What are ADLs and IADLs?Introduction: Show In this module you will learn about ways you can help a resident with everyday activities while supporting his/her independence and helping the resident keep a sense of self-respect. You will be introduced to some of the ways in which you are likely to be needed to provide assistance to residents before and during mealtime.
Think about all of the little things you need to do each day. Just to start your day you must get out of bed, take care of your personal hygiene (bathe or shower, shampoo hair, brush teeth, etc.), pick out clothes, get dressed and get something to eat. As the day goes on there are many more activities that are so basic that most of us take them for granted. In completing most of these activities many little steps are involved. For example, getting out of bed requires that you are able to roll to the side of the bed, swing your legs over the edge of the bed, place your feet on the floor and stand. Now think about what would happen if you couldn’t do these things any longer or had great difficulty in doing them. Like most people, you would find that life was getting more difficult and you might feel frustrated, helpless or vulnerable. For many people, a loss in the ability to do the simple daily things can make them feel badly about themselves and angry with the world around them. If the residents you serve have these kinds of feelings about everyday activities, you can be sure that the quality of their lives will not be as high as it could be. This is important because a major part of what you do as a personal care home direct care staff person is aimed at helping people maintain or improve the quality of their lives.
Generally, the kinds of activities that are important to the people in a personal care home are organized into two groups:
As you can see, many activities are part of everyday life. For some of the people you serve, your help with ADLs and IADLs will have a great impact on their ability to participate in and enjoy life. For others, you will be the only way they are able to complete much of what they need to keep safe and healthy from day to day.
Many things can cause a change in a resident’s ability to perform these basic activities. You will learn more about this in later modules. For right now, it is important to know four basic things about changes in ADLs and IADLs:
Four general helping rules:
Assistance with mealtime: Many of the tasks with which you will help residents have been studied and analyzed to find safe, respectful and effective ways for you to assist the resident. In this module you will be introduced to ways to assist someone with eating. The assistance with mealtime can be broken into areas. Each is presented below along with the steps to accomplish it. 1. Preparing the resident to eat with others. For most people, eating is a social event. That is, it is often done with other people. For some residents it may be one of the more important times of the day when they interact with others. So, it is important to help prepare residents for meals. Here are some ways in which you can help:
2. Serving meals and providing assistance during meals. As mentioned above, mealtime is an important social time. This time with others is enhanced when the atmosphere is pleasant, calm and enjoyable. While performing your tasks, keep in mind that your calm, relaxed, friendly, encouraging and helpful behavior will go a long way toward making mealtime special. Here are the kinds of tasks you may perform:
In addition to the basic steps already listed, several other things should be considered. First, it is important that the residents’ cultural preferences and beliefs be considered. For example, you may have a resident who wants to pray before each meal. While you do not have to pray with the resident, it is important that you sit quietly and respectfully while the resident does this. You should also be sensitive to the fact that many people’s food preferences are strongly influenced by their culture, ethnic background and religion. These preferences should be honored when possible. You may also have responsibilities to help prepare the dining room for meals. You might be involved in removing clutter or hazards, reducing distractions such as loud noise or cleaning the table. You may also encounter residents who don’t eat at times pre-set by the personal care home. For example, you may have a resident who likes to wake up at 10 a.m. and have a light breakfast of fruit and coffee instead of the 8 a.m. breakfast call. Honor preferences by being flexible. ©2006 - How do ADLs differ from IADLs?ADLs address those very basic activities that allow a patient to care for themselves, such as bathing and using the bathroom. On the other hand, iADLs are more complex, but they are also important to getting a patient back to their lives. Examples of iADLs include balancing a checkbook and managing medications.
Why is it important to measure both ADLs and IADLs?ADLs and IADLs are important because they help determine if an individual is able to manage basic self-care tasks on their own. If there are certain chores that an aging family member can't complete without help, you may need to think about hiring help or moving them to a care facility.
What are some examples of IADLs?An IADL, or Instrumental Activity of Daily Living, are more complex sets of skills we need in order to live independently. These skills are: using the telephone, shopping, preparing meals, housekeeping, using transportation, taking medication(s), and managing finances.
What are instrumental activities of daily living that a personal care attendant direct care worker can perform?Personal hygiene – bathing or showering, shampooing hair, brushing teeth. Bladder & bowel management. Positioning and changing positions in a chair or bed. Dressing.
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