Tag: Wisconsin Caregiver Academy

Handling Caregiver Burnout

What is caregiver burnout

The Cleveland Clinic defines caregiver burnout as “a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion.” This could include any number of negative emotions and behaviors. Some examples include fatigue, stress, anxiety, and changes in behavior. These feelings can build upon each other, which may cause negative feelings to worsen. The Cleveland Clinic says that staff members who are “struggling with burnout may make errors in judgement or decision-making ability; these errors could prove dangerous or even fatal” in cases of accidental mistreatment of medications. The feelings also could negatively impact the lives of the caregivers themselves.

Why it happens

Caregiver burnout may happen for many reasons. Caitlin Morgan from the Cleveland Clinic says several factors may influence the development of caregiver burnout. Caregivers handle many responsibilities and may not always have the help they need. Morgan cautions that “Facilities that are understaffed are at higher risk of developing burnout, as are those who face excessively high workloads.”

Prevention and relief

Thankfully, there are many ways to prevent and alleviate burnout. The Cleveland Clinic recommends:

  • Setting realistic goals
  • Taking advantage of respite care services
  • Developing tools for coping
  • Speaking with someone you trust or a support group

Caregivers who set goals, take breaks, find helpful resources and talk with others can relieve stress, find solutions to problems, and will remember that they are not alone in this process. Finally, caregivers should set aside time for self-care as well!

SOURCES

Cleveland Clinic. “Caregiver Burnout.” January 13, 2019

Caitlin Morgan. “Reducing Caregiver Burnout in Assisted Living Facilities.” Caitlin Morgan. May 15, 2020.

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Wisconsin Caregiver Academy takes away the stress of caregiver training with online options. See how we exceed standards of care with ongoing training options.

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Writing/Research Credit: Benjamin Kopetsky, UW-Green Bay Marketing Intern

A New Healthcare Paradigm Reshapes Senior Living

As industries develop recovery plans in the wake of COVID-19, they are informed by the lessons learned in the past year and half.

The balance has especially shifted for owners and operators in the assisted living industry. They have been used to walking the line between healthcare and hospitality, but COVID-19 is refocusing them on health- and safety-first strategies and innovations.

COVID-19 has changed consumers forever in that they can no longer trust the future. This creates anxiety as consumers seek to be assured.

Especially the families of populations vulnerable to infectious diseases, with significant care needs.

As one operator puts it, “COVID-19 shifted the value proposition completely.”

The foundation of care must be protecting the well-being of assisted living residents, and providers are adapting the lessons learned from the pandemic to feature:

  • More outdoor access
  • Ways to isolate residents more comfortably
  • More touchless technology
  • More intensive air purification systems
  • Dedicated telehealth spaces
  • On-site clinics

These changes will herald a new era in assisted living.

SOURCE:
Senior Housing News. “Top Senior Housing Trends for 2021.” Tim Mullaney, January 2, 2021

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Far-seeing assisted living providers are also ensuring they provide opportunities for their caregiving staff, administrators and consultants to gain the necessary and developmental training they need and want. Personnel are more engaged if allowed to grow in their roles, which contributes to the compassion and care residents receive. Wisconsin Caregiver Academy supports the industry with quality instruction, including Train-the-Trainer, Caregiver, Client Group and Specific Task courses.

Assisted Living Summer Camp

As things returned to more normal, Evergreen Place Assisted Living in Champaign, Illinois, brought back their summer camp for residents, an annual event, designed for residents and staff to grow closer and be “kids at heart” together.

This year’s theme is “Break Out of the Outbreak,” and every day started with a mock “press release,” previewing the day’s activities, which included watching funny YouTube videos, games, games, arts and crafts, singsong, a staff canoe race, meals over the fire along with a closing campfire and awards.

“Anything you can do with a 5-year-old, you can do with a 95-year-old. With some modifications, of course,” said Evergreen’s life enrichment coordinator and camp director, Emma Jane Glick.

According Psychology Today, there is mounting evidence for the positive effects of laughter. It reduces pain, allowing us to relax with discomfort. It reduces blood sugar levels, offering relief to diabetics and nondiabetics. Most importantly, laughter brings people together, creating a sense of connection and a positive emotional climate.

Glick talked about her goals for the camp. “If we laugh every day this week, if we have fun every day, then that’s just… a great reward and that’s really a great goal of our camp.”

Laughter really is the best medicine.

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Committed to Healthy Aging

We are approaching a milestone in the aging population. By 2034 for the first time in U.S. history adults 65+ are projected to outnumber children under 18. This milestone will affect healthcare in a dramatic way, creating a demand for a new approach to healthy aging and specialized knowledge of the complex needs of older adults.

Wisconsin Caregiver Academy has created a noncredit Certificate Program in Geriatric Healthcare in order to meet this demand. The certificate comprises four core courses and two electives, including “Mental Health” and “Generations and Diversity in an Aging Society.”

The certificate is relevant to nurses, social workers or case managers. Learn how you can play a larger role in patient-centered care for older adults.

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SOURCE
WCIA/WCIX. “Residents ‘Break Out of the Outbreak’ at Evergreen Place Assisted Living.” July 14, 2021
Psychology Today. “Laughter: The Best Medicine. Hara Estroff Marano, Last Reviewed June 9, 2016

Depression is Not a Normal Part of Getting Older

The mental health of older Americans has been identified as a priority by key national organizations. Mental health is essential to overall health and well-being and has increasingly become part of the public health mission.

It is estimated that 20% of people aged 55 years or older experience some type of mental health concern. The most common conditions include anxiety, severe cognitive impairment, and mood disorders (such as depression or bipolar disorder).

Depression is the most prevalent mental health problem among older adults. It is associated with distress and suffering. It also can lead to impairments in physical, mental, and social functioning and can affect the course of treatment of other chronic diseases.

Older adults with depression visit the doctor and emergency room more often, use more medication, incur higher outpatient charges, and stay longer in the hospital.

Although the rate of older adults with depressive symptoms tends to increase with age, depression is not a normal part of growing older. Rather, in 80% of cases it is a treatable condition. Unfortunately, depressive disorders are a widely under-recognized condition and often are untreated or undertreated among older adults.

The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is a screening test used to identify symptoms of depression in older adults. The GDS is frequently used in acute, long-term and community settings. Depression should not be diagnosed based on the GDS, but it is often part of a comprehensive geriatric assessment because of its established reliability and validity.

The GDS is available in a long-form that consists of 30 questions, and a more commonly used short-form that has 15 questions. There is also a five-item GDS that often provides similar results to the 15 questions.

The GDS consists of yes/no questions that assess a person’s level of enjoyment, interest, social interactions and more, with a focus on questions that distinguish older adults from younger populations.

A point is given for each answer that indicates depression. On the 15-question form, a score of over five points indicates a need for follow-up evaluation, while a score of over 10 almost always indicates depression.

The development of the GDS was funded by the Federal government and is free to use. According to multiple research studies, both the long and the short form GDS are quite accurate at identifying depression in older people.

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15-Question GDS

Choose the best answer for how you have felt over the past week:

1. Are you basically satisfied with your life? YES / NO

2. Have you dropped many of your activities and interests? YES / NO

3. Do you feel that your life is empty? YES / NO

4. Do you often get bored? YES / NO

5. Are you in good spirits most of the time? YES / NO

6. Are you afraid that something bad is going to happen to you? YES / NO

7. Do you feel happy most of the time? YES / NO

8. Do you often feel helpless? YES / NO

9. Do you prefer to stay at home, rather than going out and doing new things? YES / NO

10. Do you feel you have more problems with memory than most? YES / NO

11. Do you think it is wonderful to be alive now? YES / NO

12. Do you feel pretty worthless the way you are now? YES / NO

13. Do you feel full of energy? YES / NO

14. Do you feel that your situation is hopeless? YES / NO

15. Do you think that most people are better off than you are? YES / NO

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Committed to Healthy Aging

We are approaching a milestone in the aging population. By 2034 for the first time in U.S. history adults 65+ are projected to outnumber children under 18. This milestone will affect healthcare in a dramatic way, creating a demand for a new approach to healthy aging and specialized knowledge of the complex needs of older adults.

Wisconsin Caregiver Academy has created a noncredit Certificate Program in Geriatric Healthcare in order to meet this demand. The certificate comprises four core courses and two electives, including “Mental Health” and “Generations and Diversity in an Aging Society.”

The certificate is relevant to nurses, social workers or case managers. Learn how you can play a larger role in patient-centered care for older adults.

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SOURCE
Center for Disease Control. “The State of Mental Health and Aging in America.”
Verywell Mind. “Overview of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS.” Esther Heerema, MSW, January 28, 2020.

Growing Optimism Around Vaccine

If you’ve been wondering about the impact of the coronavirus vaccine and the incidence of cases at nursing homes, you’ll be glad to know the latest news is positive.

According to a recent article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the first nursing home inoculations in Wisconsin took place December 28, and in that week, Wisconsin homes reported 254 residents had contracted COVID-19. That was down from a high of 854 new cases the week of November 9.

But since the first week of vaccinations, nursing home cases have dropped 97%, their lowest level since May.

An analysis by the research arm of the American Health Care Association found that new cases dropped at a faster rate in nursing homes that had received vaccine than in ones that hadn’t. The analysis compared 797 homes that had vaccinated residents and staff in late December with more than 1,700 homes in the same counties that had not vaccinated.

Along with nurses, doctors and other health workers, residents and staff of nursing homes were the first Wisconsinites to get vaccinated. Most nursing home residents have now received both doses of the vaccine.

These dramatically improved numbers increase optimism about the promise of the vaccine.

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WISCONSIN COVID-19 VACCINE STATS

Total doses administered: 1,568,329

Wisconsin residents with at least one dose: 986,387 (16.9% of the population)

Residents with both doses: 548,343 (9.4% of the population)

Residents 65 and older with at least one dose: 592,772 (58.3% of 65+ population)

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For people wanting help with vaccine-related questions, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services has launched a toll-free telephone hotline: 844-684-1064.

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Dedicated to Quality Care

The Wisconsin Caregiver Academy is dedicated to ensuring quality care at community-based residential facilities and continues to train trainers and caregiving staff.

New train-the-trainer sessions have been scheduled through June 2021. When taking a train-the-trainer course, employees can become state-approved trainers for assisted living providers. This eliminates the cost and burden of having to bring in outside trainers into your facility to train staff. You, an employee or a consultant can become a state-approved trainer!

See All Dates by Topic:

Medication Administration
Standard Precautions
Fire Safety
First Aid and Choking

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COURSE
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Wisconsin nursing homes see a 97% drop in COVID-19 cases since the first week of vaccinations.” Sarah Volpenhein and Alison Dirr. March 4, 2021.

Lessons from Caregiving

According to recent research by AARP, one in six of our co-workers is likely caring for a loved one in addition to work and family. This is a daunting prospect for most of us, but life is made up of moments, and there are some lessons to be learned from caregiving, which might in fact add value to the rest of your life.

Here are six lessons provided by Guideposts, a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring the world to believe that anything is possible with hope, faith and prayer.

  1. Self-care first.

This will mean different things for different people, encompassing any/all of the following: consistent sleep, adequate exercise, recreation, good nutrition, stress-reduction techniques and a sense of humor.

  1. Mistakes are fixable.

Perfectionism can handicap the efforts of caregivers, making every task a drudgery. Instead swap the perfectionism for self-compassion, because according to psychotherapist and author Anne Wilson Schaef, Ph.D., “Perfectionism is self-abuse of the highest order.”

  1. It’s okay to not be okay.

Experts and experienced caregivers agree it’s not healthy for caregivers to wear a “I’m fine” mask and suffer alone. It’s not a sign of weakness to admit this. It’s a sign of bravery. Ask for help.

  1. Compassion helps.

Caregiving teaches and nurtures compassion, the mother of all virtues. If we all used a little more compassion in our lives, the world – and caregiving – would be in a much better place.

  1. Practice mindful communication.

Old family dynamics can often add stress to caregiving situations, making clear and open communication essential. Listen. Speak. Observe nonverbal cues.

  1. Make room for hope.

The point of caregiving is holding hope between you and your loved one, despite the minutia of tasks — doctor’s visits, medications, meals. Or maybe because of. Hope is the reward for patience and kindness, and hope “never asks a crumb” of you.

Emily Dickinson’s poem “Hope is the thing with feathers” is an apt metaphor for caregiving and can provide a meaningful daily meditation.

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New Dates Available for Train-the-Trainer
The Wisconsin Caregiver Academy has scheduled new train-the-trainer sessions through July 2021. When taking a train-the-trainer course, employees can become state-approved trainers for assisted living providers. This eliminates the cost and burden of having to bring in outside trainers into your facility to train staff. You, an employee or a consultant can become a state-approved trainer!

See All Dates by Topic:

Medication Administration
Standard Precautions
Fire Safety
First Aid and Choking

Caregiving is Fundamental to our Collective Thinking

Care 100 List

It’s a new year and now a new President. If you need inspiration for re-imagining and re-humanizing our care system, check out the Care 100 List, a first-of-its-kind list of dynamic leaders tackling the problems and opportunities of care in this country, guided by the belief that “care is fundamental to our collective thriving.”

The criteria for inclusion was:

  • Re-imagining the field
  • Anti-racist and anti-sexist
  • Human-centered
  • Silo-busting
  • Expectation-raising
  • Unapologetically joyful
  • Imaginative and solving real problems for real people

The list is less concerned with where contributors work – encompassing start-ups, corporations, nonprofit organizations, government, education and the arts – and more interested in how they work. The list includes 10 honorees in 10 approaches to care:

Warriors – bending the moral arc of the care universe
Builders – taking ideas and making them real
Weavers – helping people connect, knowing how to make them feel “seen”
Pioneers – forging the path the rest of us are trying to walk and widen
Backers – changing the reality of care investment
Dignifiers – elevating critical care work to its rightful place in our society
Truth-Tellers – telling fresh, accurate stories about who we are and how we show up for one another
Healers – understanding that life is interwoven with loss and resilience
Educators – enlightening us on how to help and how to ask for help
Visionaries – seeing beyond the horizon to the policies, products and cultural jumpstarts that will better our common life
Read 100 stories about real change-makers, including “warriors” like Katie Bethell, founder of PL+US, a long-time champion for families with a track record of spearheading impactful policy change, who is leading a movement to make paid leave the norm, not the exception.

The Care 100 List also came up with a list of the “five most powerful ideas” that they believe will be the most durable and transformative based on the year 2020 was and the vulnerabilities exposed by coronavirus.

  1. We are re-imagining where and how we age.
  2. We are pushing back against isolation
  3. We are dignifying and professionalizing care work.
  4. We are pricing and paying for care in new ways.
  5. We are painting a more accurate picture of our nation’s families.

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New Dates Available for Train-the-Trainer
The Wisconsin Caregiver Academy has scheduled new train-the-trainer sessions through June 2021. When taking a train-the-trainer course, employees can become state-approved trainers for assisted living providers. This eliminates the cost and burden of having to bring in outside trainers into your facility to train staff. You, an employee or a consultant can become a state-approved trainer!

See All Dates by Topic:

Medication Administration
Standard Precautions
Fire Safety
First Aid and Choking

Holiday Ideas for Assisted Living

Holiday spirit is about what’s in your heart, and this year it seems more important than ever. Administrators and staff can create a holiday to celebrate for residents by planning small events that make memories for residents. Below are some ideas. Do one or two or more!

Celebrate Gingerbread Decorating Day – Saturday, December 9
Set up an area for residents to decorate either gingerbread cookies or gingerbread tree ornaments.

Gift-Wrapping Party
Collect lots of cardboard boxes for your residents to wrap during a fun gift-wrapping party. Pass out gift-wrapping paper for residents to wrap the boxes and tie the ribbon. Gift-wrap presents for family or gifts for under your facility’s tree.

Create a New Christmas Tree-Lighting Tradition
Create invitations to pass out to residents to invite them for your facility’s annual tree-lighting ceremony to mark the beginning of the holiday season. Beforehand, recruit residents to help you decorate your facility’s trees with ornaments and lights. Then invite residents to wear their holiday sweaters to the party, where you’ll serve hot cocoa and Christmas cookies. At the start of the party, have your administrator “flip the switch” to show-off the beautiful decorations, and if you have outdoor decorations, turn them on as well.

Santa Hat Luncheon
Host a luncheon and invite residents to wear a Santa hat if they’d like. Combine with an arts and crafts session beforehand where residents can decorate a simple and inexpensive felt hat with baubles, bling and put a unique style on the hat that is all their own. Hold a contest and provide awards for the most original hat, prettiest hat, ugliest hat, and so on.

Night Before Christmas
Celebrate Christmas Eve with a movie marathon. Watch tried and true favorites such as It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street and White Christmas. Complete the evening’s activities with a visit from Santa, who will pass out a small gift to each resident or candy canes if you’re on a tight budget.

Hot Chocolate Bar
Host a hot chocolate bar (offer sugar-free options) complete with candy canes, whipped cream, and sprinkles for a holiday experience residents will enjoy.

Door Decoration Competition
Provide decorations to participating residents so they can decorate their doors with a holiday theme. Decorating a door may be easier than an entire room and everyone can enjoy the decorations as they move throughout the facility.

Holiday Bingo
Finally, there’s the tried-and-true favorite bingo, dressed up for the holidays. Choose from a selection of designs. Make the game sweeter by using holiday candy as markers. Red and green-colored Hershey kisses or M&M are especially cheery.

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Now Offering Training for Caregiving Staff
We know that the pandemic makes it difficult to bring new staff together for training. That’s why we’ve come up with a solution!

The Wisconsin Caregiver Academy has created online classes for your staff to receive either parts or all of their DHS 83.25 mandated continuing education.

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RESOURCES:
S&S Blog, “6 Holiday Themed Party Ideas for Senior Residents.
Love To Know, “Fun and Festival Nursing Home Holiday Ideas,” Tamsen Butler.

Emotional Intelligence and Caregiving

A MEANINGFUL CIRCLE

Emotional intelligence (EI) has long been embraced by the business community, and leaders are coached to enlarge their empathy and understanding of employees in order to address fundamental interpersonal and emotional needs in the workplace.

But does EI help in caregiving? It turns out yes.

That was the result of a multi-year caregiver study conducted by Dr. Dafna Hadar-Pecker.

She found that EI enabled professional caregivers to achieve a higher level of understanding, and consequently offer a better degree of care.

Caregivers with high EI are not immune to the negative aspects of their profession: the day-to-day need to cope with difficult issues and the physical and emotional pain.

However, caregivers with higher EI were able to avoid compassion fatigue and were more successful experiencing “compassion satisfaction.”

Says Hadar-Pecker, “EI is a tool that tells [caregivers] it’s okay to feel something deeply because you are doing something that is meaningful and valuable, and as a result it helps the treatment programs. It becomes a kind of circle.”

Further, she says, “An individual with high EI knows how to create a strategy to navigate through the negative aspects and positive aspects.”

What is Emotional Intelligence (EI)

EI is generally understood to mean the ability to comprehend and manage our emotions while simultaneously understanding the emotions of others.

For caregivers and other healthcare workers, emotional intelligence can be categorized into four areas of particular importance: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management.

Diagram of 4 areas of emotional intelligence
Self-Awareness – Far from being self-indulgent, self-attention and self-care are essential, so that you can continue to help and serve.
Ask yourself:

  • Am I aware of my emotions?
  • Am I aware of how I am expressing them and impacting others?
  • What is the tone of my self-talk?
  • Are my basic human needs being met?

Self-Management – Becoming more aware of your emotions and how you’re expressing them gives you the information you need to better manage your responses.

Ask yourself:

  • Do I have effective way to navigate emotional triggers?
  • What is within my zone of control?
  • Am I making time for sleep, nutrition, and exercise?
  • Do I have a support network and do I give myself permission to lean on it?
  • What brings meaning and purpose to my life?

Social Awareness – Taking care of yourself is what allows you to take good care of others.

Ask yourself:

  • Do I listen to others first to understand rather than rush to respond?
  • Can I identify and name others’ emotions accurately?
  • Whose work haven’t I recognized?

Relationship Management – While social awareness is tuning into others, relationship management is using this awareness to have successful interactions with them.

Ask yourself:

  • Am I bringing extra patience, and assuming the best about others?
  • As a caregiver, am I being transparent with information?
  • Are my communications frequent, clear, and open to feedback?
  • Am I going slow at key moments, including moments of thanks?

When caregivers cultivate higher EI, they feel more rewarded by their work, and the patient is the ultimate beneficiary.

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Cultivate Empathy and Understanding
Wisconsin Caregiver Academy has created two specialized online live courses to enable you to learn how to honor the needs and desires of your patients. “Negotiated Risk Agreements: Balancing Risk, Responsibility & Rights” takes place on Thursday, November 12 from 9-11 a.m. “Clearing the Muddy Waters of Individual Service Plans and Assessments” takes place in two parts: Thursdays December 3 and December 10, from 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Learn more and register. With enhanced awareness and communication comes enhanced care.

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RESOURCES:
Caregivers, Caregiving and Emotional Intelligence, Open Letter, The Open University of Israel.
How Health Care Workers Can Take Care of Themselves, Harvard Business Review, David P. Fessell and Daniel Goleman, May 20, 2020.
Why Emotional Intelligence is Vital for Remote Workers, Josh Millet, Forbes Human Resources Council, September 30, 2020.

Change Your Habits

WAYS TO PREVENT DEMENTIA BEFORE IT STARTS

Early signs of dementia include having a difficult time remember a recent conversation, names or locations. Patients may also experience apathy or depression. Dementia is a general term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life.

Dementia is progressive, which means it can worsen over time. But new evidence suggests that if you change your habits, you can stop dementia from occurring or becoming more severe.

1. Quit smoking.

It’s never too late. 90% of people quite cold turkey, but other ways are available, according to WebMD. There are also herbs and essential oils that can support your efforts.

2. Be physically active.

30 minutes three times a week. Walk around the neighborhood. Bring a friend, so you can catch up. Dance in your living room.

3. Make sure you get enough Vitamin B.

Adequate levels of B vitamins (folic acid, vitamins B6 and B12) slow down brain atrophy in patients with mild impairment. Foods high in B vitamins include:

Salmon
Leafy greens
Liver and other organ meats
Eggs
Milk
Beef
Oysters, clams and mussels
Legumes
Chicken and turkey
Yogurt
Nutritional and Brewer’s Yeast
Pork
Fortified cereal
Trout
Sunflower seeds

4. Make sure you get enough Vitamin D.

Vitamin D is crucial for mental health. And the good news is easy to come by. When you walk outside, expose your skin to the sun (no sunscreen) for at least 15 minutes.

5. Train your brain.

When you learn new things, your brain has to work to reorganize, creating new neural pathways. Consider:

Taking a class
Learning a new language
Doing crossword puzzles or sudoku
Playing scrabble or chess

6. Increase your social interaction.

Humans are social creatures, so spending too much time along can wear down your brain. Combine some of the habits above by walking with a friend or meeting new people at a class.

By changing your habits, you can not only stop dementia but improve your overall health, increasing your quality of life. What’s stopping you? Start today.

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The Wisconsin Caregiver Academy offers two courses, designed to prepare caregivers for the unique challenges of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Completion of both courses earns a digital badge that can be displayed on a resume, social media or an email signature to demonstrate ongoing continuing education.

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Lifelong Learning Institute is a unique program for retired or leisure adults to take up to 20 classes a semester for a low membership fee. No tests, no grades. Just learning for the fun of it.

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RESOURCES:
Daily Health Post, “9 Habits You Need to Adopt Today to Stop Alzheimer’s or Dementia Before It Starts,” March 19, 2020