Home care services can be vital in helping seniors continue to live at home as safely and independently as possible. However, communication between home care caregivers and the senior’s family members is a key factor. Whether your loved one has had a caregiver for years or you are just starting to research home care options, it’s never too early (or too late) to begin planning for good communication. Here are a few communication tips to consider. Remember to adjust your approach based on your preferences and the home care provider’s protocol.
Online care portals
Many home care providers use electronic records, with caregivers in the home using their smartphones to document their care, observations, and concerns. These systems often include an online care portal, where family members can log in.
- Make checking the portal a part of your daily routine. Try stacking the habit with another consistent task in your day, such as reviewing the portal while drinking your morning coffee or while waiting in the pickup line at your child’s school.
- Remember that communication in the portal goes both ways. Try contributing to the conversation, whether it is a quick thanks or sharing information you noticed during your weekend visit.
Use a notebook system
If your home care agency doesn’t use an online portal, or if you are looking for another way to communicate with the caregiver who is in the home with your loved one, try a notebook system.
- Purchase a notebook and keep it in a consistent location, like on the kitchen counter. Attach a pen to the notebook.
- Date all entries and have caregivers and family members initial after reading the entry.
- Use the notebook to share your observations or concerns with your loved one’s caregiver. You can also use it to leave reminders or thank-you notes.
- Encourage your loved one’s caregiver to leave you notes as well, such as when they are running low on your parent’s shampoo or who stopped by to visit during the day.
- Remember, a notebook is not a good place to report emergencies or serious concerns. Ensure everyone knows the emergency protocol and how to communicate if something more serious arises.
Care plan meetings
While your loved one might be used to seeing one or two consistent caregivers in the home, there are actually more people on the home care team. Typically, the home care provider’s office includes professionals like nurses, administrators, and even social workers who create care plans for each client. According to the CDC, a care plan is “a form that summarizes a person’s health conditions, specific care needs, and current treatments.” It is essentially a road map that tells caregivers and others how to best care for the senior.
- Care plans are flexible and rewritten regularly based on caregiver feedback, adjusting for changes in the senior client’s condition.
- Care plan meetings are held regularly so the team can review, edit, and add to the care plan to meet the client’s needs. Family members are a key part of this review, so be sure to attend the care plan meeting.
- If you cannot attend in person, ask if you may attend via conference call.
- If you haven’t received an invitation to a care plan meeting, ask if you can schedule one so you can meet your loved one’s extended home care team and review what type of care and interventions currently work best with your loved one.
Regular check-ins
Sometimes, you might feel like you need additional time to communicate with your loved one’s home care agency. This might be because your loved one has had a health change or because you are feeling like too many things are falling through the cracks in their care. In this case, you can request scheduled phone calls or emails from a designee in the home care agency.
- Make the phone call or email part of your regular schedule. Create an appointment and block off the time so you will not be distracted.
- Keep running notes about what you discuss and what topics or tasks to follow up on. During the next call, review your notes so everyone can catch up on outstanding tasks.
- Keep calls to less than 45 minutes. Too-long calls can be ineffective. Stick to the list of concerns and tasks you need to complete or follow up on.
- Be polite and kind. Remember that everyone is there to support your loved one.
Keep communication open with your loved one’s home care provider
Communication is crucial to your loved one’s health, especially when a home care provider is in the picture. Everyone has important information to share, and having good communication habits will help reduce the chances that some piece of news isn’t relayed to everyone. It’s never too late to change your communication strategy, either. Adjust your approach until everyone finds that it is working.
