Caregivers and Resident Incontinence

Being a caregiver or manager is challenging enough in itself, but it is definitely made more challenging when the residents in your assisted living facility are incontinent.  This said, while incontinence in children is typically looked at as “training”, when it comes to adults it is simply embarrassing.  Without having a general understanding of the problem of incontinence some people may jump to the conclusion that their family member is suddenly getting lazy or simply doesn’t care about their own well-being anymore.  Actually, this scenario is uncommon in most assisted living facilities.

Moreover, while incontinence is not typically viewed as an emergency, as a caregiver it is your duty an obligation to report a resident who is experiencing problems with incontinence.  Generally, gynecologists and urologists are the specialists most familiar with incontinence and can assess the potential causes of the incontinence, as well as provide or recommend a variety of treatment approaches.  As caregivers and managers, it is your duty and obligation to do everything you can to assist our residents with incontinence.  This is what “good” caregivers do in performing their work at the highest level.