Mrs. B has recently been admitted to a residential care setting from the hospital following a stroke. She is 78 years old: Health Care Assistance Case Study, OC, Ireland

Mrs. B has recently been admitted to a residential care setting from the hospital following a stroke. She is 78 years old. Mrs. B’s past medical history includes arthritis of the hands and hip joints, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

She has lived on her own for the last six years since her husband died. She has two daughters; one is married and lives in England and the other is married and lives in Dublin.

Prior to her stroke, Mrs. B was very involved in her local community: she enjoyed going to Mass and attending local GAA games; she volunteered with the local Tidy Towns committee, and she visited her local pub at the weekend. Mrs. B had been a smoker, smoking thirty cigarettes a day.

Since the stroke, Mrs. B has had left-sided weakness and is unable to walk independently. As per her individualized care plan, she requires the assistance of two people to mobilize in and out of bed with the aid of mechanical aids. Mrs. B’s skin integrity is fragile as a result of her impaired mobility, and she requires regular re-positioning to promote optimum tissue viability.

She has a good cough reflex and no difficulty swallowing but has difficulty at mealtimes. She has some communication difficulties, as her words are slurred and her speech can be incoherent at times, which leads to frustration. Her vision has also been affected by the stroke. Mrs. B has a hearing impairment and she wears bilateral hearing aids. She suffers from occasional incontinence since her stroke; she can become embarrassed by this and needs full assistance with all her hygiene and personal care needs.