When one hears the word “diagnosis,” he/ she denotes a statement put forward by a nurse, doctor or any other medical practitioner that describes a health impairment a patient develops as a result of a disease. Many patients are diagnosed with impaired physical mobility. As such, a limited physical mobility nursing care plan is fundamental for treating such kinds of patients. To establish an accurate diagnosis, a nurse is obliged to interview a patient and carry out a physical examination. The information gathered from the interview together with the overall observation helps the doctor to validate the earlier presumed diagnosis. This is how the diagnosing process takes place.
What Is Impaired Mobility and Why It Requires Limited Physical Mobility Nursing Care Plan
Limited mobility refers to a state when a person cannot move freely on his/ her own. Such daily routine activities as getting out of the bed, going to the bathroom, brushing teeth, and doing other self-care activities become impossible. This limited mobility may be either permanent or temporary. Limited mobility rarely occurs as a disease on its own. As a rule, it occurs as an aftermath of some serious disease and is sometimes a part of post-treatment process. Due to its severity, limited physical mobility nursing care plan is crucial to help patients overcome the health impairment.
Nursing Care Plan Limited Mobility Assessment
To find out whether a patient has limited physical mobility, he/ she is assessed for the conditions that actually prevent any type of activity, such as pain, neurological problems, physical impairments, depression, fatigue or simply medical restrictions. The most basic assessment is to find out whether a patient can freely move his/ her body parts. Depending on the examination results, a doctor can develop a sample nursing care plan for impaired physical mobility.
Problems
It is obvious that the very impaired physical mobility definition denotes problems with mobility and moving around. In particular, a patient may suffer from such cases as skin wounds, bruises, falls, pneumonia, skin breakdowns, muscle weaknesses, etc. Subsequent to limited mobility, a patient may suffer from constipation and the risk of blood clot formation.
Intervention Care Plan
A nursing care plan for patients with impaired mobility aims at ensuring safe environment for them that is favorable for quick recovery. A comfortable environment should maintain a patient’s abilities that preserve by the time temporary physical impairment takes place. Besides, another function of maintaining this conducive environment is to prevent ongoing deterioration of body functions.
Nursing Intervention Plan
The core intervention step in eliminating the risk of demobilization and increasing mobility functions is to motivate the patient to walk regularly. In case a person undergoes in-patient treatment, he/ she might ask a nurse for assistance. Another option is to teach a patient to walk with the help of specific devices such as sticks or walkers.
In cases of poor mobility or complete physical impairment, it is important to maintain proper skin care. For example, apply moisturizing and healing cream to the areas that have the lack of contact with oxygen or environment on the whole. With the help of this technique, the development of sores will be prevented. As a part of nursing intervention plan, a patient may be asked to perform some motion exercises while staying in bed.
A patient needs adequate care when it comes to doing physical exercises, moving around, changing positions, etc.
Measures to Ensure Adequate Joint and Muscle Mobility:
- Inform and instruct patients on proper exercising, especially of the body parts that need to be in motion to restore mobility. For example, a body part that has partially lost mobility should be exercised at least three times per day. Often physician’s assistance is required.
- Provide assistance regarding performance of certain physical exercises. Encourage the patient to follow all recommendations from the physical therapist.
- If allowed by the general physical condition, motivate the patient to take part in self-care practices.
- Help the patient to use devices with electro stimulation in order to increase muscle strength.
- Assist the patient with devising a nutrition plan as proper diet helps in maintaining tone, mass, and strength of muscles.
In overall, it is advisable to consult professional healthcare providers in case of immobility cases.
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