A guide to creating a comprehensive home care checklist
Caring for an elderly or ailing individual is not an easy task. It is a full-time job that requires thorough planning and preparation along with a lot of effort and laborious work. If your loved one needs care and support around the clock, you can think about hiring home care services. Unlike care homes or assisted living facilities, home care allows elderly and ailing individuals to stay in the comfort of their homes and receive care. Furthermore, with a comprehensive home care checklist, prepared for the caregiver, you can ensure that your loved one is well taken care of and all their needs are being met.
Tips to help you create a thorough home care checklist
When arranging long-term care at home for your elderly or ailing loved one, you need to think about a range of factors. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to home care. That is because every individual’s and family’s needs are different, and home care agencies customize their services to fulfill those needs.
In some cases, the elderly or ailing individual may be bedridden and unable to perform the simplest of everyday tasks. In other cases, they may have enough strength and mobility to perform some functions with some added support. Evaluating and understanding your loved one’s specific needs is absolutely crucial when creating the home care checklist. This knowledge will also help you decide things like:
- Which home care agency you should choose
- What kind of caregiver you should request for
- How many hours per day do you need assistance
- How many days a week do you need the caregiver to visit
Once you have these figured out, you can start looking for home care services. Once you find a suitable in-home care agency, make sure you start creating a care checklist that the caregiver will need to follow. Here’s a demo checklist and a few tips to help you create your own:
1. Medical needs
The most essential component of a home care checklist is medical needs. One of the key responsibilities of a caregiver is to ensure that their patient receives all of their medications on time, every time. That is why you need to assess your loved one’s medical needs and inform the caregiver of the following duties:
- Administering medications in the correct dosage as prescribed during the day
- Keeping track of the list of medications
- Understanding drug interactions
- Managing symptoms of chronic conditions
- Assessing pain levels
- Scheduling medical appointments
- Ensuring the patient receives enough physical activity
Make sure to talk to your loved one’s primary physician to get a good understanding of their medical needs.
2. Personal care
The goal of personal care is to maintain the individual’s personal hygiene and improve their quality of life through cleanliness. The following personal care duties are typically involved in home care in London
- Giving regular sponge bath, bed bath, shower, or tub bath
- Washing hair
- Combing hair
- Brushing teeth
- Nail care
- Shaving
- Applying lotion
- Helping with getting dressed
Getting in and out of baths can often lead to falling hazards, but reputed home care agencies hire trained caregivers who know how to perform these duties with safety.
3. Meal preparation and feeding
If your loved one is too old or sick to cook, the in-home caregiver can help with that. You can expect your home care professional to fulfill the following duties:
- They assess and understand the dietary needs of the patient
- They shop for groceries and prepare meals
- They feed their patient
- They do the dishes and clean the kitchen
If your loved one has dietary restrictions, or if they need to follow a certain diet, make sure to inform the caregiver accordingly.
4. Toileting
If your loved one has mobility issues, they would need help going to the toilet. Professionally trained caregivers can:
- Assist them with going to the toilet
- Assist them with urinal/bedpan
- Provide incontinence care (prepare feminine pads, underwear, extra clothes, absorbent sheet, towels, etc.)
- Empty catheter bag/urinary drainage
- Empty colostomy bag
Providing toilet care is an essential part of home care as it helps to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of your loved one.
5. Household chores and support services
In many cases, the in-home caregiver helps with household chores to make sure that the living environment is clean and sanitary. They may offer services such as
- Laundry
- Taking out the trash
- Cleaning the bathroom and bedroom
- Vacuum or dust the house/apartment
- Change bed sheets/make the bed
- Pick up the mail
- Adjust room temperature
- Make bill payments
Remember, additional support services may increase the home care cost. Make sure to talk to the home care agency about their policies on these additional services and whether or not they charge extra for these.
These are the core elements that you need to include in the home care checklist to ensure that your loved one receives proper care.
Get the best home care services from Total Caring
If you are looking for a reliable and reputed home care agency in London, make sure to check out Total Caring. Since its inception, Total Caring has been on a mission, and that mission is to improve lives! As a home care agency, our goal is to not only offer adequate care and support to our clients but also to support their families.
To ensure the highest standard of care and professionalism, we hire trained caregivers who have relevant experience in this field. We have also customized our services to suit the varying needs of our clients. No matter how diverse or comprehensive your needs are, rest assured that Total Caring can fulfill them.
Currently, we are offering our services in the South London and Surrey area, and if you want to know more about our services and charges, make sure to call or drop us an email. Get in touch with us today!
