The ethical imperative - Google Calendar Sample

 

There are 24 hours in a day that need to be covered in a family caregiving setting to make sure the family member is never alone. In a month of 30 days, that amounts to 720 hours of caregiving. In a month that has 31 days, that amounts to 744 hours.

From the perspective of scheduling and calendar management, the family caregiving home is providing caregiving time and attention, they are also providing schedule management - who is arriving, when are they leaving, what are they doing; medications, doctors appointments, nurse visits, medical procedures; housekeeping; meals, groceries, food preparation, dietary considerations; etc. We need a properly comprehensive list of all the work being done in a given family caregiving home. 

I am reminded again today of the ethical imperative that we launch high quality peer-reviewed research of time/motion studies of family caregiving homes. 

We need a traceable accounting of the true costs incurred by families providing care in lieu of institutionally funded beds. You cannot just send patients home and then say, "See? We have cut patient costs." The entire healthcare system is now relying on the dwindling resources of families to pay for healthcare by providing essential care infrastructure without any commensurate evidence-based accounting. We cannot say, "Well, every family caregiving setting is unique and we can't measure the costs." There are costs in common across all family caregiving settings - property tax, house insurance, utilities cost, appliances cost, renovation costs for making adaptations - to name a few. Also, there is the need for caregiving attendance - the work that goes into maintaining the caregiving bed, and its environs - areas in common - kitchen, bathrooms, living room, bedroom. Then there is the caregiving attention - meals, medications, social engagement, habitat enrichment. 

Future family caregivers are about to be blindsided with unprecedented drain on their family resources and they have no idea what is coming.

Could someone please show me where my 500+ hours a month looking after Mom are accounted? I would like to see that. Also, what family is ready to add these additional calendar entries to their family schedule?

I have seen family members posting to caregiver groups asking, "Should we do this? Should we bring our family member, who needs caregiving, into our home?" What if we all just start saying, "No. We cannot afford this."? 

Who of us can say no to a family member in need? That is why there is an ethical imperative to get this properly sorted out.

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