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The use of assistive devices for patients with Bechterev disease
KULHÁNKOVÁ, Barbora
The theoretical part of the thesis describes the actual disease. It is a rheumatic disease which includes inflammatory processes located in the spinal area. The disease is also called Ankylosing spondylitis. Typical symptom of the Bechterew's disease is stiffness and consequent back pain. Successful treatment must include use of nonsteroidal antirheumatic drugs and pain-relievers. However, the most crucial element is regular physical training, which must not be avoided otherwise the client may become permanently disabled and need assistance. The successful treatment also in cludes repeated spa stays. The thesis also deals with the role of a nurse, who together with a professional team, including physiotherapists, ergotherapists and social workers, care for the client's needs as well as for his/her education and his/her family members' education. The nurse should emphasize the importance of regular physiotherapies and use of prescribed drugs to the patients with such diagnosis. The most crucial part of the thesis deals with compensation aids which allow the clients relieving pain when moving and which get the patients back in their common lives. The patients start to use the compensation aids, such as walking sticks, wheeled walkers, and hygienic aids with long handle, in advanced stages of the disease, when common movements are difficult and painful for them. Furthermore, I am writing about the possibility of renting or purchasing such aids. There are compensation-aid rental companies and shops which offer such aids. Another part of the thesis deals with compensation allowance, which the clients may receive from their insurance companies.It also describes changes in the patient's life and environment, which may occur after receiving the compensation aids. The major goal of the thesis is to describe the possibilities of usage of compensation aids by the Bechterew's patients. To reach that I have chosen two survey questions. The first one reveals the type of compensation aids the clients prefer using and the way how they get these. The latter question explores influence of the compensation aids to the clients' lives. The survey was done by qualitative research method. For this purpose, semistructured in-depth interview was conducted with clients who suffer from the Bechterew's disease and who use compensation aids for their everyday routines. The obtained information shows that the most used aids are those which we are typical for people with movement disorders. Mostly, the clients pay for their aids by themselves. Vouchers prescribed by doctors are only used to get the forearm crutches. The Bechterew's disease is still an incurable disease. It may have very serious consequences for the patients unless they execute regular physiothe rapy, repeated spa curative stays and use the medicaments. The thesis may be used as a source material for special brochures created for mobility-impaired clients.
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