7 Qualities A Caregiver Must Possess

Caregiving is a demanding and rewarding profession that requires a unique set of qualities and skills. Caregivers provide essential support to individuals with medical conditions, disabilities, or those who are simply in need of assistance with daily living activities. With the growing demand for quality care, the role of a caregiver has become increasingly important, and it is crucial for caregivers to possess certain qualities that will help them provide the best possible care for their clients.

In this article, we will explore the key qualities that a caregiver must possess. There are a lot of reputable training agencies that are offering their services in order to help aspiring caregivers achieve a high quality of expertise and skills. If you are interested, you may click here for more information.

Patience

Caregivers have colossal responsibilities, depending on where they’ll be assigned, which can be in an agent home, medical facility, or family home. Some of these are the following:

• Taking care of patients’ hygiene
• Administering prescriptions
• Cooking nutritious food

Caregivers’ core responsibilities can be seen as the bare minimum of family members’ responsibilities for their loved ones. Even so, many need to come to work or attend to other tasks outside to generate income.

With limited time to spend with their family members in old age or with a disability that requires close monitoring, they count on caregivers to provide direct care. According to a 2010 study, In the United States, around 40 million caregivers were providing direct care for more than a quarter of the entire American adult population, which includes people with disabilities.

Many caregivers need to do extra-mile roles to fulfill their job—doing tasks not considered payable on their signed contracts, like going to stores to buy food and working overtime. Aside from this, many older people, as well as people with disabilities, are commonly irritable. They may have tantrums, treating caregivers terribly with harsh language and lack of cooperation.

That said, patience is a big must for aspiring caregivers. Patience includes keeping professionalism despite seemingly endless hours of working only to accomplish a daily task, answering questions from their patients even if they keep asking the same query, and handling angry outbursts without losing their composure.

Compassionate

Caregivers are hands-on employees, providing direct care for their patients. Therefore, it’s essential to be compassionate. Compassion allows one to understand others’ misfortune and respond to events with natural empathy.

For example, people with a disability may treat caregivers terribly because they suffer from anxiety and depression. A disability is a medical condition that limits a patient’s ability to accomplish tasks. Many who suffer from such feel overwhelmed by their situation and feel helpless. Others may also start to discriminate against that person.

A person with a disability who’s having a hard time expressing how they feel would start to see the people around them, including their loved ones, as people who share the same thoughts as others who see them as a burden. To help their mental condition improve, they’ll need someone who can accompany them, listen to how they feel, and remind them that they’re loved.

A caregiver with a compassionate heart can help in this kind of situation by providing direct care while lending their ears for genuine company and understanding.

Being Punctual

Another quality that a caregiver must possess is punctuality. Punctuality refers to someone being able to come on time. Some clients allow caregivers to stay at their homes so they can pay close attention to the patient, while others don’t. Regardless, caregivers have many tasks they must do during work hours.

A caregiver’s standard number of work hours is eight hours, but it can extend for up to 16 hours, depending on the situation and their contract.

Organized

Another trait that a caregiver must possess is being organized. They’re expected to have daily plans to make their task flow without delay. A caregiver must take note of their patient’s nutritional diet and time for taking a bath and even schedule a little housekeeping. Aside from this, they also need to save significant contact numbers in case of emergency.

Consistent

Consistency is a big must in the direct care industry. Caregiving involves taking good care of someone’s life; one small mistake can have devastating results.

One good example of this is patients’ time to take their medicine. For taking a prescription, there’s a specific time before taking dosage to ensure its potency and prevent overdose. Negligence of a caregiver to take note of this while closely monitoring their patient may cause the patient to take their prescription ahead of time with more or less medicine than prescribed by their physician, leading to complications or delays of recovery.

Caregivers are expected to have the same level of professionalism and awareness with their work despite how repetitive and troublesome their tasks may be.

Has A Good Sense Of Humor

One can see caregiving as a stressful profession. However, if one has a positive mindset, caregivers can quickly eliminate the stress and spread optimism to their clients and patients, which is ideal.

A caregiver is expected to start their shift with a smile while helping to lighten up their patient’s mood. Studies show that happiness and laughter can help people combat depression and anxiety. Aside from this, it can help someone regain their energy, eat healthy food, and sleep better.

A Team Player

A caregiver may have many tasks but can accept assistance from doctors and their client’s family members as needed. A caregiver is a member of a bigger team that includes professionals and understands that working as a team can make the job easier.

For example, suppose a caregiver’s patient comes home after a routine check-up. In that case, the physician can instruct the caregiver to help the patient’s family administer the correct dosage of the medicine they prescribed.

Conclusion

Caregiving is one of the most high-demand jobs worldwide today. Nonetheless, many employed for the role can only last for a while because of how challenging this profession is. Therefore, it’s a big must for an aspiring caregiver to possess the qualities mentioned in this article.