jm_emt

I spoke to a director of a skilled home heathcare agency who said it can take months to get Medicare to pay for needed DME (homecare beds, commodes) for her patients. She said there are at least two problems with the new Medicare rules. First, the ...

I am asking this question because there seems to be so much concern in LTC settings about under-staffing of CNAs. Say you have a dependent pt (who requires help in transfer) in bed or in a wheelchair who can be toileted on a commode but can normall...

Patient care plans usually designate how to transfer patients who need assistance sometimes describing them as one-person or two-person "transfer assist" patients. However a patient who is fresh, alert, and orientated most of the time often becomes ...

Hoyer lifts are sometimes used in home care nursing but lack of space, heavy pile rugs, difficult storage, and untrained or too few caregivers are often challenges to home use. So many total care patients may remain bed-bound even if a hoyer lift is ...

Libby1987 - I have never heard of reimbursement for Hoyer lift training in the home for primary caregivers. I thought the DME delivery company that rented/sold the lift did what little training there was. If reimbursement were available, ideally a P...

As a home care nursing aide, I found it nearly impossible to transfer many total care patients out of bed. This is especially true when they had painful conditions such as metastatic cancer or orthopedic issues. Since being bedbound is so dangerous ...

It seems that unless there is lots of family caregiver support, many patients would be forced into LTC.

Thanks to all for their comments. It seems like there is no standard for training in the use of lifts. However when it is done, PTs are the best sources of training. But not all people that leave a hospital or an in-patient rehab facility are assig...

Thanks for your comment CoffeeRTC. What concerns me is the negative psychological effect on these patients who are treated like infants (whose dirty briefs must be changed) when they are normal older people who need toileting help in a limited time ...

Many times a pt is put on the commode with the assistance of two nurses/CNAs or using a hoyer lift with a toileting sling (with two nurses present during the transfer). Then the second nurse goes about his or her duties leaving the first nurse to d...

If you look at the settings page, it says highest education and it has different degree options (mostly nursing). It also has an "other" option. It then has "years of experience". I chose "other" (non-nursing) and gave my engineering degree. The ...

4 years as an aide. 15 years as a hospice volunteer. 20+ as an engineer. Hope this helps.

I have no connection with either company or product I mentioned. But I do think transfer chairs are the answer to some of the problems nurses confront, especially when mobilizing patients who cannot tolerate lifts. As a former aide and Hospice volu...

I agree that prolonged bed rest is dangerous. Pressure ulcers, hypostatic pneumonia, blood clots, and UTIs can all result from staying in bed for days at a time. There are mobility devices that allow patients with fractures to be mobilized and moved...

Common things that can happen with a hoisted patient (using a ceiling lift or floor lift): 1) Panic attacks (due to being disoriented during hoisting) - often happens with dementia or confused patients 2) Sundowning - erratic or violent behavior, sc...

There is a some evidence that says that doctors prefer to die at home in Hospice because they are much more informed about what is coming however: "Research shows that most Americans do not die well, which is to say they do not die the way they say ...

It is sad that this "state-of-the-art" piece of equipment (floor patient sling lifts) was invented 60 years ago and there have been no major improvements. Yes, the slings are better and more varied, some are electric/battery powered, some fold up, a...

The Barton chair costs about $6000 for the least expensive model. It has a HCPCS code (E1035) for Medicare reimbursement and is described as a "Multi-positional Patient Transfer System with integrated seat operated by the caregiver". To be eligible...

I am wondering if most home care agencies who are often paid by private insurance or Medicare (whether in Hospice or not) would pay for two CNAs to take care of a patient at home. Does anyone have experience in reimbursement for such a patient? It ...

Has anyone had experience with patients acting out (i.e., kicking, flailing around) because of pain, fear, or disorientation during Hoyer lift transfer with a sling? Dementia patients in particular might be easily disorientated when being hoisted in ...