Vivian Said:

Working in a Care Home... what's it really like?

We Answered:

Hello there!

I have been working in a care home caring for people with severe dementia for a few months. I used to work in more corporate roles which I loved but didn't realise at the time.

OK, so you want to know what care is like? I can't speak for every home as I've only ever worked in this one. The hours are poor. Be prepared to work every hour in the day: days, mornings, nights, weekends, bank holidays etc... This includes Christmas. It takes a lot out of you & you're always tired. This work is manual & you won't just be "caring". You will also be preparing food, cleaning, changing dirty pads, bathing people, showering people, shaving people. The service users can often be aggressive. I've been spat at, kicked, punched and sworn at. One lady threatened me saying she'd "stab me". Thank God there weren't any knives around.

The money is also rubbish. You'll most likely be on minimum wage for stupid hours. Its not uncommon for me to finish at 10 at night & be back in for 7 in the morning. Not good when you're mean to have 11 hours between shifts.

Also, remember how much these people & their relatives pay for their "care". Well, you'll soon see where that money goes & it isn't on the residents. The food they eat is all cash & carry bought, sat in front of the TV all day, tiny sandwiches for tea & nothing else & some days, not even enough FOOD for everybody!

I hate it! I'm looking to leave & go back to what I know. If you really want this, you need to sit down & think long & hard. Yes, you care for people, it's rewarding in that sense. But at the end of the day, all you're doing is making sure these people look good & are looked after until they die. It's morbid & you do take your work home with you. Very high turnover of staff & very stressfull.

Hope I've been a help. Don't know how this will help your degree though.

Craig Said:

Your thoughts on Reality Orientation with patients with Dementia?

We Answered:

Generally reality orientation is not useful within the context of OT and I beleive it itsnt useful at all in a verbal sense. This I have seen many times and granted it is down to your approach but what you like to be constantly corrected?!

You have to be so careful who you try it with and your approach cos you may aggitate and cause distress to the person with dementia.

In the sense of OT I dont feel it fits into our ethos anyway as you are not using any purposeful or meaningful activity; you are effectively correcting somebody potentially constantly.

And this is why I dont feel it useful and dont plan on ever using it because whether you are trying to reinforce a correct time period in a milder dementia-sufferer; you may upset them or make them angry. And if you're trying to explain their children are grown up and they dont need to pick them up from school to a more moderate dementia-sufferer that they again may get angry and upset but also could turn against you, they may feel you're lying to them and get defensive.

This type of process may only work subtly such as notice boards with day, date, month, year, season, where they are with pictures. Verbally I dont feel its helpful.
Go for the memory prompts and life story work which have great results and very rewarding for you and the patient and their family.