Supporting Caregiver / Care Partner Engagement in Long Term Care
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Family (both chosen and biological) and friends of residents in LTC are important partners in care. Caregivers/care partners play an imperative role in supporting the health and well-being of residents living in long-term care (LTC) homes.
Involving caregivers as partners in LTC has shown numerous benefits in the support of residents. These include improved quality of care and resident outcomes, improved working conditions for care providers, reduction in overall costs, and more.
We recognize and understand that different terms resonate with different people. Many terms have been used to describe family and friends who regularly enter LTC homes to support a resident. We use the term “caregiver” or “care partner”. We recognize and honour from our engagement with caregivers that different people prefer different terms for this role. The Health Standards Organization’s National Long-Term Care Standards also uses the term essential care partner and The Fixing Long-Term Care Act, 2021 uses the term caregiver. Both documents define this role as a person or persons chosen by a resident, or if incapable, their substitute decision maker to support and participate in the resident’s ongoing care. This person can be a family member, close friend, or anyone of importance to the resident.
Explore the Ontario Caregiver Organization’s Essential Care Partner Support Hub for additional resources, tools and support in how to identify, include and support caregivers as part of the care team. Evidence shows this can lead to improved health outcomes, better care experiences and reduced health system pressures.
Supporting the presence of caregivers/care partners in long-term care homes requires purposeful engagement with residents, their caregivers and the LTC team members. This resource card has compiled some tools to help support caregiver / care partner inclusion and engagement.
Caregiver / Care Partner Engagement and Inclusion Resources
eLearning and Videos
Caregivers as Partners eLearning Course
~1 hour | This one hour course was co-designed with residents, caregivers and LTC team members and leaders to engage learners in relevant and realistic stories. Through these stories of resident and caregiver experiences in long-term care, learners will engage in interactive activities and reflections.
Essential Care Partners Resources and Videos
~15 minutes | This collection of Essential Care Partner (ECP) Resources is intended to support Ontario long-term care (LTC) homes with designing, implementing, and/or strengthening an ECP program to ensure that ECPs are able to enter LTC homes to fulfill their vital role, regardless of outbreak status. Resources include two videos to support an evidence-informed understanding the critical role of care partners in LTC homes.
Mealtime Assistance eCourse
~10 minutes | Mealtime is a highlight of the day for many residents and critical for health (nutrition, safety, and social opportunity). These resources will help you to safely support a safe and rewarding mealtime with residents.
A Communication Tool to Support Families in LTC (eCourse)
~30 minutes | This eLearning module will introduce families to the Huddle Tool, a set of five simple questions that families can use to effectively and efficiently share any experience, situation, or need with you over the telephone, especially when you can’t meet in person. Share this with your family council and residents’ family members!
Team Essentials Engaging Families in Distress
~2 hours | This course was designed to offer you evidence based tools, so you can support yourself, residents, families and your team to work together. It does this by helping you act on your desire to offer kindness, caring, and willingness to help. We also call this compassionate care. Using the tools and strategies offered in this course will help you improve care experiences for yourself and others.
Infection Prevention and Control eLearning
~7 modules / 15-20 mins/each | This eLearning suite aims to equip those working and volunteering in long-term care (LTC) with the skills and knowledge they need to protect themselves, their colleagues, residents, family members, and community members.
Historical Resource Compilation from COVID-19 Pandemic
Virtual Visits Toolkit
The content was prepared by Family Councils Ontario, the Ontario Association of Residents’ Councils, and Tech Coaches Inc for LTC homes, residents and families to stay connected during social isolation. Includes examples of video calling initiatives that have launched with success since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
Various Resources from AdvantAge Ontario
AdvantAge Ontario has developed and curated a variety of resources to support all Ontario LTC homes during COVID-19. You will find resources on the following topics: communicating with families and residents, physical distancing during meal times, visiting of residents, resident isolation, infection prevention and control, and management of medical conditions. Take a look at the information on visiting residents under the subheading Best Practices for Visiting. They provide procedural documents, ideas for outdoor activities, how to communicate with families about outdoor visits, posters and more.
Social Connectedness Webinar
This webinar recording explores the current research evidence that links social connection to mental health outcomes for LTC residents and shares twelve strategies to build and maintain social connection for residents in LTC – both during COVID-19 and beyond. Learn about the findings from a knowledge exchange project conducted by researchers at The KITE Research Institute (University Health Network) together with Behavioural Supports Ontario (BSO), Family Councils Ontario (FCO) and the Ontario Association of Residents’ Councils (OARC).
Social Connectedness Infographic
Better physical and mental health and well-being is associated with good social connectedness. Strategies to support social connectedness have unique considerations for people living in LTC homes. Explore an infographic developed by EnCOAR (Enhancing the Care of the Older Adult), a research team at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. This infographic is available in English and French. LTC homes can request (free) printed copies of the infographic from the EnCOAR website.
Public Health Ontario
Public Health Ontario has resources to support education and training for visitors on Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The Recommended Steps: Putting on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) provides instructions with visuals. The videos below support the education of essential visitors and general visitors:
• Putting on Full Personal Protective Equipment.
PPE for Families Video
Developed by The Ottawa Hospital, this video was created to assist family caregivers who are entering long-term care or palliative care units to provide care to their family members during the COVID-19 pandemic. This video offers a demonstration of how to safely put on and take off (don and doff) personal protective equipment (PPE).
Related Resources
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