What do family members need to focus on during rehabilitation? - Guy W. Fried, MD

I think family members have to take notes.  I think they have to set up their priorities.  I think they figure out what goes on, and when they are going from being the bench strength of sitting on the bench, to what role are they going to have to play.  Are they going to have to transfer these patients?  Are they going to have to catheterize them?  Are they going to have to feed them?  Or are they going to have to change their Foleys, change their trachs, or is someone else going to do that?  So, they have to figure out their role first.  So, depending on how injured the patient is, and depending on how many people or services are available.  What’s the insurance going to pay for, what’s the insurance not going to pay for?  What do they need to do?  And they have to figure out what kind of commitment they can put out there.  Are they there just to give the love, are they there to just give the advice, or are they there to give the brute strength of getting it done?  Are they there to interact with the social services out there and make sure that other people are doing their jobs?  So, they have to really get a sense of defining what is their job, what is their role, because there are too many options of roles out there to learn them all.  So what you need to do is figure out, “What role am I going to be responsible for?  Do I have to catch the ball, throw the ball, or block the ball?” Because, they’re three different roles.