Book Description

This unique resource will show you how to find and hire quality help providers - when and where you need them - and how to keep them longer.You will be in control of the quality of help you receive, because you will first control the quality of your help providers.

Your relationshipwith family caregivers, agency aides, or personally employed PAs (personal assistants) will maximize respect and trust - and minimize stress. You will find step-by-step strategies for the recurring RISHTMP Cycle of recruiting, interviewing, screening, hiring, training, managing, and parting ways with your paid help providers.

Planning strategies also advise you and family caregivers how to live in harmony.Your need for assistance is balanced with their need to set limits on the help they can provide. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Take Charge!
This book helped me understand that I'm the one in charge. The caregivers work for me and I see now that I need to take more control of the situations. It's a great resource for all aspects of people management.

Treasure of Facts and Helps
This book is a treasure of facts and helps for any family member, friend, or professional seeking caregiver/personal assistant care for another, or for an individual seeking such care for him/herself. The book is reader friendly and proceeds in logical steps. The information is practical and useable. Compassion for and insight into the feelings of the care receiver are a part of the writing and this is invaluable to all as they move through the process of finding caregiver/personal assistants. The author "thought of everything" and addresses every question one could have because he has been in the situation of finding care for himself and knows what does and does not work. His expertise and information will be a welcome and comprehensive guide to anyone who needs to find, hire and manage caregiver or personal assistant help.

Caregivers and Personal Assistants
Finally, DeGraff has a new book! He is THE authority on personal care assistance, and I trust his experience, wisdom and advice. We have waited for this new edition for several years, and we find it chocked full of practical how-to's. This is a must for families seeking advice on managing care at home, for students and for health care workers. This book should be required reading for legislators and public policy advocates because this provides practical, up-to-date, relevant information for real-life settings; and it reminds us that legislation must support independent living and home care. With the graying of America, more and more people are going to realize the value of living at home with effectively managed personal care. Agency care often does not work, and it is not aimed at promoting the care recipients' need for independence, respect and wholesomeness. Managing care at home provides sensible and healthy options -- and DeGraff's expertise and advice shows how to go about it. This is learning from the best! Margaret A. Short, Ph.D.

A "MustBuy" book for those who need help with personal care
As indicated by the title, this book gives you all the information you need to "Find, Hire and Manage the People Who Help You (or your Loved One!). The author speaks from profound personal experience of his more than 30 years of living as a high level quadriplegic. As one who has know Mr. DeGraff since early in that experience, I have followed him as he has gone through rehabilitation, college, graduate school and beyond to where he is today and can readily vouch for his abilities. No detail has been left out of this remarkable publication.

Great resource for busy people
As a sole adult responsible for my elderly mother, I found DeGraff's book to be my best friend. Prior to getting this book, I felt like a ship at sea without a rudder. Now I have direction, confidence, and clarity when it comes to making decisions for her and for me. It is a resource that offered great ideas and perspective to support her quality of life, at the same time,ensuring my own quality of life. ... Read more

Book Description

At some time, most families will need to provide home care for an aging family member who is ill or disabled. While home caregiving provides many benefits, it takes careful planning, support, and patience.

The American Medical Association Guide to Home Caregiving provides the information you need to take the best possible care of an elderly, ill, or disabled person in a home setting. Written by experts from the American Medical Association, the book explains such essentials as how to:

• Plan and arrange a room to adapt to a loved one’s needs
• Give medications, maintain hygiene, monitor symptoms, deal with incontinence, provide emotional support, and relieve boredom
• Choose a home healthcare provider
• Pay for home healthcare, including Medicare and Medicaid, and long-term care insurance
• Care for a person with Alzheimer’s disease or a terminal illness
• Choose between alternative living arrangements such as assisted living facilities or nursing homes
• Take care of yourself, the caregiver

With advice that touches both the physical and the emotional aspects of caregiving, this supportive, practical handbook will help make the experience as successful and rewarding as possible for you and your loved one.

For more than 150 years, the American Medical Association has been the leading group of medical experts in the nation and one of the most respected health-related organizations in the world. The AMA continues to work to advance the art and science of medicine and to be an advocate for patients and the voice of physicians in the United States. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Developing a Care Plan
My brother and I take care of my eighty-year-old mother. She has
diabetic neuropathy and can't walk. But she's a good kid and
we take care of her. This book has helped. Although the object of the book at first seems to be to develop a care plan; it really is a book of primary skills that you need in caregiving.
The book is best because you are not overwhelmed with 465 ways
to help your loved one. This is a primary and basic skills book.
Buy this book if you are new at caregiving and don't know where to start. Because the American Medical Associarion wrote it, I imagine that it would be good for all caregivers to buy it. I just love this book. It's like a Boy Scout manual. It's user-friendly for your brain. And sometimes simplicity can do more good that needless complications and theories. Thank you and I wish you luck. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (3)

Wonderful handbook of the day
My five star rating for this book is because when it was published - and when I first read it - it was uptodate and a leader for resources. Very few books were written to give those who care for loved ones places to find answers. Most available books concentrated on specific conditions and the patients. Also at the time, the web didn't have the helpful, informative sites of today. Personally, I would love to see Mrs. Carter update the book to include the email adresses and web sites for the sources listed.

My mother had been having a series of TIA's when I found this book. Several months later she had a full fledged stroke. I was her main caregiver until she required full time skilled care outside the home. When she was hospitalized and then in a nursing home setting, I continued to be her medical surrogate. As such, I found this book not only a wealth of information, but also a great inspiration. Much of the encouragement and advice given, falls in line with the Hospice literature I received in the final month of my mother's life. It is important for caregivers to understand there are places to receive help to let them care for themselves besides the patient. It can all be so overwhelming to try to do it all and so unnecessary to be alone. Beyond that, the book helps to educate to be able to ask questions about medical, social, emotional, and economic issues to insure the best quality care.

This volume is filled with love and respect and I cannot recommend it enough. I even donated a copy to our local library.

I wish I had read this before
I was a caregiver for a few years for my father and wish I had had a book like this then. If only I had known about all the resources out there that could have helped us! It also would surely have helped to know there were many others out there facing the same situation we were - the comments from caregivers in Georgia mirrored what I felt here in Pittsburgh. Caregiving is the same everywhere - we all have to cope with the same thing. For anyone who is or may ever be a caregiver, this book is a nice and simple read.

A must for caregivers facing long term care.
Mrs. Carter begins her book with the following statement: "There are only four kinds of people in this world: Those who have been caregivers * Those who currently are caregivers * Those who will be caregivers * Those who will need caregivers". The definition of who a caregiver is, that follows that statement, is one of the most succinct descriptions I have read. This is a book everyone facing the prospect of long term care with a loved one must read and possess. She talks about caregiving as a time honored tradition, that although inherent with great stress and isolation, nevertheless holds the possibility of satisfac-tion if positive attitudes are nurtured and support services and help are attained. No one can do it alone. She provides a list of places to start for information and planning when long term care becomes a challenge in your life. I highly recommend this reading. ... Read more

Book Description

This well-organized, straightforward guide provides parents with the information they need to feel confident about managing their children's health. They will gain vital knowledge such as: how to do a physical exam; the 13 signs of a sick child; what to do about fever; how to treat simple illnesses at home; the pros and cons of immunization; how to deal with common emergencies; the side effects of medication; how to detect, diagnose, and treat allergies; and important questions to ask the pediatrician. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A terrific resource!
Because my twins were premature, I felt I had a crash course in a BUNCH of medical jargon. As time passed, I realized that the quality of their care depended upon how much I know. This book is a wonderful tool for parents to become a strong advocate for their child's health and well being and I HIGHLY reccomend it!

An Essential Guide
Somehow I have collected quite a collection of home medical guides - I have everything from the Mayo Clinic's Guide to your baby's first year to Sears and Sears's "The Baby Book". In "Take Charge of Your Child's Health", Wooten and Verney have done a masterful job of providing medical information and parenting advice that every parent needs. Their review of the pros and cons of immunization, for example, is based on the latest science and is the best I have read. They provide excellent advice on dealing with fevers, ear infections, colic, allergies and a myriad of conditions both minor and serious that parents may encounter. A strong thumbs up for Take Charge of Your Child's Health . . . . ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent Resource
This is the first book written to help Home Care Agencies in designing their infection control programs. The book is well written and very specific for the home care setting. ... Read more

Book Description

Hospice is the primary system to provide care for the terminally ill and their families. Warm, compassionate, and absolutely practical, this definitive resource from the National Hospice Organization will answer all your questions about hospice care and will show you how to make this comprehensive and flexible system work for you and your family.

The Hospice Choice illustrates the gamut of situations dying people and their families may face and suggests ways to manage them. Throughout is information on the broad range of services hospice can provide:

• Physicians and Nursing Services: to help with care specifically designed to keep the patient comfortable and at home
• Counseling Services: to help families and patients sort out their needs and responses
• Respite Services: to allow caregivers needed breaks
• Bereavement Counseling: to provide support for surviving family members and significant others for as much as a full year after loss

The Hospice Choicealso addresses sensitive issues like methods of payment, issues of ethnicity, the special problems raised by sudden death, and the realities of caregiver exhaustion. It will give you the concrete information, support, and encouragement that will help you make wise, compassionate decisions for yourself and for your loved ones. ... Read more

Book Description

Quick Tips for Caregivers provides thorough instruction in basic caregiving procedures, gives cogent advice on safety, and presents practical suggestions to help caregivers reduce stress and obtain outside support.Topics include positioning someone in bed, personal care, infection control, nutrition, safe medication use, wheelchair use, fall prevention, and fire safety.The book is enriched with 47 illustrations. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Packs in details for home caregivers
Quick Tips For Caregivers packs in details for home caregivers which cover the most basic levels of home health care; from how to position a patient in bed and how to give a bed bath and protect your back to preparing for a hospital discharge and hiring help. An exceptional guide for caregivers, especially those just starting out.

A compendium of cogent, practical, experienced advice
Quick Tips For Caregivers provides the non-specialist general reader with a thorough and completely accessible course of instruction in basic caregiving procedures and techniques. The reader is presented a compendium of cogent, practical, experienced advice on methods for improving safety in the home as well as applicable suggestions for ways to reduce inevitable caregiver stress and obtain needed outside support. All aspects of home give provision are covered including medication management, nutrition, wheelchair concerns, fall prevention, fire safety, elder neglect and abuse. "Must" reading for anyone charged with homecare responsibility for an elderly or infirm family member, Quick Tips For Caregivers has a thoroughly "user friendly" text that is enhanced with forty-seven illustration (many of which describe care events that occur every day in home situations) as well as resources for caregiver support, hiring in-home help, communication, incontinence, glossary, a detailed index, and more. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

It Works!
The methods in this book work - we've proved it! Hundreds of people in my practice and in workshops have learned to heal their own pain with one or more of the simple, time tested methods described in this book. If you are ready to get rid of your headache I recommend this little book to open doors of relief for you and your loved ones. I wish you the best of health and success! Paula Maas, DO ... Read more

Book Description

Long-term care in the United States has taken the nursing home as its benchmark, but the monetary, social, and psychological costs of nursing home care are all too high. This book challenges the current dominance of nursing homes as the principal institution of long-term care. It offers a series of alternative models where both services and housing can be provided in a way that allows long-term consumers to enjoy dignified, "normal" lifestyles.

The authors start with the premise that long-term care is designed to assist people who lack the capacity to function fully independently. In addition, the authors argue, no disabled person of any age should be required to forsake his/her humanity in exchange for care. The book rejects the artificial dichotomy between social and medical care, asserting that both play important roles in the psychological and physical well-being of long-term care patients. The book considers the need for competent and compassionate medicine and discusses the methods for improving both its coordination of care and its effectiveness. The book redefines the meaning of safety and protection in long-term care, and how this goal can be accomplished without sacrificing quality of living.

As the new millenium and the aging of baby boomers approaches, more creative approaches to providing better long-term care are required. This volume outlines a useful framework for the provision of effective and humane community-based programs that are both feasible and affordable. The Heart of Long-Term Care is intended for geriatricians, public health professionals, family physicians, and nurses who care for elderly patients. ... Read more

Book Description

Using examples taken from a year-long collaborative on improving end-of-life care, Improving Care aims to equip readers with the best available advice on how to make substantial improvements in the delivery of health care to seriously ill people who are coming to the end of life. The books intended audience includes anyone working in health care management, ranging from doctors, nurse managers and social workers, to administrators, hospital chaplains, and directors of volunteer services. Improving Care describes the gains organizations have made, the changes they have attempted and the successes they have achieved. By offering step-by-step stories of successful efforts to provide good end-of-life care, the book provides a template for organizations interested in improving the way people die in Americas health care system and closing the gap between what is known about good end-of life care and what is actually done for patients. By seeing what didn't work, readers can avoid common pitfalls.

Improving Care includes sections focusing on changes patients and families often demand or would most benefit from, environments that encourage better practice, opportunities for change in caring for patients with specific diseases, as well as a Getting Started chapter which offers specific tips on getting something done by next Tuesday. Content-specific resources are listed at the end of each chapter. An appendix provides instruments used by organizations in assessing various aspects of end-of-life care, and a detailed glossary explains those terms with which the audience may not be familiar. Ultimately, the writers hope to provide the insight and inspiration to address current problems in health care delivery and create excellent health care for everyone, regardless of their stage in life. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Not Your Ordinary Quality Improvement Book
After more than fifteen years in health care as a medical social worker, I've seen my share of QI ideas. Believe me, this is the best book I've ever seen on this subject. It is everything you as a health care professional would need to get serious about using quality improvement to make real changes in practice--and in principle. If you work in end-of-life care and are tired of seeing patients with unrelieved pain, want to move beyond the living will to comprehensive advance care planning, are willing to recognize the role of spirituality in bereavement--just for example--the information you need is here. This is not your ordinary quality improvement book. It talks about real action and practical ways to change entrenched systems. The quotes at the beginning of the chapters are from Will Rogers and Yoda and Anonymous: "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic." The authors, Dr. Joanne Lynn, Janice Lynch Schuster, and Andrea Kabcenell, have a penchant for clear writing and well-organized outlines. The book is sponsored by the Center to Improve Care of the Dying and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. If you are ready to start improving end-of-life care tomorrow, read the book today. ... Read more

Book Description

"We are approaching a caregiving crisis in America," says Rosalynn Carter in her foreword to the book. The 12 chapters of this book discuss the needs of family caregivers and how professional health care workers can work better with them, and explores the multiple losses felt by patients and families. Voices of caregivers and programs that work enhance the articles. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Good book - wonderful illustrations
The echocardiography images in this book are of such good quality that they alone justify buying the book. Generally the text is concise and informative, giving up to the minute information in many areas of equine cardiology.

2 minor criticisms: Firstly, the information currently known about heart rate variability in the horse (and other species) is so slight that it probably did not justify its own chapter. Secondly, little to no information is given regarding support of the cardiovascular system during intensive care of horses - this is an emerging field of more relevance to day to day treatment of horses than heart rate variability.

Overall this is the best source of information on equine cardiology available. Although all of the standard textbooks on Equine Medicine (Reed and Bayly, Smith) have cardiology chapters, the extra information in this book and the fabulous illustrations justify its purchase.

Wonderful illustrations - good information
The echocardiography images in this book are of such good quality that they alone justify buying the book. Generally the text is concise and informative, giving up to the minute information in many areas of equine cardiology.

2 minor criticisms: Firstly, the information currently known about heart rate variability in the horse (and other species) is so slight that it probably did not justify its own chapter. Secondly, little to no information is given regarding support of the cardiovascular system during intensive care of horses - this is an emerging field of more relevance to day to day treatment of horses than heart rate variability.

Overall this is the best source of information on equine cardiology available. Although all of the standard textbooks on Equine Medicine (Reed and Bayly, Smith) have cardiology chapters, the extra information in this book and the fabulous illustrations justify its purchase. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

INCLUDED
I BUILD FIRST AID KITS FOR FRIENDS. THEY MAKE EXCELLANT GIFTS. I ALWAYS INCLUDE A COPY OF THIS BOOK. WHAT GOOD IS THE KIT IF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO USE IT DON'T HAVE A REFERENCE SOURCE. FOR IT'S SIZE, IT IS CRAMMED WITH AN AWESOME AMOUNT OF INFORMATION. THE BOOK IS SMALL ENOUGH TO NEVER BE LEFT BEHIND IF GOING ON A DAY HIKE. YOU CAN ACTUALLY FORGET YOU'RE CARRYING IT. I TRY TO KEEP A COUPLE OF COPIES OF THIS BOOK ON HAND. IT IS SIMPLY THE BEST BASIC FIRST AID BOOK ON THE MARKET.

Buy this book, it *is* useful.
There is NO use having a complete First Aid manual, sitting on your bookshelf, when accidents happen around your car, at work, at the beach etc. and not by your bookshelf.

The Collins First Aid book is tiny enough that you can actually have it around for an emergency. I put one in the car, one in the backpack that I carry around with my toddler, and one at home by the phone. Its diminutive size means that a woman can easily keep it in a purse, or a man in a larger organizer. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Just the Right Kind of Help
A practical book offering just the right kind of help when you are grappling with the grief and trauma of having a loved one who is terminally ill. For those who have the courage and situation calling for a dignified, loving death at home, this book is invaluable.

Coming Home: A Guide to Dying with Dignity
It's been 10 years since reading this book while caring for my mother-in-law.I have recommended it to many friends since then to help them with the care and preparation of death of their loved ones. Deborah Duda is an inspiration and her love and humor at such a difficult time is tremendously uplifting.

I don't know what I would have done without it
This wonderful book is a practical guide for caregivers and family members helping someone they love who is dying at home. It explains the logistics of bring a dying patient home from the hospital, resources available to home caregivers, how to give pain medications, how to make the patient comfortable (bathing, skin care, bedsores, catheters, etc.), how to deal with depression (both yours and the patient's), dealing with feelings about dying, legal considerations, preparation for death and afterward. Without this book I would have been terrified to take care of my grandmother at home until she died. With it, I was able to share her last six months and become closer to the amazing woman that was my grandmother. Those days are some of the most precious of my life, and I used "Coming Home" everyday. We bought a case of the books and distributed them to others sharing similar experiences. ... Read more

Book Description

Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2005 provides the busy physician with a fast, efficient way to identify important clinical information about the most commonly encountered medical disorders. Divided into five distinct sections dealing with over 1000 topics, this book offers: * Basic information on over 600 disorders organized into easy-to-use lists * ICD-9CM codes * Clinical Pearls * Illustrations, tables, and boxes highlighting important considerations * Almost 500 Signs and Symptoms * 200 clinical algorithms assist in diagnosis and expediting patient workup and therapy * Two additional sections offer over 200 laboratory tests with interpretation of results, as well as extensive information on clinical preventive services and patient care guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force * Appendices on herbal products and alternative medicine are also included. The Power of Five Books in One! ... Read more

Book Description

No Place Like Home sets out to determine why home care, despite its potential as a preferred, rational, and cost-effective alternative to institutional care, remains a marginalized experiment in care giving. Nurse-historian Karen Buhler-Wilkerson traces the history of home care from its nineteenth-century origins in organized visiting nurses' associations, through a time when professional home care nearly disappeared, on to the 1960s, when a new wave of home care gathered force as physicians, hospital managers, and policy makers responded to economic mandates.

Focusing on sickrooms of the rich, middle class, and poor, this historical account examines how race, ethnicity, income, gender, type of illness, local conditions, and patterns of practice influenced access to and quality of care. Buhler-Wilkerson links local ideas about the formation and function of home-based services to national events and health care agendas, and she gives special attention to care of the "dangerous" sick, particularly poor immigrants with infectious diseases, and the "uninteresting" sick—those with chronic illnesses. This book also evaluates the impact of social attitudes, medical advances, demographic change, and economic factors in shifting care from the home to the hospital and back home again. ... Read more