- Mandy is a 23-year- old with hypermobile EDS and POTS who is hospitalized. Which of the following is an appropriate way to promote Mandy’s safety during her hospitalization?
a. Help her move as quickly as possible during transfers to prevent falling.
b. Be gentle and ask how to best help her when she is moving.
c. Keep her on bedrest to prevent POTS-associated falls.
b. is correct. By Following the principle of Be Gentle, Ask and Believe, we should ask Mandy how we can help her, believing and following what she tells us, and being gentle when handling her. As she’s at risk for subluxation/ dislocation, bruising and skin tears, we should ask her about the best way to help her and where and how to touch her during that process.
a. is not correct, as moving slowly will be associated with less risk of falling than moving quickly.
c. is not correct as bedrest wwould not be indicated without clinical findings indicating its necessity. These types of clinical findings are not identified in this scenario.