Caregiver Personal Assessment

Personal care attendants (also called home health aides or caregivers) are people who provide assistance with activities of daily living (ADL) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) to other individuals. Personal care services are usually used by functionally frail seniors suffering from conditions that limit them from functioning independently, such as seniors suffering from Alzheimer's, stroke, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and other brain impairing conditions. Personal care attendants (PCAs) usually provide assistance with activities such as personal hygiene, bathing, dressing, meal preparation, transferring, bowel and trach care.

Defining Your Care Needs

It is important to create a list, so that both you and your caregiver are clear on expectations. If you do decide to write out a formal job description or write a independent consulting contract, make sure that you lay out all activities of daily living requirements. Depending on where you live, you can receive a formal personal care assessment by a care manager. These care managers can be found either through home health happinesslifetime.com care agencies or nursing homes. Care managers are usually specially trained Registered Nurses or social workers that have extensive experience in dealing with home health care.

In most cases you will decide to do the assessment yourself and must consider three general types of needs:

1.) Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)- direct assistance in hygiene, eating, bowel, and bladder care

2.) Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs)- indirect care such as laundry, groceries, driving, and cleaning

3.) Medical-Related Functions- managing medications, trach tube, and ventilator care

If you are hiring an independent caregiver, it is wise to enlist the help of a trained registered nurse to instruct your caregiver on medically related activities such as medication, pressure relief, positioning, suctioning, respiratory care, and skin inspection. If you decide to do physical therapy at home, you may want to have a physical therapist help you and your caregiver in range of motion exercises.

For more information concerning respite care and personal care attendates please visit our connectingcaregivers.com/blog blog