What You Really Need to Consider When Choosing A Nursing Caregiver For Your Elderly Loved One
Author: Ibrahim Khader | February 2nd, 2018
Handing over the responsibility of taking care of your elderly parents to a stranger is a huge and life-changing undertaking you and your loved ones will undergo. You will be placing the health and safety of your loved ones in the hands of a person who is not a member of your family and who will be doing this since it’s his or her job.
Because of this, you need to practice painstaking diligence when hiring a caregiver for your senior loved ones.
Factors to Consider When Hiring a Nursing Caregiver
You will be able to select a reliable and trustworthy nursing care provider for your elderly loved one if you consider important factors during the hiring process. These key factors include:
1.The needs of your parents
Identify the particular areas or things your elderly loved ones need regular help with. These include:
·Help with doing certain household tasks
·Assistance when going to the grocery, pharmacy, and doctor’s or dentist’s clinic for scheduled checkups
·Medication management (to ensure the patients do not forget to take any medicine in the right doses)
·Physical therapy
·Personal care and grooming (cooking, eating, dressing, bathing, etc.)
Consider any health issues your elderly loved ones may have as well. If a senior family member is undergoing regulardialysis, for example, your nurse should know how to take care of your parent during and after every procedure.
Prioritize the needs your senior family members require. Make sure the nursing caregiver is capable of providing or doing these to ensure and maintain your loved ones’ well-being and safety.
2. The qualification and experience of the nursing caregiver
To be certain that the person tasked to look after your elderly loved ones is competent, check the background of the nurse. If you’re still shortlisting applicants, ask for copies of their qualifications, including certifications or licenses from relevant regulatory or governing bodies.
Nursing caregivers who underwent the right course and have the appropriate certificates will follow high standards in providing care for their patients. As such, you can be sure your senior family members will receive excellent quality of care.
Experienced elderly nursing care providers will have already dealt with different types of patients and know how to manage or help them in the best way possible. They can already recall from their experience the most suitable and safest method to provide aid to their patients.
With years of experience under their belt, seasoned nurses will also have no difficulties customizing a particular technique to their patients. By doing so, they still give their patients opportunities to learn and do some things independently, which are still important experiences for senior individuals.
3. The Nursing caregiver's background
Aside from looking into the qualifications and experiences of the nursing caregiver, do a criminal background check as well to ensure your elderly loved ones are in safe hands. He or she should pass this criminal background check. But don’t simply look at major convictions or jail time; check if the applicant has been involved in minor crimes or offenses as well. These include drug abuse, DUIs, driving without a license, etc.
In case you will be hiring from an agency, make sure that the agency does sufficient criminal background checks. They should follow a good process in vetting and checking the background of their nurses. Ask them details about the procedure they follow if you want to be certain that they are doing this important part properly.
4. Your Instinct
When conducting interviews or simply speaking with potential nursing care providers, listen to what your instincts are telling you. Consider your feelings while talking to a particular applicant: Do you feel comfortable and glad, or uneasy, during the conversation?
Assess the responses and the way the applicant answers or talks during the interview as well. Is the nurse confident with his or her answers and are the responses correct or relevant to the questions?
It is important that you feel comfortable while talking to a potential nurse. You also have to feel genuine kindness, warmth, and patience emanating from the nursing caregiver since your elderly loved ones will need these from their new companion.
The Most Important Consideration
Ultimately, you will be able to choose a trustworthy and dependable nursing caregiver for your elderly family members by prioritizing the needs of your loved ones, knowing the applicant’s background, and listening to your gut feelings.
A nursing caregiver who will be able to expertly provide all the needs of your senior family members, and one that you feel comfortable and at ease with, will be the best person to help and be around your elderly loved one.
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AUTHOR BIO
Ibrahim Khader founded Angels of Medical Care in 2010. The name "Angels" was chosen because of his belief that nurses are angels of healing and care with the blessings of the creator. The company has flourished and is now one of the best, most renowned home care companies in Dubai.
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