Despite their medical training, care workers, at times, are themselves unable to recognize the signs when they experience depression. They may shrug off depression symptoms such as fatigue, moodiness, and concentration problems to everyday stress. It’s important for you to check for signs of depression in your staff so that they stay emotionally healthy and maintain their work quality. Here are some practical ways to spot caregiver depression and steps to tackle them:
1) Not being able to complete all the scheduled work
If a caregiver in your care home team is all of a sudden facing difficulties in completing the tasks assigned to him/her, it can be one of the primary signs of depression. Depression lowers concentration which, in turn, negatively affects productivity and overall performance.
Unfinished tasks can mean workload-related caregiver depression. Talk to the caregiver to learn if he/she is overburdened with work. If yes, focus on optimizing workload so that the caregiver can deliver better results.
Using eMAR (electronic medication administration records) can lessen the workload of your care staff. Electronic MAR automates several medication management processes such as preparing new MAR records, transcribing doctor’s prescription, and auditing MAR records. Learn more about how your caregiving team can benefit from electronic MAR at https://www.electronicmar.co.uk/emar/.
2) Lack of attentiveness
Poor attentiveness is another sign of depression to look out for in your care workers. Care workers experiencing depression may show up at work and team meetings and not be fully present. Lack of attentiveness can also increase the risk of human errors such as medication errors.
3) Low self-confidence
Depression also lowers self-confidence. When self-confidence in your care workers sinks, they may not be able to make certain decisions the right way. And when the decisions are related to medication management, resident health is put at risk.
How can you help your care staff?
If you notice these signs of depression in any of your team members, then encourage other team members to talk to them. Also, ask them to take breaks in between work. It’s equally important to provide skill training in order to help your care workers improve their performance.
Improve the professional well-being of your care workers by reducing repetitive and manual tasks
eMAR, with its cutting-edge features, can reduce manual tasks and help care workers focus more on important work such as planning meals for the residents and engaging activities to help the residents live a healthy and fulfilling life. This helps care workers achieve professional satisfaction. Learn how eMAR has helped care homes across the UK with safe and efficient medication administration https://www.electronicmar.co.uk/emar/
