Together in This

Helping Dementia Caregivers Succeed with Streamlined Information & Advice

Helping Dementia Caregivers Succeed with Streamlined Information & Training

  • Caregiver
    • Acceptance
    • Advocacy
    • Emotions / Stress
    • Health
      • Emotions / Stress
      • Nutrition
    • Loneliness
    • Nutrition
    • Planning
    • Sleep Issues
    • Support for the Caregiver
  • Care
    • Activities of Daily Living
      • Bathing
      • Dressing & Grooming
      • Eating & Mealtime
      • Incontinence
      • Mobility & Movement
      • Oral Care and Hygiene
      • Sleep
    • Activities / Enrichment
      • music
    • Care Plan
    • Driving and Travel
    • Home Preparation
    • Hygiene, Oral Care, and Dressing
    • Medications and Dementia
    • Nutrition
    • Urinary Tract Infections
    • Wandering / Moving About
  • Learn
    • Alzheimer’s Disease
      • Basic Overview of Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia
      • Behaviors
      • Causes and Risk Factors
      • Communication
      • Prevention
      • Shadowing
      • Sleep
      • Stages of Alzheimer’s Disease
      • Sundowning / Evening Behaviors
      • Wandering / Moving About
    • Classes
      • Dementia Conversations
      • Empowerment Training with Experts
      • Short Training with Mike Good
    • Clinical Trials and Research
    • End of Life and Grief
    • Family & Friends
    • Holidays
    • Housing and Home Care
    • Insurance
    • Legal & Planning
    • Medical
    • Technology
  • Publications
  • Mike’s Blog
    • Interviews – People with Dementia
    • Published Articles
    • Product Reviews
    • Video Training
  • About
    • About TinT
    • Work with Mike
    • Write for TinT
    • Podcast Guest Info
    • Mike’s Design Services
    • Interviews of Mike
    • Video Overview
  • Podcast
    • The Alzheimer’s Podcast
    • Past Episodes
Home » Patient Care » Care Plan » How to Create Patient Care Plan for Improved Caregiving

How to Create Patient Care Plan for Improved Caregiving

Patient Care Plans – A Vital Tool for Caregiving

Lady with hammer and a plan
Whether your loved one is rehabilitating, has an age-related disease, or has a progressive illness such as Alzheimer’s, without a care plan in place their quality of life will suffer at some point.

Considering the complexities of providing in-home care for a person with dementia, this could be an everyday problem.

Why have a care plan for the person with Alzheimer’s?

A care plan helps to insure that the mental and physical well-being of the care recipient is maximized at all times by combining the goals of the care recipient, their family, and other care partners.

A care plan also reduces caregiver stress by providing direction as well as a means of communication. A clearly written care plan will benefit anyone with special health care needs and those caring for them.

The caregiver role

As the primary caregiver, you have the role of project manager for development and execution of the care plan. To be successful, you must bring all of the stakeholders together and incorporate their skills, goals, and responsibilities into the plan.

It is also your responsibility to keep the care recipient involved in the process while they still can.

There are 3 components of the Patient Care Plan:

  1. Patient Medical Summary Report
  2. Patient Medical Action Plan
  3. Patient Daily Care Plan

Each component is developed individually and comes together into one document. In order to stay relevant, these components must be reviewed and updated periodically.

Update intervals will vary per patient but a defined schedule for reviews should be written in stone; i.e. once per month, every other month, etc. If possible, assign someone other than yourself with the responsibility of ensuring completion of the review cycle.

After all, you need nudges too especially if you are dealing with a progressive illness such as Alzheimer’s disease or other form of dementia.

Ad for Episode 6 of the Alzheimer's Podcast

Medical Summary

This component is a collection of patient information which enables care providers (doctors, family, friends, etc) to make medical decisions on a daily basis or in the event of an emergency.

Medications, health issues, prior medical history, and contact information for care partners is just some of the information included.

Medical Action Plan

This component covers the information on how to provide treatment to the care recipient if their health should decline for any reason. This can include minor changes that can be cared for in the home or emergency situations that may require immediate emergency action.

At the beginning of the document, you will find some basic patient information followed by emergency contacts. The main section of the plan identifies any special health issues along with the associated signs, symptoms, and action.

Daily Care Plan

This component helps to insure that the daily needs of the care recipient are met. A daily care plan may be simple when dealing with rehabilitation or during the early stages of Alzheimer’s. However, if the health of the care recipient decreases and independence declines, the plan will become much more complex.

Generally, the various goals of care are identified and prioritized. This process involves laying out all of the patient needs and assigning an available resource (unpaid and paid caregivers) to fill the need.

For instance, if mom has to have her hair done every Thursday, is someone available to help? Or what if dad likes to play cards at the senior center on Tuesdays? How can you ensure that he gets to and from there safely?

In the later stages of dementia, this list can be exhaustive because it basically covers everything a person does during a given day. Start with the high priority items such as appointments and work your way down to the less important items.

Remember, however, that what you think is less important may be the thing(s) that bring joy to your loved one. For instance, you may think it’s not important for you mom to watch Oprah, but for her, it’s something she looks forward to daily.

Creating a plan is an investment of time that with perseverance will pay huge dividends. A well-thought-out care plan will help maximize the quality of life for both the care recipient and YOU, the caregiver.

Follow-up articles in The Patient Care Plan – An Essential Tool for Caregiving Series:

  1. Patient Medical Summary Report
  2. Patient Medical Action Plan
  3. Patient Daily Care Plan

care-plan-class-jpg


If you like what you’ve read, why not receive periodic updates when you:

Subscribe to the TinT Newsletter


Questions, comments, or perhaps other ideas? In the comments below, I would love to hear from you.

Legal: This website is provided as a service. The material and information available on TogetherInThis.com is provided without any guarantees, conditions, or warranties as to its accuracy. The information is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be solely relied on for any legal, financial, diagnostic, or treatment purposes. At all times, the proper professionals should be consulted. Together in This does not accept any responsibility for any loss which may arise from reliance on information contained on this site.

About Mike Good

Hi, I founded Together in This to help family members caring for someone with Alzheimer’s. Through informative training and easy-to-use tools, I aim to help you take control and have peace-of-mind knowing you are doing the right things.

Comments

  1. Ron Niewald says

    April 3, 2014 at 6:36 pm

    I agree with the idea here, however Mental Health is only a mention in the writing. I believe therapy for sufferer and caregiver alike can be such a benefit to all involved. At what level do you see the importance of regularly scheduled therapy and therapeutic interventions improving lives of caregivers (especially familial / informal) and sufferers?

    Reply
    • Mike Good says

      April 11, 2014 at 5:30 pm

      Sorry that I never responded here – it slipped my mind since we had a conversation on LinkedIn. Cheers.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hi, I'm Mike Good.
You can help keep this site active by making purchases at my new Pet Furniture store.

Please share this with other pet lovers!

https://topnotchpetfurniture.com/

 

Another FREEBIE
from Together in This

Search By Category

Popular TinT Articles

  • Cruising and Living Well with Alzheimer’s Disease

    Cruising and Living Well with Alzheimer’s Disease

    This article originally appeared on MariaShriver.com in 2015 but was …Read More »
  • #014: Understanding Hospice Care and Shedding Light on the Myths

    #014: Understanding Hospice Care and Shedding Light on the Myths

    The Alzheimer’s Podcast: A Conversation with the authors of Living …Read More »
  • How Music Can Help in Your Alzheimer’s Caregiving

    How Music Can Help in Your Alzheimer’s Caregiving

    Contributing Writer: Carolyn Ridland, founder of Caregiver Connection You have …Read More »

Tags

acceptance activities advocacy aging in place Alzheimer's basics behavior behaviors bill of rights caregiver health caregiver support care plan care recipient Christy Turner communication conversations education emotions end of life enrichment family holidays home intervene interview living well long-term care medications memory care Mike’s Blog music patient medical patient needs peace of mind planning podcast purpose safety stress technology training universal design video webinar workshop

Don’t be unprepared for the challenges you will face when caring for someone who is living with Alzheimer’s dementia.

Your FREE Guide is Ready!

Yes, I’d Like to Learn More

About TinT

My name is Mike Good and I created Together in This to help educate all caregivers by providing you with streamlined resources and easy to use tools. I cover general caregiver topics and emphasize solutions for Alzheimer's disease. I  have several friends that are affected by the disease, some of whom don’t remember me from day to day. I have met dozens of caregivers that … More…

       SITEMAP     LEGAL

Mission

Become a streamlined resource of information, ideas, and solutions, delivered in layman’s terms; empowering unpaid caregivers to feel supported both emotionally and practically, as they undertake their care partnering role with a cherished love one.

Vision

Unpaid family caregivers are empowered to maximize the safety and well-being of their loved one while maintaining their own health and livelihood; thereby, delaying the need for paid assisted living.

As Recently Seen On:

As Seen On

Follow TinT!

Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on Google+Follow Us on TwitterFollow Us on YouTube

Newsletter Sign-up

Copyright © 2023 Together in This       |       Site Design by Greg Klamt
Disclaimer: Content on this site is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical, legal, or financial advice.