Nurse Manager.

[bagpussinamerica]

I have just spoken with my attorney today about the recent problems I have been having with being able to get up from a stooped down position. He has already tried to get workers comp to get a nurse manager into the home to review my needs and they denied this. He is going at it again tomorrow and says he is going to insist. He also told me not to worry about it...he said a nurse managed would come into my home and assess me. Why is he telling me not to worry? He seemed to think that it would be a stressful thing for me. Has anyone had one of these things done and what should I expect? Or will I have to go somewhere else to be assessed?

[Sunshine7]

My mother in-law, had a nurse manager come to the house, her Ic allowed her 100 visits, they would walk with her, help her exercise, and so on, she had fallen in the kitchen and ended up with a blood clot on the left side of her brain, the had to wait a while for it to turn to liquid then go in and do surgery and drain it, this was right before my injury, in so I was doing all I could help with her also, when I wasn't working, cooking, taking care of my family I took off to hospital and stayed there until 5am, I love my mother in-law so much, she's the best. I hope you get it because it helped her, also my husband talked to my mother in laws husband about paying someone to come over 3 times a week and helping her exercise and so on she has improved in 2 weeks already! I am so glad. Sorry if I took over your thread, just keep insisting!

[red1030]

Hi Bagpuss.... I believe what your lawyer is saying that they are sending a nurse in who will assess your needs based on your strength, balance, and daily coordination. She will do a functional assessment of you and your home attempting to communicate to the insurance company what type of adaptations that you may need to be safe in your home and maintain your independence. She will asked you a lot of open ended questions such as, "tell my alittle bit about how you spend your day." She will be watching how you move in terms of walking, distance you walk, your coordination during walking. She will also assess how you hold a pencil lets say, just by having your fill out a form. She will observe how you rise out of a chair and how you sit down. This will give her some information about how your strong your lower extrememties are without even testing you. She may do a neuro examination of you, but I doubt it..it will most likely be just talking and her observing your every move. She will look at your bathroom in term of how you toilet, bath, and sink? For instance if your complain is you are having trouble raising your self up with your lower extremities, then she will asked about how you get off and on of the toilet if there is no raiser there. Depending on how you answer and what her observation is she should recommend raiser for your toilets with hand bars. Also she will asked about how you shower or bath... if it is a shower...do you have a seat to set on with a hand held shower nozzle... what kind of flooring do you have in the shower etc. In the kitchen she will look to see how you have your refrigerator arranged. This will tell her a lot about how strong you are... if your refriegerator is deep with a freezer on top, how do you get t he stuff in the bottom toward the back.. if that is where you milk is she may question why something you would use a lot would be there..versus where it is easier assessible. If you have a side by side or a bottom referigerator you are most likely ok. Most likely you will offer her coffee when she comes. This will give her a perfect opportunity to assess your hand strenght, ability to pull things out of cabnets and so forth.

I use to do this when a patient was going home to live with their family from a nursing home, and I did home assessment for kids with disabilities in Okinawa when I was in the Navy. I also had one done when I was applying for SSDI. My long term insurance company hired one to help with my case. My house was already put together because the VA typically does a home evaluation to assess your needs about every 2-3 years... typically...not here however... that is a long story.. I hope this helps you out a lot. Any more questions or specific questions just ask and I will try to hop back on this site a time or two today. Good luck Red