Giving Feedback to Your Caregiver for a Great Relationship
Hiring a caregiver can benefit you in more ways than one. A caregiver can attend to your medical needs 24/7, assist you with all of your errands and even become your friend and confidant. Regardless if you need help in preparing your own meals, raking the yard or driving yourself for a doctor’s appointment, a caregiver can help accomplish all of these tasks. Their professional services can be a godsend especially if you’re aging or if an illness or disease already restricts your movements. But just like any other relationship, you should also keep your side of the bargain to ensure that you and your caregiver will have a great relationship – and giving feedback to your caregiver is one way of doing it.
Caregivers are experienced and trained professionals, but this doesn’t mean that they’re perfect.
Usually, there are certain areas of their services which need improvement. And as their patient, you’re in the right position to give them feedback. Not only will this feedback help them grow professionally but these will also ensure that the two of you will get along just fine. Here’s how you can give feedback to your caregiver for a great relationship:
Talk to the agency before working with a caregiver:
Before directly approaching your caregiver and discuss your feedback, determine if the agency has a policy in place that details how patients should properly address their feedback. If these policies require you to talk to the agency first, make sure that you follow. Additionally, if your feedback involves changing your plan of care or requires permanent change on the caregiver’s strategies, it might be best if you also talk to the agency about these matters. This kind of feedback will be a major shift in a caregiver’s responsibilities so addressing these to the agency first will provide better outcomes or solutions.
Control your emotions:
Regardless of how trained or experienced a caregiver is, there will be instances when the two of you will clash. This can happen when you and the caregiver have different opinions over a certain issue or when you’re too stubborn to follow your caregiver’s orders. This kind of scenarios is normal. Although it might be tempting to give feedback to your caregiver when you’re at the peak of your emotion, control yourself not to do it. Always remember to step back and breathe when you’re angry. Take time to process your response and consider all possible risks involved. Anger clouds judgment and the damage caused by an angry response is something which can’t be undone.
Listen first:
Just like you, caregivers are also entitled to feel different emotions. They too can be frustrated whenever they arrive to work late due to heavy traffic or when their car broke down in the middle of the road. Before judging your caregiver, ask first and then respond. There will always be a reason or explanation why your caregiver behaves in a certain way. Allow your caregiver to air out his side of the story. If your caregiver gives you the privilege to express your feedback, provide the right avenue for him to talk as well. A relationship works better when it’s centered in two-way communication.
Be respectful:
Regardless if you’re working with a caregiver in San Antonio or anywhere else in the world, these professionals need to be respected. Sure, as a patient, you have all the rights to give them your feedback but this doesn’t mean that you should do it rudely. You should always start the conversation with something that’s positive. For starters, you can approach your caregiver and tell him, “Dan, I appreciate all the work you’ve done for me for the past weeks.” Or, “Dan, I couldn’t thank you for helping me with my errands and doctor’s appointment.”
Recognize that you’re also fallible:
Just like your caregiver, you can also make mistakes. Since you’re basing your feedback from the things that you see, you can also be wrong. You might be solely focusing on the negative aspect of the situation or the tasks which your caregiver can’t fulfill. Doing this can be unfair to your caregiver. So whenever you’re giving him feedback, start with lines like, “I could be wrong…”
Communication Is Key
People hire caregivers for different reasons. But for sure, most of them decided to hire one in order to continuously meet their daily responsibilities and live life to the fullest. Caregivers can fulfill different roles at the same time, allowing you to do things easier and faster. However, you can only experience all of these benefits once you’re able to give feedback to your caregiver. Doing this might seem nerve-wracking at first but since the two of you are working towards the same goal – to improve your overall health and wellness – you should have the confidence to communicate.
