Sometimes Sterile Technique is Preferred Using a clean technique works for most procedures you perform at home. However, specific jobs may be too risky to use clean techniques alone. For example, when you complete a process that requires putting a foreign body into the bloodstream, the potential exists to introduce bacteria. Once bacteria enter […]
Moving Joints Through Their Full Range-of-Motion What are range-of-motion exercises? Just what they say. Moving each joint in every direction that it can naturally move. Its gentle movements start small and gradually get bigger and bigger until the joint has fully expanded to its best potential. You do that 3 or 4 times for each
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Mental Health Problems Misunderstood by Public Many people misunderstand the nature of mental illness. Movies, novels, and myths tell of people with mental illnesses committing terrible crimes. As a result, many fear mental illness because they don’t understand it. A lack of knowledge about why those with certain mental illnesses act as they do leads
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Having the right equipment makes all the difference in how well you function. Purchasing mobility equipment is like buying a suit of clothes; one size does NOT fit all. It’s important to have an experienced technician measure your family member to the equipment to fit it correctly. For example, when buying a wheelchair, it
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Caregiver Travelers Beware If a hotel advertises that a room is “accessible,” they probably mean that it has handrails in the bathroom. Traveling, eating out, and attending various forms of entertainment with a disability are not for the faint of heart. Information received from brochures before arrival is rarely accurate. Although handrails are very
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As the baby boomer generation is getting older, more nieces and nephews are finding themselves faced with caregiving expectations. They have a 90-year-old spinster aunt living alone who wanders in the neighborhood naked. Perhaps the issue begins with a call from social services at the request of the doctor to say the aunt has cancer
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Are Medicare and Medicaid the Same? Medicare is a federal program funded by tax dollars that provides health coverage if you are 65 or older, under 65 and disabled, or a dialysis patient. Eligibility is not income-based but instead relates to the number of years you paid Medicare payroll tax into Social Security as
Video Demonstrations of Medication Administration Techniques –YouTube Video Resources Knowing how to give medications correctly is essential knowledge for every caregiver. Most of us think we know all we need to know about giving medicine because we have been taking it all our lives, but when you start caregiving, you find that’s false. As a
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How is a Medication Dosage Determined? The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) determines the dosing of medication needed to treat a condition based on clinical research. After completing years of clinical trials documenting patient outcomes and drug safety, the FDA approves a drug’s release for use by the public. The drug is approved only to treat
What Is a Medication When the doctor asks you what medication you take, he needs a complete list. To help you not forget anything, first consider the form in which medicine might appear. Medicines come in all shapes and sizes, so you may have some in the bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, purse, etc. They could
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Learning Disorders fall under intellectual disabilities as a subgroup. Having a learning disorder means that a child has difficulty in one or more areas of learning. The learning limitation, however, has no impact on overall intelligence or motivation to learn. Examples of common learning disorders include: Dyslexia – difficulty with reading Dyscalculia – difficulty with
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Intellectual Disabilities Struggle with Learning and Communication An injury, disease, or problem in the brain occurring before birth or after birth up to eighteen usually causes intellectual disabilities. Individuals with intellectual disabilities struggle when trying to learn new things or communicate their thoughts or needs. Broad Spectrum of Disabilities Just as communication and learning
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