Health Literacy -Training of Family Caregiver's Can Avoid Return to Hospital

If an elderly relative is in the hospital and you expect to be a family caregiver post discharge , get the hospital to step up to the plate and train you or other family caregivers. As I have said in other blogs, family caregivers are kin, not medical professionals. You often need training to carry out the caregiver tasks you will be asked to do when your relative gets out of the hospital.

Health literacy is a big-ticket item for caregivers. When you learned to drive, it was great to have driver’s ed. Now you need health ed. To maneuver the gridlocked health highways, you need health literacy . In fact, when your relative is discharged from a hospital you may have to run machines like Hoyer lifts or oxygen tanks. So operating baffling machinery fits right in to the health literacy you need to be a family caregiver.

Health literacy for family caregivers may be critical to keeping the older person safe at home and not packed into an ambulance back to the ER . I mentioned in my last blog, you should contact local senior resource agencies for help, through your area agency on aging. They not only offer a slew of services like food delivery and paratransist but some offer training of caregivers.

For example ,if your loved one was hospitalized for stroke or heart problem , contacting the local chapter of the American Heart Association can often get you post discharge support and training . Some communities have stroke centers.

The hospital itself should be training you as a family caregiver. As kin, you should check with the older person’s physician, RN , medical social worker or the discharge planner to find out if the physician has ordered physical therapy or occupational therapy to train family caregivers . If they have not and you need it , advocate for yourself and request the physician write the order.

Physical therapists can train family caregivers in transfer safety, use of assistive devices ( canes wheelchairs etc. ) ambulation , use of medical equipment and many other caregiver tasks.

This health education is not just for the patient but for the family caregiver’s safety. Family caregivers can severely injure themselves while caring for an older family member . Rather than hurt your back, ask the physician to help you get trained in the hospital before the older person comes home.

Family members are often ignored in the hospital yet asked to play a major part in the care at home. Make yourself heard by the physician and hospital staff before you needlessly injure yourself and /or your family member- putting them back in the hospital again.