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What mistakes you should avoid when picking an in-home caregiver 

Your parents or grandparents need help with daily tasks and you are not able to support them. Hiring a skilled caregiver or a nurse is the first option that comes to your mind. As Rolf Odbeli says in his book the Art of Thinking Clearly, avoiding mistakes and biases leads you to the right way. So it could be with hiring a caregiver. You know the mistakes and problems others have had, you can avoid them and have better results.

What are the benefits of in-home care services for the elderly?

The following are some of the advantages of hiring a caregiver taking care of the elderly:

  • Higher satisfaction with life
  • Allows dignity, independence, and maximum comfort
  •  Promotes healing
  • supports and keeps families together
  • Improving nutrition and diet of the elderly
  • Companionship and avoiding isolation
  • Transportation services
  • Faster Recovery
  • Reduced cost of recovery and healing
  • Constant monitoring of health conditions
  • Always receiving the appropriate type of care

The above advantages are not all of hiring a caregiver but are enough to get one taking care of the elderly and your loved ones.

 

What mistakes should you avoid?

You can use the following tips to avoid some of the mistakes when choosing an in-home caregiver or nurse to take care of your family member:

 

Know the difference between roles

There is a difference between in-home care and home health nursing. They are two different roles entirely. An in-home caregiver provides basic services to people who cannot take care of themselves, such as:

  • Cooking
  • Dressing
  • Bathing
  • Shopping
  • Cleaning the house
  • Companionship

 

A home health nurse provides medical and therapy services by the patient’s needs and could include medical services.

You need to figure out which one you need by the physical and mental condition of your loved ones or the disabled family member. The health expert might be able to provide recommendations on which one to hire.

If you have not decided yet, Health and Care Professional Network guides you on choosing the right type of person.

 

Thinking only about costs

When it comes to health issues, the cost should not be a big concern. It’s hard to make money, I agree, but if you hire an unskilled caregiver who is not licensed but provides cheap service, there could be heavy consequences.

The caregiver must be committed to taking care of the patient or your loved one. He/she must be responsive to you and the company who send him/her. There must be a legal guarantee If an unpleasant situation happens for your loved one.

A professional caregiver from a Home Health agency might cost you a bit more, but you can ensure that you receive the best service.

 

The nurse or caregiver knows more than you.

The person you hire to take care of your family has more information, knowledge, and work experience dealing with patients. You would better trust him/her and the agency who sneds the caregiver.

There are some tips and points that the caregiver knows and you have no information about. If some changes must be implemented, try to do them and make the house comfortable for your loved ones.

Although you need to monitor the process and ensure your family member is receiving the best of care. Watch over the health condition and see if it is improved or not.

 

Check the reviews and comments of others

You are going to purchase an item on Amazon. The first thing to do is to check comments and reviews about the item. You can do the same when choosing a caregiver or healthcare.

Ask friends and relatives if they have hired a caregiver for their family members. Ensure the person you hire holds enough skill and experience in taking care of your loved ones.

Also, there might be a feature with the person that you do not like or does not fit your conditions. Your family member might suffer from a particular condition, and the caregiver is not able to cover it. You would better get the right person by your needs.

You can ask people on social media to recommend a good caregiver or ask the agency to introduce you to some of their clients if possible. The clients can provide you with excellent tips and recommendations over the caregivers that are experienced and helpful.

You can Google the name of the caregiver and see if he/she has an online resume or not. Look at the comments to see what others have said. If not, search the name of the agency and see if people have commended particular caregivers or not.

Changing caregivers or nurses might not be a good idea. The one you hire gets familiar with your loved ones’ condition, needs, mental and physical condition, and behavior. Adapting to a new one can be tough for you and your family member and also could take time. So you can spend some time, find the right person and continue until the patient gets better.

 

Tracking the patient’s health condition

The caregiver or nurse needs to report the health condition of the patient regularly to the family and health experts. Even the smallest changes in the diet, skin color, urine, or mental and physical health of the patient need to be reported.

You would better talk to a doctor about the improvements and changes so as to make a wise decision.

 

Know the right time to get help

One of the worst mistakes people make is postponing hiring a caregiver for the elderly or a disabled family member. People might deny the fact that the patient needs a skilled person to take care of him/her.

Families might take care of the loved ones themselves often, it gets too late, and the patient needs professional help. There are a few things that only someone skilled knows about a health condition knows to do.

The mental and physical condition might get worse than you can imagine without knowing. So consulting with a health expert or an informed caregiver is a wise option.

 

Continue communicating with the Home Health agency

The one mistake that is common with families is not communicating with the agency after hiring the caregiver. The contact with the agency must be preserved after the nurse or caregiver begins his/her work. If something is going wrong with the patient, the agency needs to know.

The agency might have to change the caregiver or nurse and assign the patient to someone with higher skills and abilities.

The caregiver needs to inform the health expert or doctors about the patient’s condition. Ensure he/she does it through the agency.

 

Prepare a backup plan by the agency

You would better work with a Home Health agency that provides backup caregivers and nurses. The one you hire could face a problem or get sick that is common and ordinary. So you need a backup caregiver to take care of your loved ones.

If the duration of sickness or absence gets too long, you definitely need someone qualified to fill the place and take care of the patient.

Health and Care Professional Network provides skilled caregivers, and we are able to provide another caregiver if our staff face a problem.

Through the backup program, you can ensure that your loved one will never be alone and the help will always be there for him/her.

 

Set the requirements and needs clearly

To avoid misunderstandings and problems along the way of the caring process, you would better make everything clear. The patient’s condition must be made clear to the caregiver and the agency.

If required, the caregiver can have meetings (or online) with the health experts or doctor to have a clear understanding of the patient.

You can prepare a checklist of the tasks and responsibilities or have meetings with the caregiver to clear the things that need to be done.

 

Not choosing the right type of service

In-home care services include lots of services and support. You need to know each one carefully and pick the appropriate one by your conditions. What type of person are you looking for:

  • Nurses
  • Doctors
  • Therapists
  • Health assistants
  • Companions
  • Caregiver

 

Each of the above people provides a different service. You need to read about each one task and responsibility and pick the appropriate one.

You can also go through the top menu of the website to get familiar with the services provided by Health and Care Professional Network.

 

Pick a reliable home health agency

You would better pick an in-home care agency that provides long enough services in your city or area. They should be committed to training, education, and growth of the staff and caregivers.

The teaching of new skills should be a priority to them, and the caregivers need to keep their skills up to date.

Health and Care Professional Network has been providing in-home care services to the residents of Las Vegas for +15 years.

We provide a different range of in-home care services to the elderly and the disabled to facilitate life for them in their place of residence.

 

The final word

The article provided the mistakes you and make when hiring a caregiver or skilled nurse to take care of your loved ones or the elderly.

Health and Care Professional Network has provided the best of in-home care services to the residents of Las Vegas for +15 years now.

Give us a call at (702) 871-9917 to know more about our services and hire a caregiver for the senior members of your family.

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