By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Inpatient Acute Rehabilitation Unit at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center is dedicated to patients who have experienced a significant decline in function. The process starts with an assessment by Chris Ast, RN, a clinical liaison.
"When I get a referral, I'll go out and I'll evaluate the patient and explain rehab to them," Ast said. "Then I bring back the case to our medical director and we say, yeah, we need to get insurance approval and then we start."
Inpatient Rehab may benefit patients who have experienced issues with their brain, heart or lungs, or who can't walk well enough to do an outpatient program.
"Really, it's just if a patient had a complicating situation that now changed how they are able to move around and get to where they need to be," said physical therapist Kari Thiessen. "Those are the patients that we are going to see in inpatient rehab."
The typical inpatient rehab client is involved in a 10 day to two-week program and then it's time to decide what life looks like outside the hospital. That's where case manager Lynsi Giles, RN, comes in.
"When you leave rehab, we always recommend that your therapy does not end at that time," Giles said. "Whether you continue to need outpatient therapies or home health, I am that person that coordinates all of those."
If you'd like to learn more about all that inpatient rehab does, below is the full interview with Ast, Thiessen and Giles.
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