Free resources and tools are now available through CHAMP [Collaboration for Homecare Advances in Management and Practice]’s website, www.champ-program.org. This organization is a national initiative designed to advance older persons’ home care excellence. It is housed at the Center for Home Care Policy and Research at the Visiting Nurse Services of New York.
The focus of its research is cost-effective quality care, which is evidenced based. Tools and resources are geared towards diverse groups, including health care professionals, family caregivers, patients and other consumers and deliverers of services.
The evidenced based research and tool and resource development are geared towards the following specific best practice areas:
There are three new clinical focused topics on this list; they include Nutrition, Sleep and Urinary Incontinence. In addition, another new topic is Family Caregivers. These resources address family caregiver topics, such as:
Caregiver Assessment: Principles, Guidelines and Strategies for Change - This guideline aims to advance caregiver assessment as a basic component of practice. It provides a summary of fundamental principles and practice guidelines to support family caregivers. The scope of this evidenced based practice study and resultant tools are on the emotional, physical, and financial problems associated with caregiving.
Family Caregiving: In Evidence-Based Geriatric Nursing Protocols for Best Practice - This guideline summary provides nurses with a standard of practice for supporting family caregivers. It includes key aspects of a caregiver assessment and practical nursing care interventions.
These guidelines are available on the National Guideline Clearinghouse website, i.e. http://www.guideline.gov/ as well as on the CHAMP website, i.e. http://www.champ-program.org/
In addition the recently released Caregiving in the US is available at this site.
Caregiving in the U.S.: Executive Summary (2009) - This report provides a national profile of family caregivers, based on key findings from interviews with 1,480 caregivers. This recently released report highlights the state of caregiving in the US along with key finding areas. They are prevalence of caregiving, basics of the caregiving situation, care recipient condition, caregiver activities and burden of care, presence of other caregivers, care recipient living condition, stress and strain of caregiving, impact of caregiving on work, information sources and needs, support for caregivers and demographics. This 34-page executive summary is available for downloading at http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/il/caregiving_09_es.pdf
Care providers can access both of these websites on a regular basis to find more about resources available and to evaluate the process that went into their development.
Resources
Caregiver assessment: principles, guidelines and strategies for change. Retrieved March 2010 from http://www.guideline.gov/summary/summary.aspx?ss=15&doc_id=9670&nbr=005179&string=family+AND+caregiving
Caregiving in the U.S.: Executive Summary (2009). Retrieved on March 20, 2010 from http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/il/caregiving_09_es.pdf
Evidence Base. Retrieved on March 20, 2010 from http://www.champ-program.org/page/52/evidence-base |
