Medical Visits by Seniors & Caregivers

I recently was in a lab waiting room and a caregiver arrived with her senior client. The senior was a frail, elderly lady and needed the assistance of a caregiver. But this particular caregiver was disinterested in the person and was providing cursory service.

She was curt in answering questions from both the client and the receptionist and claimed to have no knowledge about the client's needs.

For what little help the caregiver was providing, a taxi service would have been sufficient but this patient clearly needed more assistance.

The situation I witnessed would make anyone upset in seeing what insufficient care and concern was being shown to an elderly person.

There are several suggestions that could make a medical visits easier for the senior patient, a caregiver and the medical providers. If senior communities are providing caregivers it should be their responsibility to make sure all parties are informed and if home health care companies are providing caregivers to accompany clients to medical appointments, they are equally responsible.

1. Make sure the patient has the correct information: a form/file with needed history, prescription and doctor. This should be routine--a caregiver accompanying a patient should not leave a community or senior's home without this package. The lab was asking the patient why she was there and she didn't know--but neither did the caregiver. Someone needs to know.

2. The care giver's responsibility is to care for the senior. The care giver's disinterest was obvious as she was more interested in watching the TV than talking with the senior. She turned the senior's wheelchair away from her rather than engage in any conversation.

3. The caregiver should know what test the patient is undergoing and be prepared to wait with the client. The caregiver is more than a taxi driver...he/she is responsible for the patient.

4. The caregiver should know if patient can drink water prior to testing; if patient has had food prior to coming to the medical facility. The lady kept asking for water to drink and the caregiver refused her request saying, "You know you aren't thirsty" and "You pulled this last week".

Perhaps we need some mystery shoppers checking on our professional caregivers.