I’m currently on my ortho inpts prac and all the acute spinal injuries come to my ward (once they’re stable – not in ICU) before they go to the spinal unit at shents. Tomorrow I will be treating my first paraplegic (T12) whose spinal cord was completely severed in a work incident a few days ago.
He does not speak English and I will be doing a full neuro Ax on him every day for the next week (to monitor swelling around the cord, etc). It is standard protocol that the pts are not informed about their future function until 6 weeks post-injury to allow for any sensory/motor recovery so my pt will be unaware that he wont walk again.
I haven’t been in this situation before and am worried about what to say if he asks me or gets really upset when I ask him to move/feel something and he can’t…
Has anyone had a similar experience and would like to share some tips with me about how to handle this?
1 comment:
Hey love,
I haven't been in the exact same situation before, but I did have to do a full neuro Ax on a little 6yo girl who had a stroke, in front of her parents and my supervisor, which I found really tough. The hardest part was trying not to freak out myself when I was performing the testing and finding areas of impaired power and sensation. Unfortunately I don't really have any tips on how to handle the situation, I think you have to prepare yourself before you go in and maybe take someone with you who has had more experience to be there if he starts to ask q's that you aren't sure how to answer. I guess the most important thing I have learnt working with kids is that you must always be positive!! The pt will obviously be upset but the more positive you are, the more confident they will be, and the more likely they will be compliant with their rehab. I think really it's something that must get a bit easier with experience so it's totally fine for us to feel unsure. I'm sure you will do a great job hun!
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