Caregiving is a challenging job. It causes a severe caregiver burnout when it is all about caring a terminally–ill patient. When you know that your loved one in spite of your best efforts will eventually die, you feel shattered.
There is a sea of emotions ranging from denial to despair. The hope that one day all things will be fine gets crushed, and you are left with no motivation to continue your caregiving journey. So, what is the way out?
A terminally-ill patient means greater dependence on his or her caregiver. All these things take a toll on the physical and emotional well-being of the caregiver not because of only physical exhaustion, but because of the grief of soon losing a loved one. So, let’s explore how one can minimize caregiver burnout during caring for a terminally-ill patient.
Accept the truth
Caregivers need to accept the truth as soon as possible. Try to accept that death is inevitable, and there is no escape. The earlier, you manage to accept the truth; the path of caregiving will become easier. Then, there will be no distress as you become mentally prepared to accept the loss of your loved one.
Educate yourself
Talk with the doctor and enquire more about the disease with which your loved one is suffering. Try to know how much time is still available. Is there any way to lessen the pain or sufferings of your loved one? Getting all these answers will help you to get rid of your caregiver stress.
You will know about the key treatments or methods with which you can alleviate the pain or can give a little comfort essential for a peaceful death. Also, the care giving duties for a terminally-ill patient differ from that for a person with diabetes or heart disease.
You may have to do more technical jobs such as intravenous injections or wound care which may be extremely stressful without proper knowledge or training.
Opt for hospice or palliative care
Everyone has a right to live with dignity and the same applies to death too! If you are too much stressed, exhausted and depressed because of caring for a loved one who is terminally-ill, opting for the hospice or palliative care is the best move to minimize your woes.
With the hospice medical staff or a palliative care staff beside you, you can minimize the caregiver burnout to an extent to enjoy quality time with the terminally-ill patient. You may have then time to enquire about the end-of-life wishes of your loved one or about resolving a family conflict which may help your loved one to overcome his or her emotion of grief or guilt.
Join a caregiver community
Sometimes all that you need is someone with whom you can share your everyday struggles of caregiving without any fear of judgment. Sharing your caregiving experiences whether good or bad often unburden you of all the emotions that you have till now bottled up. Joining a caregiving community enables you to speak to other active caregivers which minimize your burnout.
During caring for a terminally-ill patient, you need to be more compassionate with your words and action because your loved one deserves a dignified and peaceful death. For more caregiving tips and advice, you can also opt to download the free resources that are available over the web.