How to Interview Potential Caregivers

When you interview potential caregivers there are a lot of questions that need to be asked and a lot of information that must be gathered. These questions and information can be crucial to your choice for a care giver.

Instructions

1. Introduce the potential caregiver to the individual who will be receiving the care. Pay attention to reaction and interactions between the two.

2. Host the interview in the living room if at home where everyone can be comfortable and relaxed and less likely to feel like they are being grilled or under interrogation. Be sure to turn off any distractions such as radios and TV's and limit interruptions from friends or other family members.

3. Ask demonstration questions related to the care giving job and find out how the caregiver would handle each situation. This is basically verbal role play, you give a mock care situation and the potential caregiver whom you are interviewing must detail how they would handle said situation.

4. Require proof of specific and levels of experience. This can be done through questioning and al

5. Request letters of recommendation from previous patients or employers. During an interview caregivers should be able to provide references that can be checked out.

6. Ask about their means of transportation. They should have reliable transportation that can get them back and forth to their job should you choose to employ them.

7. Outside of personal caregiver experience what training or special skills do they possess. How much can they lift? Would they be able to safely transfer your patient from a wheelchair to a bed or shower seat? Can they preform life saving CPR? Do they know how to react and what to do in a life threatening situation (choking, fall, heat attack etc?

8. Inquire as to whether or not they have any limitations or concerns about the specific duties they will be asked to perform.

9. Cover the scheduling requirements and make sure they will be open and available to work the hours required for this caregiver position. Do they have other outside responsibilities that may bring about scheduling complications such as another job or regularly attended activity.

10. Check their reactions and responses as to how to deal with specific situations such as the patient becoming angry or confused.

11. Find out how they plan to monitor changes and report those back to you the employer or discuss what your expectations are about being kept up to date and how often you expect your caregiver to notify you of any changes.

12. Take careful notes during your interview so that you document any limitations, special abilities, character traits etc that strike you during the interviewing process.