Elderly home care and respite care

Elderly Home Care - Avoiding Burnout

Will you ever get a vacation from your care-giving? As a nurse case manager at an acute care hospital I often see what I call the caregiver burnout admission. This patient is admitted for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is nothing serious but other times there are major medical problems because the caregiver just wasn’t doing their job.

I don’t want to blame the caregivers here, especially family members who are not trained and are not getting paid for the work they do.

Taking care of an elderly person is a very difficult job. I love being with my patients for 8 hours but I am very happy to go home at the end of the day. Anyone who has raised small children understands that it requires a lot of time, effort and patience. A confused or bedridden elderly person requires just as much time and effort, but instead of growing out of it like a child does they often become more weak and confused over time. A family caregiver can suffer from burnout very easily and it can be harmful to both the patient and the caregiver.

So what do you do so you don’t get burnout? There are options. Hire someone from your church or ask a friend to come in for a few hours a week so you can get some personal time to pamper yourself. Check into day-care centers for the elderly (they have special Alzheimer’s day care centers too). This way the elderly person can get out and socialize while you get some time to your self. Also check into respite care. These programs are often provided by local churches and other non-profit groups. Some programs will provide overnight care so families can take a break. Respite care centers are often funded by the public (charity) but will charge a sliding scale fee based on what the family can afford.