Can You Build Efficiency into Caregiving?

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One of your dreams as a caregiver might be to be as efficient as you possibly can. That’s not as easy as it sounds, mainly because there are so many different situations that can call your attention away from what you’re doing. It’s okay to want to be more efficient, but that doesn’t have to take priority above anything else you’re doing as a caregiver.

Caregiver Scotch Plains NJ - Can You Build Efficiency into Caregiving?

Caregiver Scotch Plains NJ – Can You Build Efficiency into Caregiving?

Where Is Your Time Going?

When you’re trying to become more efficient, you need to know what is happening now with your time. Nobody has perfect time management and if you spend a lot of your day putting out metaphorical fires, you likely feel as if you never quite get anything done. Try using a simple time tracking worksheet to track what you’re able to do and how long different tasks take for you to complete. That’s going to give you an idea what you’re working with.

Get That Worst Task out of the Way First

The worst task of every day is usually one that you dread doing. It might not even take long to do, but if you dread it, it’s sitting in the back of your mind and distracting you all day long until you do it. So if you get it out of the way early in the day, that frees up a lot of your time and energy that you can use elsewhere. And if that task does happen to be one that is time- or energy-consuming, getting it out of the way early in the day is going to benefit you even more.

Group Tasks into Batches of Like Tasks

Batching tasks gives you a way to avoid having to switch from one style or type of task to another and then back again. If you’re grouping those like tasks together, you might find that it’s easier to knock them all out at the same time. This might be something that can save you time during the entire week or just during the day. Look for ways that you can start grouping some tasks with others that are similar.

Task Delegation Is Absolutely Necessary

When you’re as busy as caregivers tend to be, it’s absolutely vital that you learn how to delegate tasks effectively. As much as you want to be able to do it all on your own, that’s just not always humanly possible. Having people you can rely on is essential. When friends and family members just can’t do that for you, that’s when caregivers from an agency are a fantastic answer. These professionals have loads of experience helping older adults with all of the different situations that are becoming a little more difficult now.

You may never be perfectly efficient as a caregiver and that’s perfectly fine. What matters is that you’re able to spend the time that you have in the ways that you most want to spend it.

If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring professional Caregiver Services in Scotch Plains NJ, please talk to the caring staff at Generations Home Health Care today. Providing Home Care in Somerset, Essex, Union, Morris and Hunterdon Counties. Call us today at (908) 290-0691 or (973) 241-4534.

Susan Myer, RN, BSN, CCRN, CDP