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MODULE 6 – Assitance Skills
Objectives:
• Identify the key elements of safe patient assistance
• Successfully demonstrate each skill under the supervision of an instructor
As an MAVO, you will transport many
patients with various levels of ability to get
around. Some of your patients will be
ambulatory. Ambulatory just means that they
are able to walk with little or no assistance. If
this is the case and your offer of assistance
is refused, you should be standing close
enough to your patient to grab them if they
get shaky and either keep them from falling
or soften the blow if they do fall. We call this
an
Unassisted Transfer.
Many of your patients will need some type of
help but you should never have to lift your
patient. Remember you are a Mobility
Assistance
Vehicle Operator.
There are several acceptable techniques for
helping your patient to stand up and turn
around to sit in your wheelchair. Choose the
method based on your patient’s condition.
Assisting with Outer Clothing
As an MAVO, you may at some point need to assit a patient in putting on outer clothing such as a jacket. While
this will be easy if a patient has good mobility, it may be more difficult in patients who lack mobility in one or both
arms, or patients who cannot sit forward to work the coat around their bodies. The goal is to get the patient as
covered as possible, so if you must use some creativity to achieve this, you should. Below are examples of how to
assist a patient without outer clothing. Make sure none of the coat is dangling down into the working parts of the
wheelchair.
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