There is no question that home health aides (HHAs) are essential to the lives of elderly persons, persons with chronic conditions and disabilities or those who are recovering from surgery.
They are friendly and provide personalized services to a client’s home, making the surroundings presentable and decent. Often, their services help clients stay at home and do not need to move to facilities to receive care services. It might be helpful to have a closer look at the variety of tasks this occupation encompasses so that it can be an integral part of the home health aide’s work setting. Home health aides are especially helpful for elderly or senior patients who might require additional support.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Among the home health aide’s primary and most important responsibilities is to contribute to personal care. This involves tasks that clients may struggle to perform independently.
Bathing can be done with a full bath or sponge bath because it is essential for cleanliness, comfort and avoiding infections. HHAs help with personal hygiene, especially washing, drying and putting on clothes.
Dental care and grooming, such as hair cutting and nail clipping, are essential for a client’s psychological and physical well-being.
HHAs help clients choose the proper clothing for the weather, get dressed, and undress depending on the day. They ensure clients feel at ease, respected, and protected in dressing choices.
Some ways to help clients with bathroom needs involve helping them use the toilet, washing and dressing clients in adult diapers, attending to clients with urinary catheters, and washing and dressing their skin.
It remains unimaginable, though, that mobility is an issue that is restricted for many clients. HHAs play a vital role in maintaining the client’s physical activity and ensuring safe movement: HHAs play a critical role in maintaining the client’s physical activity and guaranteeing safe movement:
Stiffness is one of the biggest enemies of the human body, implying the necessity of constant movement for the physical and psychological state of the human being. HHAs promote ambulation, quadruped position, light exercises, and tasks recommended by the clients’ healthcare practitioners.
Whether switching from bed to chair, sitting to standing, or even between a chair and a wheelchair, these people guarantee that any change is done safely without struggles or falling. They can employ equipment, such as the transfer belt, that helps support the client during transfers.
HHAs may help clients with mobility impediments with exercises geared towards flexibility and strength of the joint parts.
Every clinician is keen to guarantee the adherence and safety of clients, patients, or consumers. While HHAs typically do not administer medications, they are instrumental in helping clients manage their medication schedules.
Most clients who use HHAs depend on them to help administer their medicines at the right time as their doctor requires.
He noted that HHAs are usually involved in assisting their clients in taking orally administered medications, which are generally in pill organisers and have correct doses. Where HHAs get more training, they may be allowed to give some medicines, especially when the patient is at home.
HHAs monitor the clients for any side effects or atypical symptoms once they take their medication. This information is then conveyed to the overseeing nurse or family.
Proper nutrition is vital for clients’ health, especially those with specific dietary needs due to diabetes or hypertension. Here is how home health aid can help with a patient’s nutrition planning and diet.
HHAs work with the client to prepare healthy meals for consumption, considering the client’s diet restrictions/choices. They also prepare the next-day meals to avoid wastage and ensure well-balanced meals.
Some of the clients may need assistance with feeding as they may be paralyzed, have tremors or other health complications that affect their hand’s dexterity as well as other motor-related complications related to the brain.
Therefore, it may be important for clients to regularly check the amount of fluids they consume during a given day, especially for those most susceptible to fluid retention, such as the elderly.
Part of the responsibility of being a home health aide involves maintaining a clean, organized, and hazard-free living environment.
House health aids perform some chores, including dusting, cleaning floors and carpets, washing dishes or other utensils, and cleaning the main living areas. Cleanliness is vital for preventing infection, and a clean environment helps improve the environment around you.
Guests must regularly be issued fresh laundry and bed linens for cleanliness and comfort. HHAs assist clients with having clean clothes and bed linens, mainly for those clients who are bed-bound.
HHAs may be expected to buy groceries, go to the pharmacy to get prescriptions for clients, or perform other chores that involve leaving the house.
Clients, particularly the elderly, are likely to face other challenges, such as loneliness. A home health aid often provides essential social interaction.
The closest physical touch and communication can be helpful, whether talking or listening to a conversation, a story, or just being there. Most clients feel that their HHA is not only a caretaker but also a friend.
Many activities are recommended to HHAs, including reading, playing games like cards, knitting, or even gardening. These activities help keep the client mentally engaged and give them some sort of duty to perform.
HHAs are mostly emotional support workers who listen to and comfort patients during challenging moments.
Home health aides are trained to monitor clients’ health status closely and report any changes to the appropriate parties
A change in the patient’s appetite, a rash, or a change in mental states, such as confusion or aggression, maybe a sign. All HHAs are trained to look for such signs and report them to doctors or families.
Family members or HHAs may document the client’s daily activities and health status, such as temperature and blood pressure, if necessary, or any daily concerns. This is important for recording the client’s progress and helping monitor him or her after discharge from the clinic.
When nurses, therapists, or other healthcare professionals visit the client at home, the HHA establishes a link to ensure proper and efficient care coordination.
There are many ways in which a home health nurse or a home health aide can help maintain and recover a patient.
HHAs help clients perform exercises prescribed by a licensed therapist to help with strength, flexibility, mobility, and balance.
Some HHAs may help patients as part of speech or occupational therapy. They may help with speech or fine motor exercises.
Rehabilitation is not a one-time affair; thus, there must always be some consistency. Therapists assist their clients in adhering to therapy schedules and offer encouragement if they forget about a particular procedure.
A home health aide is much more than a caretaker; the latter is often the only person the patient has to turn to for help, physical, emotional or psychological. It benefits not only the individuals and communities they are assisting but also families who are given a break and comfortable that their loved ones are in good hands. HHAs allow the clients to age non-transferring while keeping their regular schedules and self-respect. As assistants who complete errands for their patients, caregivers to listen to their patient’s troubles, or ensure the environment is safe, home health aides are vital to many people’s lives.
In most cases, home health aides can remind patients about the time for the medication and help them take pre-measured doses. This also indicates that they can give injections or complicated operations with further directions and training; it usually varies with state laws.
Both individual and domiciliary care came at times on the orders of a nurse, though the nurse whom I met when in the hospital and recommended a home health aide was friendly. Personal care aides are less skilled in medical treatments than home health aides and may perform other errands such as cleaning. They are partly clinical practitioners and perform duties like measuring the client’s vital characteristics like pulse and blood pressure.
It is advisable for families to hire HHAs who have undergone a certification examination and from a program accredited with the state licensing boards. Hiring a professional aide from a licensed home care agency also enables a client to hire an applicant who has passed a background check and is qualified to offer care services.