Herman & Wallace faculty member Dr. Heather Rader has created an all-inclusive pelvic rehabilitation course for physical and occupational therapists who treat patients in the home health setting Home Health and Pelvic Rehab - External Skills for the Home Environment.

61% of females and 38% of males over the age of 65 have some form of urinary and fecal incontinence, and nearly half of the patients receiving home health care have incontinence¹. Despite these statistics, bladder and bowel symptoms are relegated to being part of the medical history rather than treatable impairments.

Home health therapists are required to ask about the presence of urinary and fecal incontinence as part of the admittance form, known as the OASIS. That’s typically where the conversation ends. This course will teach therapists how to quickly screen for the type of urinary incontinence, constipation, and pelvic pain conditions with simple and unintimidating interview skills. This can open the door to meaningful treatment interventions.

One of the challenges that home health therapists have with conventional pelvic health education is the emphasis on internal pelvic floor examination. Home health therapists don’t have access to a hi-lo examination table or the necessary supplies for a typical pelvic floor muscle examination. This course teaches external examination skills that can be performed in a living room chair or on a couch. 

Teaching pelvic floor exercises (Kegels) can be difficult in any setting or population. Cognitive impairments bring additional challenges. Learn how to teach “Kegel-less” exercises to facilitate pelvic floor strength through hip and trunk movements. The pelvic floor has anatomical and physiological relationships with the hip joint, spine, and abdominal muscles. Incontinence clusters with falls, balance, and gait dysfunction. Learning what these conditions have in common with each other allows the informed therapist to treat them together as co-morbidities.

This course is also a great place to start for therapists who want to explore pelvic rehabilitation techniques but aren’t ready for internal examination coursework. While the clinical examples are home health based, the concepts can be applied to any rehab setting.

Home health therapists are uniquely positioned to help our older population reduce the burden of incontinence, constipation, and untreated pelvic pain conditions. This course teaches easy-to-follow treatment pathways customized to the home care experience, giving the participant confidence to ask about and treat pelvic floor dysfunctions. Join Heather Rader on February 25th for Home Health and Pelvic Rehab.

Reference

1. Prevalence of Incontinence Among Older Americans U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Health Statistics. Prevalence of incontinence among older Americans. Hyattsville, Maryland, 2014. Print.

Home Health and Pelvic Rehab

Course Date:
February 25th

Price: $450
Experience Level: Beginner
Contact Hours: 15

Description: This remote continuing education course includes 8 hours of pre-recorded lectures and one day of live remote content covering external pelvic rehab skills for the rehabilitation professional who works with patients in Home Health, Adult Day Care, Assisted Living, Extended Care, or Memory Care. This course is intended for therapists treating patients with the goal of staying in their current home setting and toileting as independently as possible. Topics include functional pelvic anatomy, function and dysfunction, and geriatric comorbidities, as well as pelvic health documentation skills. Topics specific to the home health setting include gaining consent in the home setting, how to include caregivers and staff in the pelvic rehab process, and external examination options and techniques. The live remote lecture will cover rehab strategies for urinary and fecal incontinence, constipation, and pelvic pain.

This course will focus on real-world examples of home health experiences in rehabilitation External evaluation and treatment techniques adapted to the home and bedside environment, including the use of biofeedback for pelvic floor muscle dysfunction and treatment protocols for co-morbidities, such as UTIs, falls and balance, and gait disorders.

Obtaining patient and caregiver consent for pelvic floor examinations and treatment adaptations to accommodate variable treatment surfaces (bed, chair, couch, wheelchair) will be discussed. Participants will receive reproducible handouts for patient and caregiver education and have skills labs on documentation compliance. This course will prepare the home health therapist to be ready and able to meet the urological and colorectal therapeutic needs of the homebound population.

Equipment needed for Labs: Home Health Bag, TheraBand, small air-filled ball, gait belt