The Importance of Understanding Lab Values Why is understanding lab values an important skill for a caregiver? After all, the doctor reads the lab work and tracks what is going on with your family member. Why not trust them to handle that part of the care alone? Advantages of Knowing Lab Values Understanding lab work […]
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Vital Signs Each time you call a doctor to report a concern about your family member’s health, expect a question about their blood pressure, breathing, or temperature. Vital signs tell the doctor much about what’s happening inside the patient’s body, where the eyes can’t see. The five primary vital signs combined paint a picture of
Understanding Healthcare as an Advocate When you take on the role of caregiver, you become responsible for your family member’s daily care duties, but you also become their advocate. Understanding Healthcare is essential to working within the medical environment and getting anything done. Healthcare systems are complex. A strict reporting line of leadership exists, and
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Mental and Physical Effects of Caregiving Research by organizations such as the Centers for Medical Services (CMS), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC), and the American Association of Retired People (AARP) shows the significant and long-term impact of caregiving. Based on their research, caregivers who provide continuous care for long periods
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Tube Feedings for Eating Disorders (Focus on Pediatrics) If you are the parent of a child struggling to eat and not gaining weight, your physician may have warned that the next step to prevent malnutrition is to insert a gastric tube for tube feedings. When tube feedings begin, a family caregiver learns to insert
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Safe Medication Management Managing medication is all about knowing what, how, and when is the best way to take a medicine to have the best outcome. In addition, it’s important to understand why you’re taking medicine and what you should expect to happen when you take it. For example, many medications can act like poisons
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Emergency Airway Management Techniques Airway Obstructions -Choking Emergency airway management for choking focuses on helping individuals use their natural reflexes to cough out what is choking them or create an artificial cough using the Heimlich maneuver. Though tempting, do not slap someone on the back who is coughing while choking. When we get an irritant
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Retiring with Social Security and Medicare Social Security and Medicare are Part of a Government-Sponsored Retirement Plan Social Security and Medicare are part of a government-sponsored retirement plan for qualified working Americans. If you held a job that earned over a set amount each year (amount changed over time) throughout your working lifetime, you
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Accessibility to Public Areas Outdoors People with physical limitations have difficulty accessing and using public areas effectively or with the same level of enjoyment or success that non-disabled individuals can. Posted signs declaring a facility or public grounds “Wheelchair Accessible” often misrepresent the truth. Unfortunately, after arriving on-site, they often discover “Wheelchair Accessible” pathways too
Since multiple sclerosis often strikes in early adulthood, many times, the family unit includes children who mature into adulthood, watching their parents become progressively weakened by the disease. Such was the case in our family. Lynn had a ten-year-old son who lived with his ex-wife when we married in 1997. Lynn’s Son Was a Secondary Caregiver
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Caregiver Emotions are Challenging Have you seen sandcastles swept out to sea? Houses built on sand have no anchor in the ground to help them stand against waves. They can crumble without that foundation. Adapting to caregiving may feel the same way without possessing the background or skills needed to know what to do. Learning
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Handling Challenging Behaviors and Emotions What is the best way to deal with family members when they act out in a way that is not safe or inappropriate for the situation? The following videos series produced by UCLA provides examples of one way you might approach the situation. Thanks to UCLA for allowing me
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