How to Teach Home Health Aides Look for Communication Issues in the Elderly

Home health aides help care for chronically ill, physically disabled and cognitively impaired individuals, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. These individuals, typically older adults or senior citizens, live in their own residence, with other family members or in an assisted living facility. Because communication issues in the elderly population can be a signal of cognitive decline, stroke or even Alzheimer's, it's critical that home health aides are educated in how to spot these problems.

Instructions

• 1

  Provide the health aide with information regarding the patient's physical and mental health. Knowing this information prior to beginning work with a patient can give a healthcare worker crucial background that can help pinpoint medical reasons that could cause communication issues.

• 2

  Sit down with all the individuals involved in a patient's care. This group can include a registered nurse, a physician and oftentimes members of the patient's family. Regularly scheduled meetings with these parties can help identify critical changes in the patient's abilities or demeanor.

• 3

  Encourage the home health aide to spend time with the patient beyond his immediate health care needs. For example, the website "O-Net Online" reports typical duties for a home health aide may include taking a patient's temperature, pulse or blood pressure; changing the bed linens; and administering medication prescribed by the treating physician. Health aides should be trained to look beyond these tasks and spend time talking with and getting to know the patient. By better knowing the individual, health aides will have an advantage spotting gradual communicative declines (which could signal dementia or Alzheimer's) or sudden changes in speech, which could be a sign a patient has suffered a stroke or other brain trauma.

• 4

  Show the home health aide the proper way to communicate with a patient. A 2006 report by Dr. Thomas E. Robinson, et al., urges health care workers to avoid distractions when talking with a patient. Furthermore, aides should sit (or stand) face to face with patients as much as possible, maintaining eye contact throughout their conversation. Non-verbal communication, such as a patient's ability to hold eye contact, can be just as vital as verbal communication.

• 5

  Teach the home health aide how to take copious notes involving not only the patient's medical care, but his non-medical interactions with the patient. Gradual changes in communication skills may be more difficult to notice from day to day, but thorough notes can give health care workers a valuable resource to reexamine changes over time.

• 6

  Bring in a speech pathologist for a consultation, recommends the website for the "Visiting Nurse Association of Somerset Hills." If the home health aide's notes indicate a change in speech ability over a period of time, this professional can evaluate the patient and suggest a reason for the change.

• 7

  Require a home health aide take further training through the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC). This organization offers a certification program for aides that includes 75 hours of training and observation in 17 different skill sets, including patient interaction. Upon completion of the certification course, participants must take and pass the NAHC exam.