1. CAREGIVERS ARE PART OF
THE TEAM
Shawne O’Connell, MSW
Program Manager
San Ysidro Health Center
Research & Health Promotion
shawne.oconnell@syhc.org
2. Learning Objectives:
• Discuss the roles and responsibilities of
caregiving
• Discuss how to communicate effectively with
caregivers
3. Who Are Caregivers?
Caregivers (or informal caregivers)
are unpaid family members, friends,
or neighbors that assist with activities
of daily living and/or medical tasks.
• States with the most caregivers:
California 4,450,000
Texas 3,350,000
Florida 2,670,000
• About 34.2 million Americans
have provided unpaid care to an
adult age 50 or older in the last
12 months.
• 15.7 million adult caregivers care
for someone who has Alzheimer's
disease or other dementia.
Alzheimer’s Association, 2016
4. Caregivers Have Many Roles.
• Care provider
• Care coordinator
• Information source
• Advocate
• Smoke detector
Alzheimer’s Association, 2016
5. Caregivers Have Many Responsibilities.
Assistance with ADL/IADLs
Researching services or information on disease
Coordinate doctors visits
Manage finances
Communicating with providers and making
complex medical decisions
National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, 2015
6. Caregivers as Part of the Team
• Partnerships with patients and caregivers are key
to managing chronic conditions
• Caregivers are your “inside man”
• Teamwork makes the dream work – but it isn’t
always that simple!
7. Communicating Effectively with Caregivers
• Discuss caregiver expectations about response times to
queries
• Agree in advance on how much can be addressed in a
single office visit
• Discuss role of other staff in your office/on the team (e.g.,
social workers)
• Communicate, communicate, communicate…
9. Conclusions
•Appreciate the level and complexity of
care that many caregivers provide
•Communicate effectively with
caregivers
•Actively involve caregivers in care
planning, and support them in their
roles and responsibilities
10. Resources for Caregivers
• Southern Caregiver Resource Center
http://caregivercenter.org/
• Alzheimer’s San Diego http://www.alzsd.org/
• San Diego County AIS
http://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/hhsa/programs/ais.
html
• Caregiver Coalition of San Diego
http://www.caregivercoalitionsd.org/
• National Alliance for Caregiving
http://www.caregiving.org/resources/for-professionals/
11. References
• Alzheimer's Association. (2016). 2016 Alzheimer's disease facts and
figures. Available: http://www.alz.org/documents_custom/2016-facts-
and-figures.pdf. Accessed August 17, 2016.
• Mitnick, S., Leffler, C., Hood, V. L., & for the American College of
Physicians Ethics, Professionalism and Human Rights Committee.
(2010). Family Caregivers, Patients and Physicians: Ethical
Guidance to Optimize Relationships. Journal of General Internal
Medicine, 25(3), 255–260. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-009-1206-3
• National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. (2015). Caregiving in the
U.S.. Available:
http://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/ppi/2015/caregiving-in-the-
united-states-2015-report-revised.pdf. Accessed August 17, 2016.
