Immobility – It’s a Big Deal for Lots of Reasons The human body works best when it’s in motion. In fact, some part of us is in motion almost all the time when our muscles, nerves, and skeleton function properly. All that movement is called mobility. It’s mobility that gives us the ability to eat, […]
How to Prevent Spreading Infections by Touching (Contact) an Object Directly or Indirectly Many infections spread through direct contact (touching the source) or indirect contact (touching something or someone who has contacted the object and has the organism on it.) The precautions for infections spread by contact require a barrier (i.e. something to prevent
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Preventing Skin Breakdown If your family member is immobile, they are at risk of developing skin breakdown. Learn the warning signs and ways to prevent breakdowns from occurring. Family Needs Information Information on skincare, immobility, and fall prevention are essential bits of information for all caregivers. If caring for someone fragile, a fall can lead
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Recognizing Skin Breakdown When Something Doesn’t Look Right, What Does It Mean? When the Skin Changes Color, What happens? When skin first starts to break down, one of the first things you see is a change in skin color due to a decrease in blood flow to the area. The pink skin makes
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I’ve been struggling since December 26 with being both the caregiver and needing care myself. I don’t usually get sick because I’m cautious regarding exposure to contagious situations. For example, I screen those who come to our home both for their symptoms and their possible exposure to others, and I do most of our shopping
Once upon a time, the world was a different place in America. Sons and daughters grew up, married, and lived in or close to the same neighborhoods where their parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents lived.
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Daily Insulin Use Insulin use in the United States is very common. Since diabetes may affect any age group, children and adults use insulin. Administered in the fat layer of skin (often in the abdomen, thigh, hip, or forearm), injections are easy to learn to give. Some pharmacies provide them pre-packaged. With sharp, short needles, injections
Videos Demonstrating Emergency Response Techniques The following videos provide visual demonstrations of emergency response techniques and first aid responses. You can see and hear how to correctly perform rescue breathing, chest compressions, and the Heimlich Maneuver by reviewing them. I obtained the videos from YouTube and they are produced by several different agencies. Watching
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Normal Respiratory Function To recognize when something isn’t working right, you need to know what it looks like when working perfectly. Therefore, let’s do a lesson on normal respiratory function. Don’t worry; it won’t be painful. Overview of the Normal Respiratory Function The purpose of the normal respiratory function is to breathe oxygen from the
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Caregiver Training Videos – Links to YouTube People learn in many different ways, but viewing the performance of a task multiple times promotes the recall of steps through repetition. Therefore, I searched YouTube for caregiver training videos that demonstrated professional caregivers performing tasks that home caregivers might need to perform. Some procedures have multiple
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Oxygen Therapy It may surprise you to know that oxygen is a regulated drug. Like all other medications, it has a therapeutic dose, known side effects, and risks associated with misuse; therefore, using it requires a doctor’s prescription. Although you can buy small bottles of oxygen in pharmacies to support climbers or runners, and anyone
Did you know that delirium is a symptom of a urinary tract infection? Neither did I, but I am learning to recognize it. I am not the only one who has experienced its impact because there was an article on the phenomenon in one of my nursing magazines last month.
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