Caregaving With Empathy

Skilling and training is the way forward for creating the right kind of talent pool for the home healthcare industry, thereby enabling to bridge the critical skill gap faced by the industry today.

- Garima Tripathi

Two jobs are unlikely to be automated in the foreseeable future - classroom teaching and caregiving. While the former prepares the future generation, the latter takes care of the present. These professions conjoin at the intersect of human and technical skills, and, require continuous improvisation as per the need of the student or patient. There is a huge gap prevalent in India in the field of caregiving. While the senior citizen population is projected to increase to 19% from 8%, there has been no apparent increase in the number of trained caregivers. The Indian government, under Health Sector Skill Council (HSSC) has set forth to create curricula, General duty Assistant (GDA), and Home Health Aide (HHA) as per the needs of the elderly patients. Even though the State and Central governments have contributed financially to support such initiatives, the scenario today is not very conducive.

Caregiving is generally handled by the paramedics who form the primary support for the patient during recovery and rehab, and, home caregivers help in a variety of ways such as running errands, household chores, and, intimate tasks such as personal hygiene. They are also responsible for monitoring, managing and, improving the health and well-being of their clients. Even though nurses take care of medication and other clinical needs, caregivers, through their care and companionship, enhance the speed of recovery as well as the state of well-being.