Caregiver Support Interventions: A Review
Added on 2020-01-07
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Aspect of Care 1Aspect of CareStudent's Name:Instructor's Name:Date:
Aspect of Care 2Introduction:An epidemic or illness can be best treated with good care. Apart from the nurses involved in thescenario, what is essential is that the family of the person affected understands the enormity ofthe situation, and help the health care professionals in doing their job. That is why, there havebeen several research pertaining to the involvement of family in nursing care. As a nurse, I toohave experienced a similar circumstance, where a person suffering from hypertension and heartailment was brought under normal condition with the help of his family. Instead of putting onlythe sick person on a diet, and serious restrictions to food items, the family decided to follow ahealthy routine wherein everyone in the house was on a restricted diet. This not only allowed thefamily to retain their good health, but also helped the sick person to bring his hypertension andcholesterol to a normal count.As Osso states, “The challenge is then to show we value such involvement and to maintain thesupport of the family, while creating guidelines that maintain privacy for other patients andeffective infection control measures.”(Osso Elna 2012), it is essential in nursing practise tounderstand the benefits of family involvement, and also predict where and when they can comein handy, before utilising them. The problem faced by the nursing practitioner world-wide is thatthere are no set rules or policies when it comes to ‘family intervention or involvement’ in nursingcare. It is entirely dependent upon the situation, and revolves around the health care providerand the family of the patient.a). What professional skills and values are required and how should the nurse demonstrate these to establish and maintain this partnership?Before going into the professional skills required for involving family in nursing care, here iswhat the experts say about the topic: “Family involvement is a multidimensional construct that
Aspect of Care 3entails visiting, socio-emotional care, advocacy, and the provision of personal care” (Gaugler EJoseph).Family interference, is therefore, related to a whole lot of items, other than the simple care thatthe members of a household took to save a man from high blood pressure or body weight. Here,it is a comprehensive approach, wherein there exists a harmony between the nursing careprofessional and the members as in where and when the intervention is appreciated. There are, however, several cases where we see the care givers, not able to manage the essential‘care’ that needs to be given to a patient in need. Say, for instance, a family, with a membersuffering from dementia, need to go beyond their ways to pacify and keep the patient happy.Here, giving medicines on time (although it matters too) or just having an eye on them to see ifthey slip back in memory are secondary. What is essential is the psychological support that thefamily members or one particular care giver can provide. Hence, the family care giver, or avolunteer will require both skill and knowledge to deal with the work and also to lessen theirpersonal distress in an emergency situation. All three skills- the psychomotor, cognitive andpsychological skills.Here is where the professional skills of a nursing provider come into the picture. Therequirements of a personal care giver involve: “..monitoring, interpreting, making decisions,taking action, adjusting to changing needs..working with the ill person..” (Schumaker)The list, as we can see, is huge, and several times, the family care giver needs to put back theirrequirements, or change their work schedules to deal with the crisis at hand. As for the nursingpractitioners, the primary job involved is to identify the person’s capabilities as a personal caregiver, and coach them in all the requisite details to ensure they can deal with the job effectively.
Aspect of Care 4It is not always that a family care giver is asked to go beyond the necessary means to deal withan emergency situation or a daily needs. Only in some situations require them to practice theirskills to perfection, and also want them to get initial training. For instance, a mother, an idealperson in case of taking care of paediatric issues, should be explained about the risks involved intaking care of an infant with say, Down’s syndrome or irregular heartbeats or a cardiac problem.Unless she is explained about the technicality of involving the infant in an exercise orintroducing him or her to a new routine, the primary care giver might not be of use.Thus, although the involvement of a family care giver can diffuse difficult situations and canease the patient’s problems, they need to be trained to be of any use to them. The nursingprovider, who is in charge, can, to a certain extent, deal with the details. Since the job of anursing provider is to give essential ‘care’ to the sick person, involving the family member as asecondary care giver can be left to their discretion. However, it is necessary for the nursingprovider to:a.Give all details regarding the illness and what it involves treating the sick personb.Teach them the skills required for the job, such as ‘injecting a medicine’, oradministering nasal drops or sprays, and so on.c.How to react in an emergency situation – explain, even with the help of an example, theimmediate action to be taken in case of an emergency.To do this, the nursing provider should be able to identify the situation in hand, and alsocheck if the person responsible for acting as a family care giver is suitable for the job. Even ifnot, it should be left to the discretion of both parties to act according to the present scenario.
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