Home Attendants and the Patient

My practice group, LCSWPC  specializes in working with people who tend to be home bound or can't get to a traditional therapy office. It has proven to be an invaluable service. However, I have seen a problem with the home care that many of our patients receive from agencies providing Home Attendants. 

While, many of the home care attendants spend 12 to 24 hours with the patient, it is important that they realize that they are there to tend to the patient's needs. too many times, these underpaid healthcare professionals spend the majority of the time in a room, not with the patient, conducting personal business on their cell phones, or watching television for the majority of the time they are there.

The result is that the  patients, mostly elderly, are not being tended to despite the fact that they, or their insurance is paying for the attendants to work with them. The patient becomes very upset and resentful of the Attendant. They become depressed and anxious. It also at times creates problems with the family members who try, despite all their efforts, to provide a quality of life which dignifies their loved one and gives them some independence. For those without family, the problem is magnified.

In addition to the above problem, the patient is often afraid to complain because they may lose all help or they are afraid of the attendant. all to often, they are victims of theft. to be fair, many of the patients have problems remembering where they leave things and wrongly accuse their attendants that they are stealing from them.

What is needed is better supervision, ongoing in-service training and better wages. When the cost of nursing home care can be over $100,000 per year, the cost of a home attendant can be less than half. given that the salary of a home attendant is around $8.00 an hour, we see that too much of the money is being held for administrative concerns versus paying for excellent help.For more information on comparative costs  click here.