M15 · Cannot do household tasks
Actual Movement and self-care
Definition
Cooking, cleaning, shopping, or laundry are beyond the person's current ability.- Weakness
- poor memory
- poor vision
- pain
- Dirty home
- no meals
- unpaid bills
- unsafe kitchen
📋 Scenario
An older widow cannot clean or cook after a fracture.
Subjective (S): "I can't cook or clean since my fracture."
Objective (O): Lives alone; unwashed dishes; no fresh food; uses a walker.
Assessment tools for this scenario: CP-MOVE Movement & Self-Care Score
Validated scales to consider: Barthel Index, Katz ADL
**CarePath diagnosis:** Cannot do household tasks related to weakness, as evidenced by dirty home and no meals.
**Interventions and rationale**
| Intervention | Rationale |
|---|---|
| Assess abilities. | Assessing what she can still do shows where help is really needed, so support fits her needs and does not remove her skills. |
| Arrange home help. | Home help covers tasks she cannot manage, such as cooking and cleaning, so she has meals and a safe home while she recovers. |
| Teach safe methods. | Safe methods, such as sitting to prepare food, let her do tasks with less pain and a lower risk of falling. |
| Refer to community support. | Community services give ongoing support after discharge, which matters because she lives alone and has no one else to help daily. |
**Expected outcomes**
- Within 1 week: home help arranged, regular meals, house safe.
- Patient names community help available.
**Linking the data to the diagnosis**
An older widow says, "I can't cook or clean since my fracture." She lives alone, has unwashed dishes and no fresh food, and uses a walker. The household tasks are already not being done, so an actual statement fits and a risk statement does not. The plan aims to make sure she is fed and her home is safe by assessing her abilities, arranging home help and linking her with community support. Within 1 week the expected outcomes are home help arranged, regular meals, a safe house and her naming the community help available.
CarePath diagnosis
Cannot do household tasks related to weakness, as evidenced by dirty home and no meals.
Interventions and rationale
Listed in priority order.
| Intervention | Rationale |
|---|---|
| 1. Assess abilities. | Assessing what she can still do shows where help is really needed, so support fits her needs and does not remove her skills. |
| 2. Arrange home help. | Home help covers tasks she cannot manage, such as cooking and cleaning, so she has meals and a safe home while she recovers. |
| 3. Teach safe methods. | Safe methods, such as sitting to prepare food, let her do tasks with less pain and a lower risk of falling. |
| 4. Refer to community support. | Community services give ongoing support after discharge, which matters because she lives alone and has no one else to help daily. |
Expected outcomes
- Within 1 week: home help arranged, regular meals, house safe.
- Patient names community help available.
Linking the data to the diagnosis
An older widow says, "I can't cook or clean since my fracture." She lives alone, has unwashed dishes and no fresh food, and uses a walker. The household tasks are already not being done, so an actual statement fits and a risk statement does not. The plan aims to make sure she is fed and her home is safe by assessing her abilities, arranging home help and linking her with community support. Within 1 week the expected outcomes are home help arranged, regular meals, a safe house and her naming the community help available.