What are a caregiver’s job duties?

Published: May 28, 2016 ~ 0

Senior caregivers provide many, many services to seniors. Anyone entering the senior care industry quickly learns there are a wide variety of caregiver jobs and caregiver job duties. Sometimes it can be a surprise to learn that professional caregivers must meet certain certification standards by taking training courses meeting state requirements. Then the caregiver must pass a competency test to verify their knowledge.

Caregiver job duties include the following:

Assisting with Activities of Daily Living (often called “ADL’s – see, senior care has hip abbreviations too. Definition of ADL = basic activities you do each day, such as getting up and showering, getting dressed, eating your meals, taking your medications, scheduling appointments, doing laundry, grabbing your mail….you get the idea – anything that can be difficult to do when you have health and mobility issues that limit your capabilities.
Personal Care: bathing and toileting assistance
Transfer and Mobility Assistance
Meal Preparation and Assistance
ADL assistant with bathing, dressing and grooming
Medication Reminders
Appointment Scheduling
Errands
Companionship
Maintaining Daily Care Notes
Specific tasks for Medical Conditions
Engaging in Physical and Mental Activities

Caregivers may begin caregiver training in the basic skills with an online course and continue learning by reading books and watching movies to understand how caregiving can be a unique journey for everyone.

Caregiver Training for Professional Caregivers Nationwide

Published: May 22, 2016 ~ 0

Senior caregiver may take a basic skills training course online to meet the training requirements for many states, including for California, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado, etc. Washington state requires more training hours as their legislation for caregiver training was passed to include training for Medicaid caregivers.

California caregivers are the most recent to be required to have a minimum training of 5 hours prior to working with a senior client in their home and then 5 hours of annual training in core competencies.

Learn about caregiver training requirements and the basic caregiving skills as you begin a career in senior caregiving.

Purchase Online Caregiver Training to get started.

Become certified caregiver with Caregiver Training University online training.

Caregiving Books and Movies Help Train Caregiving Skills

Published: May 17, 2016 ~ 0

Senior caregivers provide for both emotional care along with physical caregiving and this can become one of the biggest challenges of caregiving. Understanding the seniors medical conditions and care needs are part of a professional caregiver’s job duties. But emotional caregiving comes with the job duties, too, and can vary widely for each senior.

Seniors will experience the loss of their friends and family members to death the longer they live. Caring for depression and grieving are part of caring for seniors.

Online caregiver training provides senior caregivers will skills for managing the emotional aspects of senior care. We have a few suggested caregiving books and movies, too, which help with navigating emotional caregiving for a senior while also providing another viewpoint on how a senior’s different family members accept (or don’t accept) the aging process. Sometimes it helps to know you are not alone and not the only person experiencing the caregiving stress that comes with the territory.

Caregivers may view the weekly Caregiver Stress Relief Photo of the Week and submit a caregiving job application on Caregiverlist.com

California Caregiver Certification Requirements for 2016

Published: May 6, 2016 ~ 0

California Assembly Bill AB1217 was passed by the California legislature and created the new California Home Care Services Consumer Protection Act mandating professional senior caregivers to complete 10 hours of caregiver training.

The new California caregiver training requirements allow caregivers to take a digital senior caregiver training course which must teach orientation and safety skills and core competencies. Senior caregivers may also join the Professional Association of Caregivers and receive a t-shirt and lapel pin with their training. Learn more about the California senior caregiver training certification course.