By Katherine Jankauski, RN, BSN

Healthcare is an incredibly stressful career field. Caregivers constantly face things others could never even dream of, and providing care in a home-based setting adds to that stress. Caregivers in home-based settings work most of their time independently, develop a closer relationship with the patient and family, and often work long hours. To prevent burnout, caregivers need to maintain an excellent work-life balance.

We share below some strategies to help maintain a work-life balance:

Create life priorities

Your time outside of work is precious. Write down how you spend your time (or how you would like to spend it) and prioritize them. Eliminate low-priority items and learn how to say NO when necessary. Outsourcing necessary everyday tasks can assist with shortening your priority list. A few examples of outsourcing everyday tasks are:

Utilizing a store grocery pick-up service can free up an hour from in-store shopping every week.

Hiring an afterschool babysitter to drive your kids to activities so you can complete household tasks and make dinner when you get home rather than run out the door.

These ideas can help free up some of your time (maybe the babysitter can pick up your grocery order for you, too).

Consider a realistic schedule.

Be honest and open when discussing your schedule with your employer but remember what you agreed to upon hire. Be vocal about the number of hours you can work a week and the best shift time for your needs. Having open and honest communication could prevent a lot of feelings of frustration later. For example, if you would like to pick up extra hours every week, but you only have availability to pick up shifts one specific day in addition to your regular changes- still express that to your employer. If they do not have a need right now, I can guarantee they will keep you in mind when the need arises.

Take care of yourself emotionally.

Remember why you started this job and start a journal of all the happy moments you have as a caregiver.
Look back on this journal during the tough times.
Allow yourself to grieve during difficult times, and do not be afraid to reach out and talk to a professional.

Utilize robust software to manage home care agency operations.

Delivering quality care in home-based settings necessitates the use of powerful software. Whether it is effective management of caregivers’ schedules or equipping caregivers to perform their daily tasks efficiently, the choice of the agency operations management software has a lot of impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of caregivers. A robust software like CareVoyant can reduce administrative and clinical documentation burden, improve utilization, and improve caregiver satisfaction.

Remember, we are all in this together. Work with your operations and tech team constantly, provide them feedback on things that matter to you the most, and work with them to get the flexibility you deserve.

About CareVoyant

CareVoyant is a leading provider of cloud-based integrated enterprise-scale home health care software that can support all home-based services under ONE Software, ONE Patient, and ONE Employee, making it a Single System of Record. We support all home based services, including Home Care, Private Duty Nursing, Private Duty Non-Medical, Home and Community Based Services (HCBS), Home Health, Pediatric Home Care, and Outpatient Therapy at Home.

CareVoyant functions – Intake, Authorization Management, Scheduling, Clinical with Mobile options, eMAR/eTAR, Electronic Visit Verification (EVV), Billing/AR, Secure Messaging, Notification, Reporting, and Dashboards – streamline workflow, meet regulatory requirements, improve quality of care, optimize reimbursement, improve operational efficiency and agency bottom line.

For more information, please visit CareVoyant.com or call us at 1-888-463-6797.