Care planning system can be a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. Care planning should involve all the people and systems involved in delivering care. Planning a care plan is not something you do once and forget about – it’s an ongoing process that you’ll need to revisit often, especially when the care needs of your loved one change.
This article will talk through how you can create a care plan, what should go into a care plan, and how to know if your loved one’s needs are changing so you can adjust their strategies accordingly.
What is a care plan?
A care plan is a document that explains all the home support services and information that are needed to help your loved one with day-to-day activities. Everyone involved in providing your loved one with care should create a care plan. It should be easily understandable and clear for everyone, including you, to see. Because every person also has their own unique needs, the document mustn’t become too long or confusing for everyone to understand. Staff can refer to the care plan to get an idea of how much support they need from you or if they need more help as your loved one’s needs change, so it should be up-to-date.
The primary purpose of a care plan is to make sure you meet your loved one’s needs in terms of their health and daily activities. A care plan can include a list of the services you provide and their times and details about how often you go over or beyond what is outlined in their program. This helps staff know if they need to be more specific or if what they provide meets your loved one’s needs. It also gives you how much support you might need from staff overtime to complete your loved one’s needs.
A care plan can also include information on the people who have supported your loved one while living at home, i.e., volunteer visitors. It can consist of a list of the specific tasks they helped with and the frequency of their visits. This can help staff at the residential or palliative care facility know what to expect when they visit your loved one so they can fit into your loved one’s routine easily.
What should go into a care plan?
You may feel that it’s challenging to come up with all of this information, let alone share it with everyone involved in your loved one’s care. It does take some time, but once you have reviewed and agreed on the information, it will be easier for everyone involved to know what to do and when.
Different people will have different needs. For example, s/he may need someone to help him with his daily tasks, such as bathing, dressing, or eating. Someone else might be more concerned with the health care needs of your loved one, such as their medications, doctor appointments, and medical equipment. Still, another person might provide more emotional support by greeting your loved ones when they arrive at the residential or palliative care facility and keeping them informed about family and friends.
Ideally, you should include all of these people in the care plan, but if you don’t have a lot of information from each person, it’s okay to ask questions and get answers when needed.
The care plan needs to be based on each person’s needs. Include everyone who is involved in providing care, including family and friends. Don’t forget to include the names of anyone who volunteered to help while your loved one was still living at home. The care plan should be easy for everyone involved to understand, so it doesn’t have too much information and doesn’t have large blocks of text that are hard for people to read. Write the care plan to highlight the main points, but you can also include supporting details instead of cluttering the document up with all this extra information, as long as people know where they can find them when needed.