assisted living caregiver Care givers come in all shapes and sizes and in all senior care settings including home care, Assisted Living Facilities, Residential Care Homes and most commonly traditional families who are lucky enough to be able to care for their loved ones at home.
When families and family caregivers don’t have the time, skills, and physical plant or house set up then we look to other care settings for paid caregiving services. In those settings Tlcsr always advocates that you meet the entire care team to see if they operate as part of an extended team and to make sure the day to day care givers are working side by side and are on a first name basis with the owner, administrator, and mangers who are suppose to be guiding them, training them, and providing the complex back up and support they need. Never forget care giving is a team event be it in your own family caregiving system or in a paid caregiving system. Moreover, senior caregiving is like the sports you follow on TV and all players roles matter for the best outcomes. Since you need the doctor, administrator of the broader caregiving staff, and need emergency and problem solvers for the insurance claims, getting the medicines, transportation, and many other things you need to think about caregiving teams.
Part three: Both Paid Caregivers and Family Caregivers need to develop their care teams.
Those who supervise you as a caregiver need to include you in the care process and visa verse. Trust and team connectedness are earned more than they are purchased.
Work with your broad medical, administrative and extended care teams. Minimize tension and enhance the care you provide by enhancing communication with all other specialists’ physician, pharmacist, registered nurses, owners and administrators and other caretakers.
DISCOVER WAYS TO CONNECT WITH THE DOCTOR, PHARMACIST, AND INSURANCE BUSINESS AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE CARE TEAM.
Discover ways to connect with the physicians and other members of the care team the doctor directs. You belong to a group that begins with the physician and center administrator. You are not alone, ask concerns and rely on them for support. By doing so you can improve care and minimize your very own anxiety in looking after ill individuals who are going to have medical, social and financial problems that you can not resolve and treat. You need to be and feel like you are part of a team. Find out the best ways to communicate efficiently with doctors. Organize clinical information so it’s up to date and simple to find. Make sure legal files are in order.
Team building requires working together on a first name basis to know each other doctor, nurse, paid caregiver and extended family caregivers to earn each others trust.
Trust cant be purchased, just like caring can’t be purchased but is earned. To enjoy work you need to trust and feel connected to your care team. When the team feels connected the are will feel more like an extended family care team which is what every one should shoot for and look for. You need to meet the team leaders and direct care staff to see and feel that connectedness, trust, and passion.
We applaud other writers for suggesting these facts too.
Caregiving is a skilled job and is not an unskilled one!
We suggest reading material from +Anne-Marie Botek on Agingcare.com who always discusses how difficult all forms of caregiving are from nursing to custodial care giving. We all are caregivers to those we surround ourselves with at home and work.
For those trying to find caregiver jobs, they will be hired to participate in geriatric care, elder care, nursing home care and various medical related areas all of which are skills.
We suggest employers extend training to caregivers for all job listings to ensure the highest levels of elder care.
Care giving is a team job!
This article by Anne-Marie Botek starts to show the complexity of the care team in a nursing home or more institutional care setting with nurses, social workers, activity people and then the harder to find doctors and administrators.
Who’s Who in Skilled Nursing: Staff Caregivers Should Get To Know
What we want to suggest is that on that team you should look for a leader and a leader who knows the names of the care team you are buying or using. That is not easy. A big facility or institution operates on a business model and six sigma efficiency and if they don’t value taking time to know their own team members names or to meet what some describe as “low pay” or less skilled people it is likely the care will be more assembly line in style and not have what we call Family-style care with social connectedness. While the opportunity for training is lost also I believe the emotional and social loss might be even more important.
Choosing the assisted living care team is a choice.
It is up to each of us to look for that family-style care team and then to value it and pay for it. One way we can recognize the skilled caregivers is to pay at least minimum wage. Yes, until 1/2015 caregivers often got not just less than but much less than minimum wage. It is unimaginable that any person can be their best if you show with pay and words that they are somehow “less skilled”. Just my view. I value my care team and know each member by first name and hope that people can look for the same elsewhere. I often compare any medical or assisted living care team to a professional sports team. There are many members of the team with different complimentary skills but they realize you need all parts to win or in the case of Assisted Living Services provide the most family-like care possible. My view is families know each other by name and share day to day simple experiences if your caregivers, team leaders are not doing that, the care might be less family-like and more assembly line. Don’t be the next DVD player on the line, be yourself.
Summary
By doing all of these you can improve the care you provide, feel even better personally about what you are doing, and integrated a future as a calm, reputable caretaker for those families caretakers touch so personally every day.
Care giving
is not simply a paycheck but is a social service and there are numerous in-kind social and psychological benefits that are shared amongst the caregiver, homeowner and the many prolonged members of each person’s social system. We need to value those who care for us more in our own households and the extended family care teams we all connect with everyday in the health care system.
Residential Care alternatives to the Assisted Living and Nursing Home Rehab. Many do not know that Residential care homes are the most cost effective care choice by far. Tlcsr is a great example of high quality care and value. Tender Loving Care Senior Residence –
Educational video links Family caregivers
AARP- caregiving resource center
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