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Posts Tagged ‘caregivers for the elderly’

5 Tips to Help Your Caregivers to Improve Communication with Seniors

Posted by homecare

When working with senior citizens, it’s crucial that all communication is clear and understood by both the caregiver and senior. If any information is misunderstood by either party, then complications can occur that undermine the quality of the care administered. For this reason, caregivers who work with the elderly must always strive for effective communication. And, sometimes, this requires taking extra measures to increase your senior’s understanding. 

As an added bonus, adequate communication leads to satisfied patients, which positively affects your in-home care services for elderly individuals. Continue reading to learn our five tips for improving communication with seniors. 

Allow Extra Time for Explaining And Understanding 

As individuals age, they can develop cognitive issues that make it difficult to understand new information. Therefore, it’s important to instruct your caregivers to allow additional time when overviewing the day’s agenda and reading medication instructions. Doing so will instill confidence in your patients and contribute to an overall better caregiving experience. 

Limit Distractions When Giving Information and Transitioning

When working closely with the elderly, your caregivers should aim to limit all distractions when giving information and going through transitions. One should be especially mindful of patients suffering from dementia and other forms of cognitive decline. In this instance, caregivers need to take control of the situation by implementing gentle reminders and praises. For example, if you are about to transition from breakfast to a light morning workout, be patient, supportive, and assertive. 

Enunciate Clearly and Use Simple Words

In some cases, when your seniors experience cognitive decline, hearing loss, etc., you must take extra steps to communicate. These additional steps include enunciating your words as well as using simple words and manners of speech. Never talk to the senior in your care as if they were a child. However, do utilize concise, direct language that does not include medical terms and complex sentences.

Summarize Important Information 

Another great tip for helping the caregivers you employ to better communicate with seniors is summarizing important information. For example, after going over instructions, simply provide a comprehensive, easy-to-understand summary of your points at the end. Taking this extra step ensures that both parties understand exactly what is to follow. 

Allow Senior to Ask Questions for Clarification 

Caregivers for the elderly can easily make the mistake of not letting their patients ask adequate questions after giving information. Therefore, anytime that you are administering medication or overseeing a workout, always allow your senior to ask questions. Many times, they may refuse to do something that you have asked because they do not understand. Thus, by asking, “Do you have any questions about what we’re doing?”, your patient is more likely to respond positively. Additionally, they will begin to trust you as well as any routines and activities that you implement in the future. 

Open a Care Franchise and Begin Changing Lives Today

Elderly care services at home may seem daunting at first. However, these five tips will certainly help increase communication between your caregivers and their patients, no matter the barriers. 

A Better Solution In Home Care is happy to offer these tips as well as our franchising opportunities. With our opportunities in franchising, aspiring business owners get the chance to better the lives of seniors. Additionally, franchisees will have access to the lucrative home care business with a constant flow of clients. 

After undergoing our training programs and making the initial investment, you’ll have all the tools to start caring for patients. With our successful brand name, you can guarantee a return on your investment and financial stability for the future. 

To learn more about our franchising options, contact us today. We look forward to working with you. 

Senior Care Franchise Owners: Signs It’s Time to Let a Caregiver Go

Posted by homecare

As a senior care franchise owner, you have a passion for helping elders to thrive at home. From the beginning, you have worked hard at building a business that puts senior care and safety first. Part of that process is hiring qualified and retrained caregivers for the elderly whom you serve. A lot of time and effort must go into selecting the right candidate and making sure that they are providing the highest possible level of care. 

Each caregiver you send out is your representative. This means that their actions can not only help or hinder the lives of seniors, but they are also reflective of the reputation and integrity of your business. Therefore, as a franchise owner, it is imperative to recognize the signs that indicate trouble. Sometimes, letting a caregiver go can be one of the important decisions you make. But first, you must be aware if a problem is present. Here are some common indicators to watch out for. 

Complaints 

Families need caregivers they can trust. And they want to rely on the fact that you trusted them first. Often, seniors benefit greatly from the assistance of a home care provider. However, when complaints begin to arise, pay attention. In a busy world, it is easy to dismiss problems or simply apologize for them. However, if you are consistently receiving complaints about a caregiver, it could mean trouble. In other words, if seniors or their families are frequently at odds with a specific caregiver, it might be time to let the caregiver go. 

Unreliability 

When it comes to senior care, unreliability can cause an elderly person to be left unattended. In fact, if a caregiver shows up late or leaves early, serious consequences can occur. For example, this can increase the risk for falls, medical emergencies, and other disasters. If the caregiver is in charge of cooking, their absence could mean that a senior might go without eating or drinking. For a bed-ridden patient, the consequences could be dire. 

Temperament 

Those who take on caregiver jobs should be patient and even-tempered. Be vigilant about changes in a home care provider’s behavior. If they begin to exhibit angry outbursts or lack patience when you are speaking to them, consider their treatment of vulnerable seniors. Employees who are disrespectful to their superiors can be even more likely to treat their patients poorly. This is a cause for concern and something about which franchise owners should be vigilant. 

Burnout 

For caregivers to care for others, they must care for themselves first. Unfortunately, burnout is one of the most prevalent issues in elderly caregiving. And it is important to recognize the signs. For example, exhaustion is often an indicator. Furthermore, a caregiver experiencing fatigue can place seniors at risk. Falling asleep on the job or administering medications improperly can have deadly consequences. Additional symptoms of burnout can include a lack of care for oneself. Therefore, if you notice related changes in appearance or emotional state, intervention may be necessary. 

Senior care franchise owners must be vigilant about recognizing any form of elder abuse. Whether the maltreatment is accidental or purposeful, they must stop it immediately. One of the ways to put an end to improper caregiving is to know the signs. While they can vary, the aforementioned signs are among the most common. And if left unnoticed, they can lead to even further neglect. Because senior care is your passion, it’s important to have resources. At A Better Solution in Home care, we offer a variety of tools to help seniors and their families. Our agents are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to answer any questions you might have. Please call (877) 585 9011 or visit our website to learn more. 

Senior Care Businesses: 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Recruiting Caregivers 

Posted by homecare

When it’s time to hire caregivers for your senior care business, you can be easily overwhelmed. It takes a special kind of person to be a caregiver, but it’s not the most lucrative career. Therefore, there can be significant turnover. Also, other issues can arise if you don’t do your due diligence in the hiring process. Here are five mistakes you should avoid as you recruit caregivers for the elderly. 

Failing To Prioritize Recruiting

Hiring caregivers is a difficult task. It’s even more troublesome when it’s not a priority. Having vacancies for caregivers usually means that you’re short staffed. As a result, you’re likely overworking your existing staff and running the risk that they will soon suffer from burnout. Symptoms of burnout include anxiety, depression, irritability and more. The shortage in caregivers is expected to get worse in the coming years. Therefore, it’s imperative that you appropriately staff your home care agency to retain the staff you already have. 

Providing Insufficient Training

Caregiving doesn’t require degrees or state licensure. Training for these jobs rests mostly on the employer. As a result, the training you provide new caregiving employees is critical to the long term success of your business. Releasing employees who lack the experience to provide a service on behalf of your business is setting you both up for disaster. The stress experienced by overwhelmed employees fielding requests that they don’t know how to fulfill increases the likelihood that they become unhappy with their jobs. This increases the chances that you will need to hire caregivers again in the near future. 

Skipping A Background Check

Seniors are a vulnerable population that gets targeted at alarming rates. Rampant elder abuse in nursing homes is why many families prefer for their loved ones to engage with in-home caregivers. When you hire caregivers for your home care business, it is your responsibility to ensure that they don’t pose a threat to either your clients or your existing staff. Even though it can be costly, performing background checks on all of your employees can flag people who have a history of preying on elderly people. 

Offering Low Wages

Caregiver jobs pay less than $11 per hour on average. Many quality employees will not accept wages this low, especially in and near metropolitan areas with high costs of living expenses. As a result, these wages can attract young people without job experience or people who have no other job prospects. In some cases, this means that you end up having to replace the young people who leave to pursue higher wages after they’ve gained experience. In other cases, it means you run the risk of needing to replace the low quality employees you hired because of their poor work performance. Either way, this can lead to high turnover rates which can decrease employee satisfaction and increase overhead costs as you scramble to replace employees. 

Not Providing Opportunities For Advancement

One way you can combat high turnover from young people who leave after gaining experience is by establishing a pattern of promoting employees from within your organization. Failing to offer opportunities for advancement like these all but ensures that you’ll have to bear the costs of hiring new employees frequently. 

If you’re ready to begin your home care franchise journey with A Better Solution In Home Care, you need to develop a fool proof recruitment strategy. We can provide your senior care business with training, and coaching. Also, we can provide management support to help them grow their staff and business. Visit our website today to learn more about how you can open a franchise location!