What is Rehabilitation?
The process of helping an individual who has suffered an illness or injury, they help achieve the highest level of function, independence, restore lost skills and so regain maximum self-sufficiency, and quality of life possible. Rehabilitations do not undo the damage that has been already done but rather help the individual to reach optimal health. The success of Rehabilitation depends on the following factors:
Severity of the disease.
Type and degree of the impairment.
Level of Health the patient is in.
Overall Support.
Process of Rehabilitation:
Rehabilitation is based on each individual's need; therefore, the treatment plan is different for everyone. They come up with a strict plan to meet those needs, every treatment plan consists of these factors:
Treating the basic disease and preventing complications
Treating the disability and improving function
Providing adaptive tools and altering the environment
Teaching the patient and family and helping them adapt to lifestyle changes.
Working at a Rehabilitation includes teaching and involving in the care of the patient including helping them with activities of daily living, physical care, psychological counseling, pain management, vocational training, socialization skills, communication skills, cognitive skills, mobility skills, education.
Types of Rehabilitations:
Different types of Rehabilitation are available for different types of disability, some are listed below:
Neurological Rehabilitation: patients suffering from stroke, head trauma, neuromuscular disease, and spinal injuries are treated. This helps them to be self-dependent and be positive in life about their disease which helps in the treatment and improvement of their life.
Cardiac Rehabilitation: patients suffering from heart problems are treated and educated to live a healthy life by reducing stress.
Drug Rehabilitation: patients suffering from drug addiction are treated through a strict planned treatment procedure to maintain their health and stop the craving to get back at drug use by counseling and educating through relapse prevention.
Alcohol Rehabilitation: patients suffering from alcohol addiction are treated by effective detox programs and making them free from the addiction.
Physical rehabilitation: patients having problems in mobility or functioning of the injured body part are helped through proper exercising programs and therapies.
Medical Rehabilitation: medical rehabilitation helps patients to have a better life physically or mentally by following up the procedural medical plan.
Vocational Rehabilitation: patients finding it difficult to get employed due to any reason is helped to regain confidence and are helped psychologically by medical assessment and job training.
Working in a Rehabilitation Centre:
Working in a rehab is a full-time indoor job. They work with patient 24*7, helping them with treatment programs which are scheduled to help the patients work properly to stay in the right state of mind to work functionally through the treatment plan. They help and decide the treatment plan, meditate the patients, give therapies, counseling, training, helps in daily basic needs, getting involved with patients in a friendly manner to work and support them.
Knowledge areas that are needed to be acquired:
visiting substance users and helping with immediate needs, such as temporary accommodation
talking to clients about their needs and finding ways of supporting them towards recovery
giving support and dealing with the causes of substance misuse
supporting clients arrested for drug-related offences
helping clients access services to help them with reading, writing, maths, computer and job-search skills
working as a specialist nurse in an addiction clinic, prescribing medication and supervising detox programmes
helping clients to use housing, employment and healthcare services
providing clean sharps and giving advice on how to use substances safely and reduce harm to self and society
Counselling, Assessment, Referral, Advice and Throughcare in prisons and remand centres, including support with detox programmes
giving emotional support and help with education, employment and training
Personality:
Attention to Detail: Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Integrity: Job requires being honest and ethical.
Dependability: Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Analytical Thinking: Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.
Cooperation:Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Achievement: Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.
Independence: Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions. Corresponding needs are Creativity, Responsibility and Autonomy.
Support: Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical.
Education:
To work in a Rehabilitation Centre a bachelor's degree is a must in Psychology, social work, sociology or an introductory course in substance misuse.
Job Outlook:
The salary depends on the work or position you are working on. Therapist are usually paid of about Rs. 400K per annum, Personal trainers are paid Rs. 600K per annum, counselors are pain Rs.120K per annum, social workers are paid Rs.232K per annum, psychologists are paid Rs. 180K per annum, staff nurses are paid Rs. 250K per annum, doctors or physicians are paid Rs. 600K per annum.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q) How does it feel to work in a rehabilitation center?
Helping patients to continue their lives productively is quite interesting as it sounds. You translate theories to practice and see what actually works and learn new facets, about the field, which are needed to work with patients in the real world. Working on diagnosis and treatment of different medical conditions keeps you engaged in finding more about the patients and their illnesses and aids in your learning and developing yourself in the profession.
Q) What does a typical working day look like in a rehabilitation center or for a physiatrist?
Different teams work for each patient according to his/her diagnosed problems. On a typical day, the physiatrists have to work on diverse things which include and not limited to preparing treatment plans for newly admitted patients, evaluating progress in physical, mental or emotional condition of previous patients, working with specialized professionals like neurologists, psychiatrists, occupational therapists, psychologists etc. It could be stressful sometimes depending on the situations you get involved in and the deadlines to be bet on.
Q) How does it feel to work with rehab patients?
Physiatrist work with patients from all ages enrolled in rehabilitation programs. One gets to learn from different experiences of the patients by talking to them, observing their daily routines and guiding them for improving their performance in different aspects.
Q) Is the career rewarding and satisfying?
Yes, if your career choice is based on your long-term interests and your opportunities to grow.
Q) Would you recommend this career over the next decade?
Yes, the rising demand for this profession and the projection of it to increase further in future would lead to great demand of trained professionals in this field.