Home Support Workers Guideline
Home Support Workers need to understand a few basic rules.
- The first rule, is simple. YOU are in someone’s home TO HELP, NOT HINDER.
- Yes, there are some Patients who cannot answer the door, and it is left unlocked for the worker to enter. HOWEVER that is not the case with MANY so really, DO NOT ASSUME YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO WALK IN.
- Frankly the Company providing the service should have each assigned worker, clearly instructed on this matter, and MAKE SURE THEIR EMPLOYEES KNOW IT!
- Patient Safety should be right up there, at the top of the list.
- It should be simple common sense, but obviously it isn’t, or so it seems with the workers who show up to this household. You do not give the Patient a walker in the wrong position.
- In other words, if the walker has two wheels, and skids on two of the legs, you DO NOT give them the wheels facing them. The SKIDS OR RUBBER ENDS are what faces the Patient.
- This allows for them to easily manouver the walker, doing it ass backwards, impedes their walking, and can lead to the walker being caught on carpet, door runners, etc, WHICH CAN LEAD TO FALLS.
- Follow a Patient from behind, NOT LEAD THEM, if they are obviously unsteady on their feet, or use a walker.
- It isn’t Rocket Science you know, if they are unsteady and you are leading, you can’t help them if they become unstable.
- By being behind, you can easily lean over to correct their motion, to avoid obstacles, assuming you are paying attention, and keeping an eye out for such things.
- It should be simple common sense, but obviously it isn’t, or so it seems with the workers who show up to this household. You do not give the Patient a walker in the wrong position.
- Washing & Drying is not about a splash of water, a dab with a towel.
- It is why you are there, this is your PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY.
- Those in your care, are unable to properly cleanse their private area, as well as their more accessible regions. You are only adding to their discomfort, when you fail to adequately insure that their entire body is cleaned, with warm water and soap.
- Yes, it can be unpleasent to do, and we all may not like it, but this is important to the continued health of your Patient. Failing to do this properly, and completely, can and does, lead to serious health issues.
- Proper Drying is PARAMONT.
- This is how irritations and skin abrasions can happen, do happen.
- If you fail to properly dry your Patient, in their sensitive spots like the groin, infections can occur, and become difficult to treat, to eradicate.
- People sweat, and they can’t always reach down, to dry themselves.
- Urine can collect, or lay against the skin, so if it isn’t dry to begin with, if the pores are open, infections happen.
- What is worse, is that many elderly patients don’t complain, don’t communicate their needs, so you have to be able to know, if they are dry or not.
- YES it takes MORE TIME, but damn it, this is about caring for people, and their needs, not doing some half assed job, to be able to move on to the next victim.
- Those in your care, are unable to properly cleanse their private area, as well as their more accessible regions. You are only adding to their discomfort, when you fail to adequately insure that their entire body is cleaned, with warm water and soap.
- It is why you are there, this is your PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY.
- Transitioning from sitting to standing, and vice versa is an art, a science even.
- Most older Patients have issues, with their bones, their strength. You can’t pick them up or sit them down, like they are a rag doll. YOU WILL CAUSE INJURIES.
- Lifting from under the arms, in the armpits is not comfortable for some, but this isn’t about YOUR COMFORT BUT ABOUT PROTECTING THE PATIENT.
- A Patient who has a brittle bones can easily have their shoulder seperate, or even their arm break, if you grasp too tightly. The key is to NOT GRASP THEM AT ALL.
- Lifting from under the arm, allows them to use what strength they have, and be kept secure, with your strength. Your arm is to guide them, give them that little extra bit of strength needed to get themselves up, or sit down.
- Most older Patients have issues, with their bones, their strength. You can’t pick them up or sit them down, like they are a rag doll. YOU WILL CAUSE INJURIES.
It really isn’t a JOB. It certainly is NOT an easy profession, and certainly the companies operating many of these in home services don’t give a rat’s ass about their employees, or their Patients.
HOWEVER, THAT IS NO EXCUSE TO DO A HALF ASS JOB, OR TO BE UNPROFESSIONAL IN YOUR CARE OF THE PATIENT TRUSTED INTO YOUR HANDS. THEY ARE VERY SPECIAL TO SOMEONE.
It really isn’t about money either, or at least it shouldn’t be. No one is paid enough, who does a loving, caring, job of being a support worker. They are worth their weight in GOLD and then some, because you see, THEY ARE THE ONE’S WHO CARE ABOUT THE PATIENT, NOT THE PAYCHECK.
Difficult or Caring?
After yesterday, it seems to me that when you care about someone, about the care they are receiving from others, you become a ‘difficult‘ client. Myself, I prefer the word “Patient” to “Client” but it makes it easier for those in power, to “CANCEL” needed services for people, without remorse, or twang of conscience.
Am I Difficult?
I suppose it depends on how you look at it. If a person cares, and refuses to accept unqualified support help, does that make them difficult, or simply caring?
If a person objects to a 92 year old being man handled, because it might cause broken bones, or other serious health injuries, such as undue stress, does that make them difficult, or simply caring?
If a person steps in, to help a 92 year old with a cast on her arm, get out of bed, into a transport chair, so she doesn’t fall flat on her face, while the worker tries to have her do it on her own, is that being difficult, or simply caring?
if a patient is being washed, and has spent the night in a pair of depends, and instead of removng the soiled undergarments, you proceed to wash them, and you step in, to have those soiled items removed, as soon as possible, is that being difficult, or simply caring?
Think about it for a second. If your job is to help clean a person, after they’ve been sleeping, does it not make more sense to remove the soiled clothing, all of it, before commencing to clean them up?
Would you like to sit in wet undergarments, soaked with your own urine and feces, while someone is slapping moisturizing lotion on your back, after pushing and pulling your body around?
Everyone has their own way to do things, but you know, there is such a thing as common sense. You do not let a person remain in soiled undergarments, clothing, for any length of time. To begin with, it irritates the skin, never mind the stress it creates for that person. When your skin isn’t in the best of shape to begin with, having it coated in urine for any added length of time, is simply irresponsible.
So am I being Difficult? Or simply caring?
Seems to me, that when you fail to even notify a patient, that you won’t be providing any service, or that it will be interrupted, you are deliberately attempting to force people to remain silent, when their are issues with the quality of care. When you CREATE a climate of uncertainty, you are adding to the stress load for the Patient, as well as for their 24/7 caregiver.
So if one objects to that, is that being difficult, or simply caring?
It Ain’t Rocket Science
I wonder why we try to make things more complicated, than they have to be?
Take home support. I mean it isn’t difficult to figure out, that some people need help that others may not, and that one size really doesn’t fit all. Yet it seems to me, that is exactly what the various health agencies are attempting to do. Frankly, it just doesn’t work that way, and isn’t it more important to match workers, with client’s needs?
And that too, bothers me. Clients. Seriously, why do we try to make things sound better, than what they are? In a sense, yes those receiving aid are clients, but the truth is, they are patients, in need of care. Calling it something else may help salve the conscience of those sending unqualified or untrained, workers, but that still doesn’t help correct any defeciency in the system, now does it?
There is a lot of talk about all workers having certain qualifications, whether from an outside training course, or internally, and frankly I wonder, did they get tested before being deemed qualified? Being pleasen, well is a bonus, but not sufficient, in my mind, to look after someone older.
How you lift them, does matter, and yet I feel so much is being left out. I suppose that these workers may be given the full information, but no one seems to know. So if they are being told, why are they not conscious of the facts? Does it mean they don’t care, or aren’t able to access or assimiliate the information provided?
Each person is different. How you move them, matters, and as I said, each one is different. For example, Mom has a tendency to try and use her injured arm. So if you insure you are lifting her, from under the arm, of the broken one, she can’t put any weight on it, as she stands up. That also helps keep her good arm in shape, and reduces re-injuring the broken one. It lets the bones heal without added stress, which also reduces the pain.
Simple right?And yet so many seem to ignore that. Again, this is one more reason to insure their is some consistency in staffing, seniority or not. The more a worker is working with the same patient, the more they will know the little details, that can make it easier for both of them. Something I think scheduler’s forget about, or don’t take into account.
Then too their is the familiarity with equipment. I mean if these workers are trained, then it would be common sense, that they would know how to use things like transfer chairs, walkers, etc. How to clean a commode, how to even make up the bed, or sit them back down on it. And yet, it seems that isn’t the case.
Is it because they have so many patients to deal with, or is it simply that they aren’t aware of the new equipment available? Do they know what a grab bar is? How a patient should hold it, or not? How about sitting them down on a transfer chair, and then putting the foot rests out? How to wheel it, so they don’t bang into walls?
Bottom line seems to be, that whatever training is being given, it fails to cover even the basics, in any detail. There simply doesn’t seem to be a desire, to make those being sent into people’s homes, qualified in even, the basics. And yet, we pay for it, and I wonder, what does that say about us?
