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How to Hire a Home Health Aide
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Ellen K.
Aug 23, 2012, 1:40:37 PM8/23/12
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How to Hire a Home Health Aide
from BottomLine Daily Health News
publication date: August 23, 2012
Do you have an elderly loved one who would like to continue to live at home
but can't really attend to day-to-day functioning anymore?
Maybe he or she is memory-impaired or simply too frail to clean, dress and
feed himself or herself.
That's when many families turn to home health aides.
Problem solved!
Or is it?
A new study suggests that agencies that hire out home health aides are
shockingly careless, and even unscrupulous, when it comes to choosing their
employees-which means that you're going to want to choose your aide very
carefully.
AGENCIES ARE MORE LAX THAN YOU THINK
The report on home health aides, done by Lee A. Lindquist, MD, MPH,
associate professor of medicine, general internal medicine and geriatrics at
the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and her
colleagues, uncovered some disturbing facts.
Researchers posing as consumers contacted 180 caregiving agencies in seven
states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana and
Wisconsin). What they discovered.
§ 69% of the agencies said that they do not screen for illegal drug
use before hiring caregivers.
§ 58% of agencies said that they assess skills just by asking
applicants what they can do. Only 35% said that they follow up by actually
testing the caregivers' skills.
§ Just 15% of agencies said that they give on-site training or
supervision while the aide is on the job at a patient's home.
§ 38% said that they do not check job applicants' references.
"Many caregiving agencies come across as professional, but a number of them
are just trying to take advantage of consumers," said Dr. Lindquist.
HOW IS THIS LEGAL?
You might be thinking, There ought to be a law. But there isn't. Agencies
that provide medical care are regulated and have to be licensed. Home health
aides, however, aren't supposed to provide medical care.
They may help with laundry, bathing, cooking and getting their clients in
and out of bed.they may remind them to take their medications.but none of
this is considered medical care. In terms of what sort of training is
required, it varies from state to state, and the guidelines are loose. For
example, in Illinois, an aide needs to have eight hours of training, but
there are no guidelines that specify what the training should consist of, so
it could entail reading a handbook over eight hours. Other states, on the
other hand, require zero hours of training.
In fact, in the eyes of the law, as Dr. Lindquist puts it, home health aides
are "like nannies or babysitters for seniors."
The scary part is, with such careless screening, seniors are vulnerable to
abuse, neglect and even financial fraud (some caregivers are given access to
the client's checkbook to pay bills for him or her).
QUESTIONS TO ASK
If you have a loved one in need of a home health aide, do your homework!
Here are questions from Dr. Lindquist to ask the agency. If any agency
refuses to answer a question (or dances around it), go to another one.
§ How do you evaluate a candidate's skills before hiring him or her?
The agency should tell you in detail how it tests each candidate's skills.
If the agency doesn't do any testing whatsoever, don't use the agency.
§ How do you supervise? Does someone come out to the house to
actually watch the caregiver perform? The agency should provide home
supervision at least once a month. If it doesn't, don't use the agency.
§ If a caregiver is unable to come on a given date, do you send a
replacement? The answer should be "yes." If it isn't, don't use the agency.
§ May I please see references for each candidate? If the agency
doesn't have any, don't use the agency. If the agency provides them, read
them carefully before choosing one (or, ideally, a few) candidates to
interview, so you can weed out anyone who seems inexperienced or
untrustworthy.
§ Do you do federal and state criminal background checks and drug
screening? If the agency doesn't, then don't use the agency. If the agency
does, insist on seeing the reports.
PROTECT YOUR LOVED ONE
Once you've hired a home health aide, drop by occasionally for surprise
visits to evaluate him or her, said Dr. Lindquist. Is your loved one still
in bed at 2:00 pm? Has your loved one showered? Eaten breakfast and lunch?
Taken the correct dosages of the correct medications? You might even want to
go through credit card bills and checkbooks to make sure that the bills are
paid and that there are no missing checks or unusual payments with the
credit card. These drop-ins are extra important when your loved one is
mentally incapacitated, since he or she may not be able to explain to you
later what went wrong.
Source: Lee A. Lindquist, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine, general
internal medicine and geriatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of
Medicine, Chicago.
from BottomLine Daily Health News
publication date: August 23, 2012
Do you have an elderly loved one who would like to continue to live at home
but can't really attend to day-to-day functioning anymore?
Maybe he or she is memory-impaired or simply too frail to clean, dress and
feed himself or herself.
That's when many families turn to home health aides.
Problem solved!
Or is it?
A new study suggests that agencies that hire out home health aides are
shockingly careless, and even unscrupulous, when it comes to choosing their
employees-which means that you're going to want to choose your aide very
carefully.
AGENCIES ARE MORE LAX THAN YOU THINK
The report on home health aides, done by Lee A. Lindquist, MD, MPH,
associate professor of medicine, general internal medicine and geriatrics at
the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and her
colleagues, uncovered some disturbing facts.
Researchers posing as consumers contacted 180 caregiving agencies in seven
states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana and
Wisconsin). What they discovered.
§ 69% of the agencies said that they do not screen for illegal drug
use before hiring caregivers.
§ 58% of agencies said that they assess skills just by asking
applicants what they can do. Only 35% said that they follow up by actually
testing the caregivers' skills.
§ Just 15% of agencies said that they give on-site training or
supervision while the aide is on the job at a patient's home.
§ 38% said that they do not check job applicants' references.
"Many caregiving agencies come across as professional, but a number of them
are just trying to take advantage of consumers," said Dr. Lindquist.
HOW IS THIS LEGAL?
You might be thinking, There ought to be a law. But there isn't. Agencies
that provide medical care are regulated and have to be licensed. Home health
aides, however, aren't supposed to provide medical care.
They may help with laundry, bathing, cooking and getting their clients in
and out of bed.they may remind them to take their medications.but none of
this is considered medical care. In terms of what sort of training is
required, it varies from state to state, and the guidelines are loose. For
example, in Illinois, an aide needs to have eight hours of training, but
there are no guidelines that specify what the training should consist of, so
it could entail reading a handbook over eight hours. Other states, on the
other hand, require zero hours of training.
In fact, in the eyes of the law, as Dr. Lindquist puts it, home health aides
are "like nannies or babysitters for seniors."
The scary part is, with such careless screening, seniors are vulnerable to
abuse, neglect and even financial fraud (some caregivers are given access to
the client's checkbook to pay bills for him or her).
QUESTIONS TO ASK
If you have a loved one in need of a home health aide, do your homework!
Here are questions from Dr. Lindquist to ask the agency. If any agency
refuses to answer a question (or dances around it), go to another one.
§ How do you evaluate a candidate's skills before hiring him or her?
The agency should tell you in detail how it tests each candidate's skills.
If the agency doesn't do any testing whatsoever, don't use the agency.
§ How do you supervise? Does someone come out to the house to
actually watch the caregiver perform? The agency should provide home
supervision at least once a month. If it doesn't, don't use the agency.
§ If a caregiver is unable to come on a given date, do you send a
replacement? The answer should be "yes." If it isn't, don't use the agency.
§ May I please see references for each candidate? If the agency
doesn't have any, don't use the agency. If the agency provides them, read
them carefully before choosing one (or, ideally, a few) candidates to
interview, so you can weed out anyone who seems inexperienced or
untrustworthy.
§ Do you do federal and state criminal background checks and drug
screening? If the agency doesn't, then don't use the agency. If the agency
does, insist on seeing the reports.
PROTECT YOUR LOVED ONE
Once you've hired a home health aide, drop by occasionally for surprise
visits to evaluate him or her, said Dr. Lindquist. Is your loved one still
in bed at 2:00 pm? Has your loved one showered? Eaten breakfast and lunch?
Taken the correct dosages of the correct medications? You might even want to
go through credit card bills and checkbooks to make sure that the bills are
paid and that there are no missing checks or unusual payments with the
credit card. These drop-ins are extra important when your loved one is
mentally incapacitated, since he or she may not be able to explain to you
later what went wrong.
Source: Lee A. Lindquist, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine, general
internal medicine and geriatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of
Medicine, Chicago.
Ozgirl
Aug 23, 2012, 6:38:38 PM8/23/12
to
Interesting. I worked for a private agency for a number of years until
my 17 yr old son was born. The agency was one of a small few private
ones, the rest were govt agencies. A govt agency called Community
Options was the co-ordinator. The scheme was designed to keep the
elderly and disabled out of nursing homes for as long as possible.
Community Options staff assessed referred clients and handed the care
over to the agency they deemed most suitable for the care an individual
needed. My agency wouldn't hire without a Cert 3 AIN. Rarely they took
on a Cert 2 under the proviso they got their Cert 3 ASAP. We never went
to a new client without either my boss (an SRN) or one of the RN's. My
boss would always see a new client personally before any care started
and would work out a program for each client. We, as AIN's, weren't
allowed to have anything to do with medications, dressing, bowel
treatments etc. For people who needed that, an RN would make a visit
leaving the personal care to the AIN's. The scheme worked well but I was
lucky I guess to be employed in an occupation where people were
accountable to a governing agency and also to have a boss who was
scrupulous about the workings of her company and her employees. She also
opened a much needed camp for the disabled and the RN's she employed
worked alongside her at camps as volunteers. It is still running and has
provided respite care by way of camps for a lot of people.
"Ellen K." <firstiniti...@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
news:hSvZr.2$Vf...@newsfe23.iad...
my 17 yr old son was born. The agency was one of a small few private
ones, the rest were govt agencies. A govt agency called Community
Options was the co-ordinator. The scheme was designed to keep the
elderly and disabled out of nursing homes for as long as possible.
Community Options staff assessed referred clients and handed the care
over to the agency they deemed most suitable for the care an individual
needed. My agency wouldn't hire without a Cert 3 AIN. Rarely they took
on a Cert 2 under the proviso they got their Cert 3 ASAP. We never went
to a new client without either my boss (an SRN) or one of the RN's. My
boss would always see a new client personally before any care started
and would work out a program for each client. We, as AIN's, weren't
allowed to have anything to do with medications, dressing, bowel
treatments etc. For people who needed that, an RN would make a visit
leaving the personal care to the AIN's. The scheme worked well but I was
lucky I guess to be employed in an occupation where people were
accountable to a governing agency and also to have a boss who was
scrupulous about the workings of her company and her employees. She also
opened a much needed camp for the disabled and the RN's she employed
worked alongside her at camps as volunteers. It is still running and has
provided respite care by way of camps for a lot of people.
"Ellen K." <firstiniti...@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
news:hSvZr.2$Vf...@newsfe23.iad...
Ellen K.
Aug 27, 2012, 5:09:43 AM8/27/12
to
What do all those abbreviations stand for?
"Ozgirl" <are_we_t...@maccas.com> wrote in message
news:a9npmc...@mid.individual.net...
"Ozgirl" <are_we_t...@maccas.com> wrote in message
news:a9npmc...@mid.individual.net...
Ozgirl
Aug 27, 2012, 7:44:03 AM8/27/12
to
Cert: Certificate
AIN: Assistant in Nursing aka Nurse's aide
RN: Registered Nurse
SRN: State Registered Nurse, a step up from an RN, more responsibility,
more pay, lol.
ASAP: I think you know that one ;)
news:tPG_r.2172$Wh5...@newsfe14.iad...
AIN: Assistant in Nursing aka Nurse's aide
RN: Registered Nurse
SRN: State Registered Nurse, a step up from an RN, more responsibility,
more pay, lol.
ASAP: I think you know that one ;)
news:tPG_r.2172$Wh5...@newsfe14.iad...
Ellen K.
Aug 27, 2012, 6:20:56 PM8/27/12
to
Cert I figured out, RN I knew (and yes, ASAP, LOL), but we don't have AIN or
SRN here. So "cert 3 AIN" is a more difficult exam than cert 2?
news:aa14s5...@mid.individual.net...
SRN here. So "cert 3 AIN" is a more difficult exam than cert 2?
news:aa14s5...@mid.individual.net...
Ozgirl
Aug 27, 2012, 9:20:28 PM8/27/12
to
news:fpS_r.1720$%84....@newsfe10.iad...
when I was an aide I learned everything on the job. By the time
employers starting demanding prospective employees had certificates I
knew everything anyway, so doing the Certificate 3 was just a formality.
> Cert I figured out, RN I knew (and yes, ASAP, LOL), but we don't have
> AIN or SRN here. So "cert 3 AIN" is a more difficult exam than cert
> 2?
Not really, you are given more to learn, rather it it being harder. Back
> AIN or SRN here. So "cert 3 AIN" is a more difficult exam than cert
> 2?
when I was an aide I learned everything on the job. By the time
employers starting demanding prospective employees had certificates I
knew everything anyway, so doing the Certificate 3 was just a formality.
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