The Life Changing Experience of Caregiving Essay

Almond faced many long, cold nights as a traveling doctor in the mountains of West Virginia. He would travel lengthy routes to get to his patients in his little rag top jeep. There would even be times when he would have to get out of his jeep and walk, or row to the patients home. Dr. Almond would receive frantic calls from families in the middle of the night, and he’d spring out of bed to try to get there as fast as he could. Doctors who did house calls get little rest; they had worked all day and then got up in the middle of the night to go help a patient. “Just as one day has ended, another one has begun. And thus it goes, day in, day out, for many of our friends who earned the title “Doctor”, and all that word portends.”

Before my grandfather had to stay in the hospital, my father took him to his chemotherapy or radiation appointments during the week. My uncle built a ramp to the door so that it would be easier to move my grandfather, who was in a wheel chair, in and out of the house. My mother took care of any paperwork that needed to be done as well as any medical-related tasks. When my grandfather received hospice care in the last month of his life, my mother and grandmother helped bathe and change him as well as cook special meals for

In the U.S, one in four will be aged 60 years and older by 2050 (U.S. Census Bureau). This represents an overwhelming number of people who will either be in the caretaker role or be the ROC. Like today, most of the care will be provided by informal unpaid caregivers. The number of informal unpaid caregivers is expected to rise from 20 million in 2000 to 37 million in 2050 (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation [ASPE], 2003). Because of the burden of care giving, many caregivers will experience depression, poor health and quality of life (Etters, Goodall, & Harrison, 2008). Their well-being is an important public health concern.

Nurses interact with families in a variety of community-based and clinical settings. The family nursing process is the same, regardless of the setting or whether the focus is on the family as a whole or on an individual in that family (Crisp & Taylor 2005). In the case of a 3 year old girl just diagnosed with leukaemia, it is important for a nurse to critically analyse the situation and address any immediate concerns. The nurse must address any professional issues that may arise and any potential impacts of hospitalisation that may affect the child and the family. Also provide support and education to reassure and comfort them. The primary concern for paediatric nurses is the welfare of the child and the family (Crisp & Taylor 2005).

“I was the fortunate child of medical and public-health “workers, whose compassion... They brought me to a place of wonders, taught me to pay attention, and set me early on a

Preceding the 1800’s, the role that women played in medicine was directed towards their loved ones in the comfort of their homes. They were

“Caregivers fulfill an important role not only for those that they assist, but for society as a whole. While this care is unpaid, its value has been estimated at 257 billion dollars annually. (Arno, P.S. Economic Value of Informal Caregiving. Annual Meeting of the American

Many types of caregivers experience at least some type of compassion fatigue. Whether you are a doctor, an EMT, psychologist or therapist there are a number of compassion fatigue symptoms that you should watch out for as well as some strategies that you can use to overcome your compassion fatigue symptoms. If you are care professional or you are close to a care professional, here are some of the biggest signs of compassion fatigue in caregivers:

Additional research was conducted by Reid (2011) to explore whether caregiver strain is linked to child maltreatment, if experiencing maltreatment is associated with risk-inflating behaviors or sexual denigration of self or other, and if these behavioral and psychosocial dysfunctions are related to vulnerability to commercial sexual exploitation. The sample included data from 174 predominately African American women. The results indicated that child maltreatment worsened with an increased caregiver strain. Experiencing child maltreatment was also linked to running away, initiating substance use at earlier ages, and higher levels of sexual denigration of self or others. The sexual denigration of self or others was significantly related to the

In addition, eldercare has also become a more complex institution that involves six key stakeholder groups, which are care recipients, community-based service agencies, employers, government programs, healthcare providers, informal caregivers, and nongovernmental programs (Bookman & Kimbrel, 2011). Unfortunately, there are times they each appear to operate as separate entities, which leads to occasional overlaps in care, that interferes with their objectives of ensuring that older adults can age with dignity and that informal caregivers receive their appropriate assistance and attention according to Bookman and Kimbrel (2011). There is a mounting body of literature that proposes that in addition to providing an array of instrumental and emotional

In the beginning of the story, the narrator blames two physicians of high standing for not getting well. Gilman writes, “John is a physician, and perhaps – (I would not say it to a living soul, of course, but this is dead paper and a great relief to my mind -) perhaps that is one reason I do not get well faster” (307). She is probably suffering from postpartum depression, but in the 1800’s, it was not recognized. They think she has “a slight hysterical tendency” and is “absolutely forbidden to “work” until she is well again” (Gilman 308). She expresses her discontentment and disagreement with the treatment

The main goal of the study was to examine the association between the relationship between caregiving among male and female and what are the costs for those who provide care and the rewards they getting when they care for family members. The researchers addressed eight hypothesis related to the social exchange theory. These hypotheses stated in the research as the following: "Hypothesis 1 & 2: "Caregiving women will experience greater cost than caregiving men, and caregiving men will experience greater reward than caregiving women". Hypothesis 3 & 4: " Spousal caregivers will experience greater cost than adult child caregivers, and adult child caregivers will experience greater reward than spouse caregivers" . Hypothesis 5 & 6: "Caregiving wives will experience greater cost than caregiving husbands". Hypothesis 7: "The relationship between help from the care recipient and caregiver costs and rewards is moderated by the gender and the relationship of the caregiver"( Raschick & Ingersoll-Dayton, 318-319).

Just as Liesel’s brother dies, in a way that could have been prevented, my sister died a day before she was to be born due to matters beyond anyone’s control. Her name was going to be Catherine Ann Jansen, and her death led me to my first encounter with medicine. As she was going to need heart surgery immediately after she was born, I was able to, for the first time, step foot into a bigger hospital than the small rural hospital in my home town. Although, at the time, I was not thinking about that fact, later it occurred to me that all I wanted to do when this was happening was to

In my life, I have been exposed to a challenge called change. Change can occur in many different ways and is dealt with in many different ways. I have come to the awareness that change can be the deepest of all things. I always thought that change occurred when you moved to a state or when you lost someone real close to you. Those are a challenge to change, yes, but change doesn’t have to occur over a climactic incident. It can just appear overnight when your brain winds up when it’s time to do something different. Even with friends that you used to have and know that move on. For example, most of my friends from elementary school, I don’t even talk to them anymore.

Care for others. The way this will help you achieve happiness is that when you help others it gives you a warm feeling inside. It makes you feel as if you have done something right. This feeling is almost unexplainable. Helping others is one of the best things you can do. For example, when you complement someone the best feeling is when you see the look on that persons face and see how happy you made them. Also, if you do not care for others you will live a lonely life. Without care for others no one will want to be around you. So, if you care for others you will have a joyous life.