A Brief Guide to a Home Health Carer's Legal Options The home healthcare worker field is a dynamic one and in high demands. Adults with older parents are sometimes unable to care for their loved ones and need some extra help. Having a home healthcare worker takes some of the pressures off and reassures these adults that their loved ones will not hurt themselves or feel lonely throughout the day. It is estimated that approximately 2.5 million people work full time as home healthcare workers, and this is only expected to grow. Experts predict the field will increase by roughly 70 percent by 2020. Though it is a good profession, the home healthcare workforce does face several major challenges, and it is important that home healthcare workers …show more content…
This was extremely distressing as these workers often provided 24-hour care seven days per week. The act had what was known as the "companionship exemption," which meant that home healthcare workers were not guaranteed minimum wage or any overtime pay. Lawmakers had very broad interpretations of this law, and it allowed them to ignore the rights of home healthcare workers entirely. Now the law has changed, and home healthcare workers must receive an hourly wage as well as overtime. Right to a Safe Environment Whether you're working in a factory or in someone else's home, you have the right to work in an environment that is safe to be in for long periods of time. All employers are required by law to provide working conditions that have no known dangers. In a home environment, there are a few things that your employer should be taking care of. While you are caring for their elderly or disabled loved one, you are not under any obligation to take care of home repairs and routine maintenance (unless this is part of your contract). Your employer should be in charge of: • Ensuring the home is in good condition, meaning no leaks in the roof or cracks in the
My duties and responsibilities include of doing tasks that have been agreed by the service user and the homecare manager after assessing the service user’s needs. I assist in meeting the care support and daily living needs of the service user and also provide care and any additional support that is needed. Some of my duties consist of assisting in getting up in the morning including washing/bathing, dressing, maintaining personal appearance , assisting with undressing and getting to bed in the evening, assisting with the preparation of meals, drinks and snacks when necessary, providing assistance with toileting and changing clothes and/or bedding where necessary, maintaining commodes and washing clothes and bed linen when necessary, providing
This assignment will identify and evaluate the legal and ethical issues within the health and social care for elderly people with dementia and living in residential homes. It will address the difference between the legal and ethical issues and the impact it has on the person suffering from the disease, their family and the role that the professionals have in decision making for the individual’s wellbeing.
The job duties also vary from home healthcare situation to the next. Each patient receiving home healthcare differs in level of independence and cares required. Thus their job duties vary. Personally, the lady I take care of in a home healthcare situation requires many cares. She brushes her own teeth and stands on her own. However, she needs help with her daily cares and transferring. I cook, clean, and do her laundry. This is the typical situation of many home healthcare jobs. Some home healthcare aides transport the individual as well, in addition to doing their shopping.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Employment Projections 2012-2022 released in January 2014, the Registered Nursing workforce is the top occupation in terms of job growth through 2022. It is expected that the number of employed nurses will grow from 2.71 million in 2012 to 3.24 million in 2022, an increase of 526,800 or 19 percent. Growth will take place for a number of reasons: demand for health care services due to increasing life expectancy; chronic conditions, such as arthritis, dementia, diabetes, and obesity; and the number of individuals who have access to health services.
According to the data collected and shown in chart above for 2014 and 2015 statistics hourly wage for personal care assistants, home health aides, and certified nurse 's aides the increase in hourly wage has not raised that much. The amount provided hourly barely allowed the workers to meet the cost of living requirements set for them. A program to provide better training for home health aides to increase wages and overall care of clients in their home setting. If it could be put into place for a reimbursement or a scholarship program to create a degree that is in between an CNA and an RN that would give workers better education and qualifications to receive more pay per hour and do more in the home setting for client’s then this field could be looked at as more of a stepping stone.
The 2010 Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report- The Future of Nursing described the role that nurses have in the current and future US health care environment (IOM, 2011). This report was completed at a time when the Affordable Care Act had been passed and a new emphasis was being put on interdisciplinary healthcare teams, care coordination, value-based payment systems, and preventative care (IOM, 2011). Nursing is the largest profession in health care and with an aging baby boomer populace, the expanded role of nurses will be critical in meeting the growing healthcare burdens (Sisko et al., 2014).
About 32 million people will represent the newly insured, affecting the health care system and nurses are the fundamental in health system. Health care reform is positive for nurses. The health care bill provides money for advance practice and general nurse education. The law also creates a grant program for innovative safety net programs, such as nurse-managed health clinics. Due to the shortage of family Physicians, nurse practitioner programs are going strong. The health care reform is a good opportunity for nurses; the law will permit different approaches to deliver primary care and with the decreasing number of physicians going in to primary care, Nurses represent the best way to provide primary care to the millions of new insured people. (Satowski, 2010)
Federal and State laws require that nursing homes develop a plan of care and employ sufficient staffing to provide all the care listed on the care plan. Most corporate owned nursing homes today are not sufficiently staffed, and they can not provide all the care listed on the care plan. Consequently, residents are not taken to the toilet when necessary; they’re often left lying in urine and feces. They also develop painful and life-threatening decubitus ulcers, and are not fed properly, they’re not given sufficient fluids. They are also over-medicated or under-medicated, and dropped causing painful bruises and fractures, are ignored and not included in activities, are left in bed all day, call lights not answered. These are all forms of negligence, performed daily in nursing homes.
Taking care of the individuals that are getting older takes many different needs. Most of these needs cannot be given from the help of a family. This causes the need of having to put your love one into a home and causing for the worry of how they will be treated. It is important for the family and also the soon to be client to feel at home in their new environment. This has been an issue with the care being provided for each individual, which has lead to the need of making sure individuals have their own health care plan.
One of the issues involving health care and the aging population is majority of health profession employees being a percentage of the aging population. With the knowledge of health profession employees being a factor in the aging population puts a strain on doctors and nurses that come into the workforce after ones have retired. The fewer employees there are, the greater the work load will become on one person. It is imperative for each nurse in a unit to have four patients maximum. Giving more responsibility to one employee does not make the situation less of a challenge, it more so puts people’s lives at a greater risk of danger. The new demands placed on the health care system for health services will not only include a need for more workers, but also require changes in the way services are provided.
A care worker has many responsibilities. For example, it is a care worker’s responsibility to treat each individual fairly and equally with care. This is because a care worker would have to help people who have difficulties doing everyday tasks like getting up out of bed, getting to different places around the home, getting dressed, using the facilities and on some occasions eating. Some clients in the home could have physical disabilities, learning disabilities or mental illnesses such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. A role that a care worker could have is spending quality time with the residents, talking to them and doing activities as a group. This will make the residents feel valued and cared for. Another role that a care worker could have would be to tend to a
Introduction Canadian health and safety legislation requires companies and organizations to make a commitment towards occupational health and safety. Maintaining a safe workplace environment has numerous benefits. A safe work environment can boost employee morale, increase productivity, and improve job satisfaction. For companies and organizations, these benefits can lead to less turnover and increased employee retention. They can also reduce absenteeism while improving the culture and image of a company or organization.
Introduction Home health care is a rapidly increasing service in the health care industry. “Home care is projected to require another 1 million workers between 2012 and 2022, making it the highest growth occupation in the United States, according to PHI Policy Works, a national strategy center working to strengthen the direct-care workforce. It further estimates that by 2020, direct-care workers will be the nation’s largest occupation sector, with nearly 5 million jobs” (Rural Cooperatives). Statistics by The Department of Health and Human Services states, Home healthcare workers are predominantly female (89%) with 24.4% self-identified as black or African American, 20.0% as Hispanic or Latino, and 4.4% as Asian.
Employee rights are very important in the workplace (Rakoczy, C. n.d.). There are some laws to protect employee rights, such as safe working environment, discrimination and overtime pay rates, to ensure every employee is treated fairly. All employees have the right to work in a safe and healthy workplace. In some industries, they use the high-voltage of electricity, extreme temperature, the high-speed and noisy machines in their workplace which can potentially threaten employee health and safety. A safe and healthy workplace must provide a reasonable daily and weekly job schedule to the employees.
Health care is the fastest growing job sector in the workplace. Almost all health careers have at least a projected thirty percent growth rate (Top). People will always need help with their health, and the population is growing rapidly. There is a net gain in the United States of one person every fifteen seconds (U.S.). The employment rate in thousands in 2014 for healthcare practitioners and technical workers was 44.2. In 2024 it is predicted to be