The Importance of Ongoing Health Assessments
As a home health patient ages or deals with a progressive condition, continued assessments are essential to gauge their ability to care for themselves and live in their environment. Whether the patient has home health services, palliative care, or hospice services, regular assessments are important to determine how they are doing, if any additional services are needed, and whether its necessary to change care plans. How often an assessment must be performed is based on the individual and the type of service they are currently receiving.
Health Assessments for Utah Seniors
At Dignity Home Health & Hospice, we offer the following home health checks:
Initial Consultation
Many home health care services begin with an initial health assessment. This is the first step in determining what specific skilled nursing, companion, or personal at-home care services the loved one may need. Our experienced home health team, using feedback from your family as well as information provided by your loved one’s physician, will put together a health plan for ongoing services and future evaluations.
During this initial consultation, we will also cover the following:
Patient’s History
We review the patient’s history and what has led them to seek at-home health care. Many people seek at-home health care because of age, an accident, or recovering from a surgical procedure.
Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)
We observe whether the individual can perform daily tasks independently or if they need assistance. Such activities include getting out of bed, walking, using the restroom, getting dressed, eating, and more.
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs)
We also observe whether the individual has the ability to do daily tasks within a community setting, such as picking up prescriptions, shopping, and running other errands.
Mental and Behavioral Conditions
We assess the individual’s mental health and behavioral conditions such as memory loss, repetition, misplacing items, paranoia, anxiety, sleeping problems, aggression, and more. We can provide accurate mental health services when we understand mental health needs.
Exercise
Individuals who have experienced an accident or surgery may have specific exercise regimens they require for rehabilitation. Dignity Home Health & Hospice can assist with this type of rehabilitation with a physical therapist.
Equipment and Environment
An assessment is also a way of facilitating independence and providing safe living in an environment. After a home health checkup, we can add raised toilet seats, bed rails, handheld showerheads, and shower benches to help maintain independence.
Medical Conditions and Allergies
We assess vision, speech, hearing, and swallowing. This helps us identify acute or chronic conditions. We also review any recent hospital stays and known allergies.
Hospice Evaluation
The transition into hospice care begins with a comprehensive hospice evaluation. Our hospice evaluation will help the family and the loved one better understand the services provided during hospice care, and helps the hospice team learn what services they will need to offer. We determine if your loved one qualifies for home or hospice care and starts the process of collecting information to help the team provide the best care for your loved one. Similar to our initial consultation, we also cover medical history, contact information, diagnosis, symptoms, discomforts, and medications.
Using the information gathered from the evaluation, a plan is customized to address their care goals and specific needs. Consider this as a “road map” that explicitly outlines when and how often the caregiver performs the specific tasks on the plan. After this assessment, your loved one will be ready to enter hospice and receive the services of the hospice care team.