The Role of Family Caregiver in Medical Care
As a family caregiver in San Diego, I have found that my caregiver role plays an integral part in my father’s medical care. This discovery actually occurred when I was caring for both my parents, until my mother’s death in 2007. I continue to care for my aging father who remains active but is experiencing increasing health issues.
I initially became involved in my parents’ medical needs because they started asking me more and more questions such as, “What’s this medication for?” or “Why is my leg hurting so much?”
Of course my immediate response was, “Did you tell your doctor?” And the answer was usually “No, but…”
I began to take an active role in their medical care, accompanying both parents to their doctors appointments, bringing a list of their medications to their appointments to discuss with the doctor, and asking the doctor the questions my parents wouldn’t or couldn’t ask for themselves. As a family caregiver, I became an integral part of this doctor-patient relationship.
The American College of Physicians recently released a position paper regarding this 3-way relationship, Family Caregivers, Patients and Physicians: Ethical Guidance to Optimize Relationships. The paper focuses on how family caregivers play an integral part in enhancing quality of life for those they care for, particularly those with serious or chronic illness.
Although I didn’t need the paper to tell me this, based on my own experience, it was good to know that the family caregiver role is being addressed on a larger scale, and hopefully can help to generate more resources for family caregivers.
Reporter Janice Simmons wrote this excellent article regarding the position paper that gives more insight into family caregiver-physician-patient relationship.
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