Personal Support Workers Also Provide Hospital Support

As a family caregiver, we may recall hospital experiences that included long wait times or endless form-filling. These unfavorable times colour our opinions about the kind of care our loved ones received in hospital. Fortunately, there is help with hospital support.

Consider the benefits a personal support worker can offer your loved one in hospital, during discharge, and at home.

Hospital support benefit #1: Personal hospital support

Imagine how much more comfortable and seamless your loved one’s stay in hospital could be with one-on-one care. A personalized registered nurse or personal support worker (PSW), working with hospital doctors, nurses, and staff, provides the individualized care, post-operative support, and patient advocacy your loved one deserves.

More importantly, a personal support worker comforts and consoles your loved one in the hospital when you cannot be there. A personal support worker can help with eating, going to the washroom, turning, as well as providing companionship. Your hand-picked PSW nurtures the well-being and encourages the recovery of your loved one, helping to shorten their stay in the hospital.

Hospital support benefit #2: Hospital discharge support

Preparing for your loved one’s return home from hospital can be a relief and a stress. You are happy they are well enough to be back in their abode but are concerned with the planning involved to ensure a safe return home. Are there any home modifications that need to be made? What special items may be needed? Who can help me during this transition?

You are not alone. Many family caregivers share the same concerns and pose the same questions. Read Barbara’s letter to Andrea, a Qualicare Family Homecare nurse, about her 78-year-old mother who is ready to be discharged but is without the appropriate care at home.

A personal support worker can help you plan, prepare, and proceed through your loved one’s hospital discharge. You can rely on the private registered nurse case manager and personal support worker to advocate on your loved one’s behalf during the discharge planning phase. The nurse case manager and personal support worker will fill you in on what to expect and what to do to ensure a safe and seamless transition. They can also provide hospital-to-home transitional services like supplemental personal care, personalized nutrition, and at-home physiotherapy.

Hospital support benefit #3: 360 Case Management

Despite our best efforts to ensure our loved one’s health, safety, and personal needs are met, there may come a time when we must seek professional help. Whether we are coming to terms with an aging parent’s dementia or confronted with a new set of symptoms our loved one is experiencing from a terminal illness, we can find a little solace in knowing that someone experienced in dealing with similar life changes is available 24/7.

A registered nurse also known as a Personal Care Manager (PCM) is someone who provides you and your loved one with comprehensive, coordinated, and compassionate all-around health care unique to your loved one’s needs and circumstances. Whether your loved on is in hospital or at home, a PCMr helps alleviate burdens and reverse familial imbalances often associated with family caregiving.

Your PCM not only provides hospital support and medical collaboration, but also community services support, client care and advocacy, and family support. A PCM helps you and your loved one:

• generate and maintain a healthcare profile.
• provide on-call support day and night.
• offer family guidance and counseling.
• place and supervise home caregivers.
• be available for on-site visits.
• secure medical supplies at reduced prices

Still unsure of the type of personalized health support your loved one needs? Click below to complete a caregiver checklist to pinpoint their needs with personal care, transportation, companionship, at-home support, diet, and daily scheduling.