As a caregiver, often it’s easy to get caught up with your responsibilities and forget about yourself. Each day brings new challenges as you cope with different residents with different levels of ability and behaviour. Often caregivers themselves are at an increased risk for depression and illness, especially if they do not maintain their own health and well-being. These self-care tips can help you stay healthy and productive, and improve the quality of care you provide:
- Be active and maintain a healthy diet
These are the two important steps to maintain a good overall health and stay focused on your work. Be physically active – if you enjoy outdoor activities such as a walk in the park, jogging, running, and swimming, make sure to spend at least 20 minutes every day on such activities.
When it comes to eating healthy, include fresh produce such as fresh and green vegetables (broccoli, gourd, drumstick, papaya, cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower, capsicum, radish, and sweet potato). Also, avoid excess indulgence in drinks loaded with caffeine and artificial sugar as these produce a let-down effect after the effect of sugar and caffeine wear off.
- Maintain a healthy relationship with your co-workers
Having a healthy and positive bonding with your co-workers can benefit you in multiple ways. For example, your co-workers are the best people to help you with a challenging task. Also, a positive relationship between carers fosters transparent communication, which, in turn, can be a major contributing factor in improving the quality of care provided to residents.
- Maintain proper sleep routine
Poor sleep routine can have adverse effects on your health as well as impact your punctuality and productivity at work. Make sure to get 7 to 8 hours of proper sleep every day. Maintaining this routine will help you stay energetic and focused during work hours.
- Maintain your personal interests and hobbies
When caring for care home residents, it’s easy to lose sight of your personal interests and passion. Although your roles and responsibilities as a concerned carer may keep you busy, it’s important to make a little room for doing the things you love. Whether it is playing your favourite instrument or watching your favourite TV dramas, you’ll have a composed state of mind when you don’t forget about your personal joys.
- Talk to your manager
Talking to your manager can help you overcome your personal hurdles at work, such as rearranging/redefining tasks. Also, your manager might be able to put certain measures in place, such as work-life balance management and flexible work hours.
How electronic mar charts can help caregivers?
With electronic medication administration record, caregivers don’t have to manually review every MAR sheet after every medication round. Also, with the eMAR system in place, there will be no problems arising due to illegible notes and also there will be no missed signatures. With simple and easy reporting and audits, Electronic MAR saves the caregiving staff’s time, thus giving them more to spend on person-centred care and on enjoying things that boost their overall well-being.
Mar chart and medication: how care homes can benefit from eMAR?
Learn how eMAR can improve operational efficiency at your care home. Book a demo today.
