Challenges of Informal Caregiving

This assignment delves into the complexities of informal caregiving. It discusses the increasing demand for informal caregivers due to rising home discharges, highlighting the lack of training and preparedness they often face. The assignment emphasizes the significant emotional and psychological burden on caregivers, particularly in managing critically ill patients and coping with death and illness. It argues for the need to provide informal caregivers with professional training and support to effectively fulfill their crucial role.

Running head: PERSONAL REFLECTION OF INFORMAL CARE GIVERS
Personal reflection of informal care givers
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1PERSONAL REFLECTION OF INFORMAL CARE GIVERS
Health care has a varied assortment of different professionals, and given the
multidisciplinary nature of the health care industry in the current age, the variety of job roles
available in the industry is appreciable. The informal caregivers belong with the extended
verity of job roles available in the health care industry. The concept of informal care deviates
a bit from the conventional full time health care providers, where the hired informal care
providers assist the patient in healthy living while in home based environment all the while
not conventionally belonging to the health care and medical field. However, this difference in
designation often creates a number of challenges in the path for health care delivery for the
informal care providers (Harding et al., 2012).
According to the reading by UTHORS, the rise in the frequency of home discharge has
significantly increased the need for informal care givers and it has spiked the employment
scenario for informal carers as well. However, from my own professional experience, the
lack of skill and preparation in the informal carers regarding chronic illness and the
possibility of encountering death is huge. The qualitative study focuses more on the life
experiences of the care provider and helps to understand the challenges faced by the informal
care givers (Plank, Mazzoni & Cavada, 2012).
The verdict of the study concludes that excessive workload and ‘being responsible for
everything’ has a significant effect on the psych and tolerance of the informal caregiver. I
would like to add that in the home based environments the entire responsibility of the
critically ill patient falls upon the informal care provider and fulfilling the endless
responsibilities facilitate extreme burnout in the informal caregivers. In agreement with the
final verdict of the article, the family members cannot fulfil the need for critically ill patient
on their own and the need for skilled professional knowledge (Plank, Mazzoni & Cavada,

2PERSONAL REFLECTION OF INFORMAL CARE GIVERS
2012). And in my opinion the informal caregivers should be trained and educated in
interpreting the basic requirements of the patients and management techniques so that they
can carry out the care services without any hassle in an organized manner. a very important
challenge in the profession of informal care-giving is coming to terms with the possibility of
death and illness, and without any professional knowledge it serves as a psychological
burden in the informal caregivers. With a little professional training the informal care
providers can equip themselves with skills and insight that can help them significantly in
providing adequate care to the patient with the concept of illness and death clouding their
minds (Zwaanswijk et al., 2013).

3PERSONAL REFLECTION OF INFORMAL CARE GIVERS
References:
Harding, R., List, S., Epiphaniou, E., & Jones, H. (2012). How can informal caregivers in
cancer and palliative care be supported? An updated systematic literature review of
interventions and their effectiveness. Palliative medicine, 26(1), 7-22.
Plank, A., Mazzoni, V., & Cavada, L. (2012). Becoming a caregiver: new family carers’
experience during the transition from hospital to home. Journal of clinical nursing,
21(13-14), 2072-2082.
Zwaanswijk, M., Peeters, J.M., Van Beek, A.P., Meerveld, J.H. and Francke, A.L., 2013.
Informal caregivers of people with dementia: problems, needs and support in the
initial stage and in subsequent stages of dementia: a questionnaire survey. The open
nursing journal, 7, p.6.