Let the clinicals begin!

On Tuesday we had our first clinical day at the Anchorage Pioneer's Home. Luckily, it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be. In class our professor made it sound like they were just going to turn us loose on our elders (that's what they call the residents of the Pioneer Home) for seven hours. Good thing that wasn't really the case! Our clinical instructor (whose name is also Martha) gave us a tour of the facility and then introduced each of us to our elder. We ended up spending most of the day going through their charts to get some information for the paperwork that we have to fill out. We will be doing a complete "mini" assessment of our elder (assessing the major functional areas of their life: activity/exercise, mental status, nutrition, health maintenance, cognition, self-perception, role/relationship, values/beliefs, as well as their medications) and creating an individualized care plan for them.

The facility was very nice and most of the elders seemed to enjoy living there. My elder said that they do a good job of providing a variety of activities and that the staff is all great. The one thing that I found somewhat amusing was the area for those who tend to wander off (I believe it is the acute Alzheimer's unit). There is a set of locked double doors and the side facing the unit is wall papered to look like a brick wall, which keeps them from trying to leave. I just find it amazing that it works!