilst on dialysis. This would, however, be a plan for the future as research shows that it improves the quality of the dialysis, muscle strength, oxygen consumption and nutritional status. In addition, patients that exercise on dialysis have fewer episodes of low systolic blood pressure.
It is very important to break the downward spiral of deconditioning which leads to inactivity and immobility by becoming more active. The physiotherapist will support the patient in doing this. Exercise regimes and general mobility work help to improve the patient’s strength, balance and exercise tolerance. The exercises given will be based on individual assessment hence advice is not given on this page.
We recommend that patients continue to exercise on discharge to optimise their function. An exercise programme may be given to encourage this but the best exercise to do at home is walk. Please note it is important to remember to stretch to prevent cramping and improve flexibility.
In turn the patient should feel an improvement in energy levels and mood, and a positive change in their blood pressure, cardiovascular health and blood sugar control. This all helps to improve quality of life.
We work very closely with the Occupational Therapist to ensure that all aspects of discharge are addressed and quality of life is maximised.
The renal-specific things that an OT needs to know to work on a renal unit are best covered by starting with the Core Pathway.
| Nurse << | >> PD |
