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The value of the role of the rehabilitation assistant
Shirley Pullenayegum1, Beverley Fielding, Estel Du Plessis
1School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Hertfordshire, UK.
Abstract:
This article outlines the experiences of nursing and therapy staff regarding the introduction of rehabilitation assistants. The authors discuss issues concerning a role (the rehabilitation assistant) that was created after staff identified that therapeutic input (nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapies), which was provided from Monday to Friday, was not continued over weekend periods. A small-scale audit was carried out to assess the role and the efficacy of the rehabilitation assistant. The results demonstrate specific areas of the rehabilitative process that patients and their carers considered important. These include activities of living, general wellbeing and the patient's view towards rehabilitation over the weekend. This article demonstrates the value of the role of the rehabilitation assistant and how, together with effective multidisciplinary team working, it provides the impetus for a consistent and goal-directed rehabilitative process.
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