As a therapist, we have a limited amount of time to get to know our patients and figure out what their home setup looks like while gathering details in their occupational profile. We are planning for discharge during our evaluation. First, we must make sure our patient can get from their car, inside, to a bedroom and a bathroom, and adequately use those spaces.

While other areas of the home are important to address, like the kitchen or laundry, the following are essential to be accessible first for safe discharge home. By asking questions, you can get a good picture of what may need to be addressed in your treatment interventions prior to discharge. Their answers may guide you to consider recommendations from the adaptations course in the form of DME, AT, unique products or adaptive techniques, or suggest minor modifications for safety.

You may find that the answers lead you to take a multifaceted approach from strengthening, adapting tasks with equipment, modifying the environment, and educating caregivers to assist. It's likely that all patients and their home environments will need to be approached differently.

Next is a list of questions that you can ask your patients to help give you an accurate picture of their home setup, to plan your treatment and education moving forward. Maybe you ask them all at once, or work it into other ADLs as they're working towards getting dressed and washed up. These are also great questions to consider if you have a little bit of extra time during your treatment session.

Parking

So first, what is your parking situation at home? Do you use public transportation? Where do you typically park your vehicle? Maybe on the street, a garage, a carport. Is it in the grass or is there a driveway? And you should ask about the type of surface of the driveway. Then ask for a picture.

Entrance

Second, you can ask, tell me about the entrance to your home, the one closest to parking. And tell me about the pathway to get there. I'd be curious, are there any steps in the pathway? Is there a porch? Or what does it look like through the door? Are there any railings? What surfaces are those pathways and the area around that door? How wide is the pathway? Again, ask for a picture and get measurements if you need to.

Bedroom

Number three, tell me about the location of your bedroom. Are there any steps to get there? What does the space look like beside the bed? How big is the doorway to get into the bedroom? Again, ask for a picture and get measurements if you need to.

Bathroom

The fourth question, tell me about the location of your bathroom. Again. Are there any steps to get there? How big is the doorway? How close is your bathroom to your bedroom?

Then dig into the areas of the bathroom, the toilet. How much floor space is beside and and in front? Are there grab bars? Is the toilet short or tall? Next is the tub, tub, shower, or shower. Which one of those do you have in your home?

What's the floor space around that area? And does the shower or tub have a step to get in? Is there a handheld showerhead? Are there grab bars? Can people reach items easily if they're seated or standing, like shampoos and soap?

Next would be the sink area. What does the floor space look like around the sink?

Can someone sit in a chair under the sink or does somebody have to turn to the side to access the sink? Can they see into the mirror if they're seated? What does it look like to reach the faucet? Again ask for a picture and get measurements if needed.

Other Areas and Implications

Discussing the kitchen setup, laundry or other outdoor spaces, and any living or work areas is also great, but it might not be essential and there might not be enough time, but it also might not be a current goal of that particular patient, and it might not be meaningful for a patient at that time.

Next, click into the next lessons on what you can do to start with these courses and see how you can utilize them to help your patients after you've gotten all of the above information.