Profile of home-based caregivers of bedridden patients in North India

Abstract

Background:Caregiving to bedridden patients in India is set to become a major problem in future.Objective:To ascertain the profile of caregivers for the adult bedridden patients in Chandigarh, India.Materials and Methods:This cross-sectional study was conducted on 100 purposively selected bedridden people. The Katz Index of the activities of daily living was used to ascertain their degree of disability. Patients and families were interviewed about the patterns of care provision.Results:The mean age of subjects was 69 years. A majority (68%) of them lived in joint families. All of them required assistance in bathing, dressing, toileting, and transfer. In 54% of the cases someone was hired to look after the subjects. A majority of the caregivers (82%) were family members. All caregivers were untrained. In 35% of the cases unqualified practitioners were consulted, while in 59% of the cases government hospitals were consulted. Most patients (78) were given medicines on time. Complications like urinary tract infection (39%) and pressure ulcers (54%) were reported; 57% of the patients reported satisfaction with the care provided.Conclusion:The main source of caregivers for the bedridden was the family. Bedridden people had high rates of medical complications. There is a need for formal training for the caregivers.

Strain among the Family Caregivers of Patients with Stroke

“…The patient's primary caregiver was defined as a close blood relative which includes the individual's parents or their children who are with the patients for most of the time and provide majority of the care to the patients in the hospital as well as home care settings. The burden falls most heavily on spouses, parents, adult children however secondary kins are less affected [10]. In one of the studies on home based caregivers of bedridden patients, 54% of the key caregivers were blood relations of the patients, out of them 29% were children of the patient [11].…”

Pressure ulcer prevention practices and associated factors among nurses in public hospitals of Harari regional state and Dire Dawa city administration, Eastern Ethiopia

“…Bedridden patients. Are patients who are unable to move out of bed or confined to bed due to old age, physical impairment, mobility problems, illness or injury or arising from medical restriction to ambulate [25].…”

Impact of structured educational interventions on the prevention of pressure ulcers in immobile orthopedic patients in India

“…Prevention of PUs is an important indicator to be considered while assessing the quality of care provided by any healthcare facility and is more cost-effective than treatment of PUs. [ 6 10 11 ] The interventional studies on prevention of PUs were primarily reported from developed countries and mostly used specialized pressure-relieving devices (PRDs) and nutritional supplementation with or without educational interventions. [ 3 12 13 ] Although these interventions were cost-effective compared to treatment of PUs, the cost incurred to prevent each PU was also high in the context of developing countries.…”

“…Alternative types of healthcare facilities such as long-term care and home care are also not routinely available, and the family caregivers are the primary caregivers of immobile patients in India. [ 11 14 15 ]…”

“…Health education of patients and their caregivers could be one of the cost-effective and risk reduction strategies. [ 11 16 ] Though the literature on educational interventions among patients/caregivers to reduce the PU has been reported from various countries, none is from India. [17–20] Mostly, these studies reported among patients with spinal cord injury or degenerative neurological diseases.…”