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What are the main competencies that are needed for Home Care Professional?

Being a caregiver is not everyone’s cup of tea. To be a successful caregiver or home care professional one must have certain qualities and skills. Below mentioned are a few of these competencies that are mandatory for a caregiver to possess.

Compassion:

Successful caregivers and home care professionals are the ones who are always compassionate. Moreover, they do not have to try too hard at being one. It just comes naturally to them. Being compassionate towards residents in-home care means being able to tune in to somebody else’s distress and experiencing a desire from within to alleviate it. This quality is most important and must be there within all caregivers in Houston and elsewhere too. Patients recovering from surgery and losing their memory to Alzheimer’s need caregivers with compassion. It is a pre-requisite of sorts as far as a caregiver’s work is concerned.

Communication:

Home care assistants must be able to communicate well. Caregivers with good verbal and written communication skills do well in this profession as they are able to discuss the resident’s medical condition with their family members and are able to provide accurate updates about the same. Besides, there is plenty of communication between caregivers and doctors/nurses/medical practitioners about the patient; a task that demands effective and clear communication.

Cleanliness:

Be it caregivers in Houston or elsewhere, one quality that they possess within them is that of cleanliness. This is all the more important in the case of elderly clients, as caregivers will then be tasked with doing laundry and mopping as well. This also applies to hygiene as well, as the residents will often have to be bathed and dressed.

Patience:

Can caregivers ever do without being patient? While caring for demanding residents, caregivers can often lose their temper. This can be detrimental to the health of the patient. Residents will require cleanups after accidents. Aged seniors will find it hard to dress up quickly after being bathed as movement slows down with age. In case they suffer from Alzheimer’s, they might have to be reminded about such things constantly. This virtue in a caregiver comes into play in such situations.

Flexibility:

Flexibility is another virtue that home care professionals must have because they have to be aware of the fact that two shifts cannot be identical and even if done on the same day, it might throw different challenges at them. This flexibility must also extend beyond business hours, as patients are generally not confirmed to a 9 to 5 care alone.

The Ability to Take an Initiative:

Though caregivers do get most of their instructions from doctors and nurses on when a wound needs tending, there is something called non-medical care as well that needs to be rendered from time to time. This might include the patient experiencing a fall or a slip resulting in a dislocated shoulder or a nasty fall that might result in a cut. In situations like these, caregivers have to be proactive, make informed decisions, and take appropriate actions during an emergency.

Have Good Observational Skills:

Merely talking or listening to patients is not enough. Caregivers must be good observers as well. Patients can often be reluctant in talking about things such as deterioration in their medical condition. They might try to hide it. Being a good observer helps identify the problem at hand and act before anything even remotely goes out of hand.

Meticulous Time Management:

Good time managerial skills are a must in a responsible caregiver. Since most caregivers work in shifts, they must make sure that they get everything done within that shift. Hence, they need to prioritize tasks, work efficiently, and avoid getting distressed while discharging duties that can be overly time-consuming.