What are your/your agencies polices about lifting?

[nursenmom3]

Sorry, I feel like I've taken over the forum with my questions!

My son will have surgery on his feet at some point in the coming months, and for a period of time afterwards will be completely non-weight bearing. He's got pretty severe arthritis in his hands and wrists as well, and can't bear a lot of weight on them either, definitely not enough for him to transfer himself. On the other hand, he's not a kid with significant tone issues that make him harder to lift. He's able to follow directions and cooperate with a transfer. He weighs 38 lbs right now, but we're working hard on gaining weight, so let's assume he's somewhere under 50 lbs. He uses a wheelchair and we have a ramp, a first floor bed/bath for him, and a roll in shower and a rolling shower chair/commode, so the transfers he'd need would be from bed to shower chair, from shower chair to wheelchair, from wheelchair to couch, from wheelchair to toilet etc . . .

What are your agencies' rules or your personal preferences for transfers for a kid like that? Do you feel comfortable lifting from one to the other? Would you expect something mechanical to help? I'm just wondering what to prepare for.

[Crystal-Wings, LVN]

8 minutes ago, nursenmom3 said:

I don't know if we could get Medicaid to pay for a ceiling lift, both because we'd need to argue that he needs it long term, which would be hard because we're simultaneously ask them to pay for the surgery on the grounds that it will help him walk, and because looking at the information about the waiver he's on, it seems like they might consider the tracks to be a "home modification" and we spent right up to the cap for that modifying the downstairs bathroom, and putting in a ramp.

In addition, in every setting I've ever worked in, the rule has been 2 people to use a lift like that. I know that home care is different, but it would still take me some time to wrap my mind about feeling safe with someone I don't know well putting my kid in one by themselves. I imagine that if someone has been with him for a while, and we have a relationship, I might come to feel differently, but right now the thought kind of freaks me out. He has pretty severe osteoporosis so a fall has the potential to be a very bad thing.

I posted about this on the General nursing forum and someone suggested something called a Rifton TRAM which actually looks like it could work really well. So, I'm going to ask his P.T. about that.

That lift looks pretty good.

[nursenmom3]

14 minutes ago, Crystal-Wings said:

That lift looks pretty good.

I know right? Do you agree that it looks less scary than dangling your child from the ceiling?

[Kitiger, RN]

The ceiling lift can pick people up off of the floor. They don't have to dangle from the ceiling. ?

It does sound like you would need the temporary tracts, though, for Medicaid to help you at this point.

Hey, if that Rifton TRAM looks good to you, go for it. ?

[nursenmom3]

15 minutes ago, Kitiger said:

The ceiling lift can pick people up off of the floor. They don't have to dangle from the ceiling. ?

It does sound like you would need the temporary tracts, though, for Medicaid to help you at this point.

Hey, if that Rifton TRAM looks good to you, go for it. ?

We can try. I sometimes think that there's a perception that it's easy to get Medicaid or private insurance to pay for things. In my experience there are times when Medicaid and insurance are very generous. For example, I have an enormous supply of Pediasure 1.0 at my house. My kid hasn't taken Pediasure 1.0 since very early January, but despite many phone calls, I couldn't get them to stop delivering it until late April.

However, for other things they fight pretty hard not to pay. My guess is that this will be one of those things, because it's different or nonstandard. So, if his P.T. thinks it can work, we'll start the process.