Stroke is one of the leading health problems in the world and can cause severe health impacts and aftermaths. From paralysis to loss of control of body movements, stroke patients can suffer from a varying degree of physical deficiencies. A majority of these people require home rehabilitation to recover the damage caused by the stroke.
Caregivers, in this case, play the most crucial role. They are responsible for not only designing a post-stroke care plan but also for implementing it effectively. Some tips to help caregivers make a good home care plan are given below.
How will you adjust your work and home responsibilities to take care of the patient?
Will you be able to assist the patient in maintaining personal hygiene?
How will you take care of their medications and help them adhere to the home care plan?
How will you take the patient to regular health care checkups?
Do you need the help of professional in-home caregivers?
Set Appropriate Goals:
Setting perfect goals is essential for a post-stroke care plan to work. It is important to set goals that are not highly ambitious as they may throw the patient off track. At the same time, you must also not aim for easy goals as they won’t allow the patient to reap maximum benefits. Lastly, the activities of a post-stroke care plan should be enjoyable or else the patient will not be motivated to work hard.
Consult the Healthcare Team:
The healthcare professional of the patient is the best person to team up with while developing the post-stroke home care plan. They will give you an insight into the abilities and deficiencies of the patient and provide you with all the resources you need in rehabilitation.
Take Regular Blood Tests:
Strokes occur when the blood flow to the brain is hampered and reduced. Therefore, after the stroke, anticoagulants are often prescribed for healthy recovery. The dosage of these medications is adjusted at regular intervals, making it very important to take timely blood tests and keep a track of all the results.
Eat a Balanced and Healthy Diet:
The patient must eat a healthy and balanced diet full of fruits, vegetables and whole grains to recover faster. You, as a caregiver, should also aim to understand the factors that caused the stroke. You can use the diet as a tool to manage these factors and reduce the incidence of getting another stroke in future. For example, if the stroke was caused by hypertension, reduce their consumption of fat, sodium and cholesterol.
Modify Your Home:
You must adapt your home to meet the needs of the patient. As strokes increase the risk of falling, it is important to shift the patient's bedroom to the ground floor. You may also install ramps at the front door to allow safe access.
Use Tools To Assist in Daily Activities:
Strokes can cause many physical deficiencies such as altered senses, joint pain, weakness in one side of the body, etc. Depending on the deficiency, the patient can use tools and instruments to facilitate their day to day activities. For example, if they have suffered from a disability in one side of the body, they can use tools that allow them to cook with one hand.
Adapt the Plan With Time:
The challenges faced by the patient may vary after some time. Recovery can reduce their physical deficiencies, allowing for a more flexible plan. However, at the same time, it is also possible that they may start getting frustrated with the aftermath of strokes. To adapt to these changes, you must remain versatile with the home care plan and keep changing it with time.
Take Help of Specialists:
As discussed earlier, strokes can cause various deficiencies in the body. To recover from these disabilities, sometimes it is important to take help from certain clinical specialists. For example, if the patient has suffered from loss of speech, they may take the sessions with a speech-language pathologist. Similarly, in the case of emotional stress or cognitive problems, they may consult a psychologist. Identifying which clinical specialist is needed and aligning the home care plan with their sessions is extremely important.
Developing a perfect post-stroke home care plan is the key to recovery. As a caregiver, you must understand the needs of the patient and develop the plan accordingly. You may also take the help of professionals during rehabilitation, as mentioned above.
