Most San Diego caregivers are non-medical care providers. This means that these caregivers you’ve hired to care for your loved ones are not nurses. They generally have no medical training in the daily management of the chronic illnesses which are the constant companions to the clients they care for. They provide “ADL” (activities of daily living) assistance only. This doesn’t mean that they are not essential and also a valuable part of the home care team. It only means that if your loved one has one or more chronic illnesses (diabetes, congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation, dementia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease etc.) these caregivers simply cannot provide the level of care needed without a professional Geriatric Care Manager offering clinical support and direction.
For example, the heart, blood sugar and blood pressure medications your mother or father take need to have their metrics monitored (daily) before those medications are given. Rarely does this happen, because taking vital signs is something agency caregivers are not allowed to manually do. So, when these caregivers in San Diego are helping their patients take these daily medications, they are essentially assisting with something that is very unsafe. These medications all need to be held if heart rate, blood sugar or blood pressure is too low to begin with.
Giving those medications without first verifying that the vital signs are within the safety of established parameters is dangerous and can result in increased weakness, dizziness and changes in level of consciousness. For medically complex elderly individuals, this all adds up to increased risk for falls and other life threatening events. There are important signs and symptoms of chronic illness disease states which may be missed by the untrained eye as they escalate to an acute episode.
Without a nurse to check in with, these caregivers regularly miss escalation of preventable acute exacerbations of chronic illnesses. This results in unnecessary risk to your loved one. This gap in skill and service often result in what are called “sentinel events” or the change points at which your loved ones life is permanently changed for the worse. This is too much responsibility to put on these medically untrained care givers.
San Diego caregivers fulfill a very critical role in the care of our elders. They are daily eyes and ears in the home to inform the care management team, who then can inform the physician team, about important changes in patient medical status. They cannot be left “home alone” with a frail and vulnerable elder. They need a home care team with professional oversight, direction and support.
When hiring a “home care company” always ask who is providing clinical support for caregivers and what are their qualifications. The only ones who are really qualified to provide that level of support are nurses and social workers who are experienced Geriatric Care Managers.
Do your homework. Do your due diligence. Make sure your home care company is providing you with professional geriatric care management and not just a person they send out and call a “Geriatric Care Manager.” This practice seems to be endemic industry wide. Professional Geriatric Care Managers can catch things that all of these other well meaning but unqualified people will miss.
Make no mistake about it … early intervention by professionals can mean the life of your loved one.
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