Senior Care Plans

by: Julie Northcutt

Seniors who choose to hire a private senior care agency or caregiver to provide for their care services can benefit from a professional plan of care.  A senior care plan will guide the caregiver to maintain a consistent routine and include all the necessary activities for healthy aging.

What information should a senior care plan include?

A senior care plan should provide a list of the senior’s medical conditions, medications, medical doctors, pharmacies and other care providers.

What daily activities should be monitored?

All Activities of Daily Living should be listed along with the time meals are eaten, the time medications are taken and other physical and mental activities along with other job duties for the caregiver.  The information should include the following:

Nutrition: Food prepared and meals eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner, fluid intake (number of glasses of water)

Health & Hygiene: Transfers from bed to chair, bathroom visits, showers, dressing, hair care, skin care, nail care, dental care, exercise routine

Daily Routine & Vital Signs: Wake-up time, nap times, bed time, blood pressure, weight, doctor appointments

Physical and Mental Activities: Exercises, walks, physical therapy routine, reading newspaper, magazines, books, mental exercise games

Household Cleaning: Cleaning kitchen, bathroom, laundry, changing bed linens, sorting mail, sweeping floors, dust rooms, vacuum, run errands, pet care

Seniors should also ask their doctors if there are any activities they would like to track to monitor the success of medications or the symptoms of their medical conditions.  By monitoring daily routines such as times of sleep, meals and exercise, doctors can better measure the impact of medications and the progression of memory loss or the loss of physical capabilities.  This can sometimes result in better diagnosis and slowing down the progresion of age-related diseases.

It is a good idea to maintain a daily log for the daily activities.  You can create a notebook to contain all the care plan notebooks and take this along with you to the doctor’s appointments.  The care plan can also be a great resource for medical professionals if there is ever an emergency situation.

Senior care agencies usually will provide a plan of care for their clients, as a way to train, monitor and manage both the caregiver and the care.  One of the benefits of hiring a professional senior home care agency is receiving a complete professional care plan, along with active management of the caregivers. Quality senior care agencies will also employ the caregivers as their employees which provides the added protection of worker’s compensation insurance, professional liability insurance and payroll taxes to make sure the senior and their family members do not need to worry about caregiver employee issues.  In addition, the caregiver has support and training along with benefits, as senior care can be emotionally challenging and sometimes physically exhausting. Good agencies will provide a care for the caregiver program to make sure quality caregivers can continue to succeed in providing care.

Julie A. Northcutt, President of Caregiverlist.com, works to connect seniors and their loved ones with quality senior care options and caregivers with employment opportunities. http://www.caregiverlist.com provides information on complete care options including, costs, services and quality standards for senior home care, nursing home care and assisted living.