Trust between caregivers and homebound patients is important, but then trust within the medical community is imperative—period.  However, there has been a 110% increase in home healthcare within the past 8 years, which says a lot.  So, when you’re providing care for someone else’s loved one you want to be at the top of your game.  You want to provide invaluable services that improve the mental and physical health of your patient, so how do you do that?  It all comes back to how well you can communicate with your patients.  Now, there are a multitude of issues that can create disharmony within the home healthcare spectrum.  Some of these you might be aware of, but newbies to this style of caregiving might not be aware.  If you want to keep open communication with your patient, then avoid these listed issues:

• Avoid too much medical jargon, normal, everyday people don’t use medical terminology and they need to understand what you’re telling them. Speak in layman’s terms.
• Make sure you provide active listening. Really be attentive and listen to your patient.
• Don’t take too long to answer specific questions. This puts doubt in the homebound patient’s mind.  They want to feel your competent, so prove that you are.
• Validate your patient’s feelings and try to make them feel more comfortable and cared about. Don’t ever make your patient feel they are just a job to you.

There is no doubt that communication is what will help your relationship with your patient thrive.  Once a level of trust is established, you’ll find the caregivers environment will settle dramatically.  This is totally normal.  You also want to ensure that your patient’s loved ones trust you and find you trustworthy to care for their elderly family member too.

Now, another critical aspect to home healthcare here is being sensitive to everyone’s concerns.  Not only is the patient going to have questions and worries, but long distance family members will have those fears too.  You should listen attentively and provide responses that are clear, relevant and most importantly, coherent to all parties.  Let’s examine some other pertinent points involved in building a good communicative relationship with homebound patients.

Be Professional and Honest with A Level of Sensitivity

Caregivers should never be afraid of letting their emotions show, we all are human.  This provides a level of sensitivity that loved ones and patients need.  In this respect, caregivers should understand that every patient is different as well, and not everyone can be treated exactly the same.  The sooner you learn this the better!  Now, let’s give you, the caregivers some more meaningful tips to ensure you are at the top of your game all the time.  Caring for someone else is not easy, but you’ll find these key tips will help you be more human!

• Always be respectful and considerate to your homebound patients. Some caregivers think dementia makes a difference, but it doesn’t.  Your patients are more coherent than you think.
• Always provide transparent care to avoid confusion, this is one of the most thoughtful things you can provide to your homebound patients.
• Say “thank you” when you’re hired to care for someone’s loved one. This is an important feat in life, you actually have someone else’s life in your hands.  Too few caregivers say those words.

When you’re doing all you can to provide comforting, quality care to your patients you’ll see a marked difference.  Not only will you be improving the quality of lives, you’ll be building a solid reputation too.