Family Caregiver's Video Guide to Managing Medications

Summary

Home Alone: Family Caregivers Providing Complex Chronic Care, a 2012 study by the AARP Public Policy Institute and the United Hospital Fund, showed that 46 percent of family caregivers perform medical/nursing tasks such as changing catheter’s, giving injections, preparing special diets, managing complex medication routines and wound care.   Many feel that they need more instruction performing these difficult tasks.

The AARP Public Policy Institute collaborated with the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at the University of California Davis to develop a series of videos aimed at preparing family caregivers to perform these tasks.  Other collaborators include, The United Hospital Fund and the Family Caregiver Alliance. Through their family caregiving expertise, and input from family caregivers themselves, these videos reflect the way in which families best learn.  They help translate clinical knowledge to an in-home lay setting.

These videos not only seek to help family caregivers but to also teach nurses and nursing students ways in which they can role-model them and work with families in very meaningful ways that support the family member performing the difficult task and ultimately the person in need of the care.

Below are the first three videos in a series of five.