Relief for relatives through inpatient care

The name is the law - inpatient care offers relatives an ideal way to relieve their burden, because care can push you to your limits not only physically but also mentally.  Today we take a closer look at the care service.

In inpatient facilities, people in need of care are looked after and cared for under the permanent supervision of an appropriately trained nurse. Accordingly, inpatient care is the exact counterpart tooutpatient or mobile.This is a variant in which care is provided in the person's own home. The best-known form of inpatient facility is the nursing or retirement home.

Basically, a distinction can be made between three different types of inpatient care. The distinguishing feature here is the period of use. 

The full inpatient accommodation and care

Full inpatient accommodation generally includes all-day care in the relevant facility. People in need of care are looked after around the clock by their nursing staff. The entire spectrum of care services can be utilized here - ranging from treatment care and basic care to social care.

The need for full inpatient care usually only arises when the person in need of care is classified as at least care level 3 or higher and is often considered as an alternative form of living if adequate care can no longer be guaranteed in their own four walls. This can also be due to relatives being overburdened with caring for their loved ones.

Erna, 81, is a resident of the retirement home in her home town and she tells us in retrospect about her decision to move to an inpatient facility: "At some point, you reach a point where you have to admit to yourself that you are becoming more and more of a burden for family members - this admission took a lot of effort on my part. But it was necessary. I didn't want my children and grandchildren to have to carry the task of caring for me around with them as a burden - and not because of their lack of care skills - they did a great job - but so that I wouldn't be a burden to them. After I was upgraded to a higher level of care, we were all relieved that this task would now be taken over by the professional carers in the facility where I now live." Even if it is often difficult to leave your own four walls behind, a stay in a fully residential facility has many positive aspects that Erna no longer wants to do without.

There are also great advantages for relatives of those in need of care, because if visiting grandma, mom, grandpa, dad or whoever is no longer obligatory and due to care, you can focus much more on the interpersonal relationship and enjoy and appreciate the time together accordingly.

Partial inpatient care

Patient care focuses on time-limited care that takes place exclusively at night or during the day, for example. It is particularly suitable for people who are unable to manage their daily lives alone or only to a limited extent due to their need for care. Examples of this include physical impairments, dementia and the like.

The main focus here is on socializing those in need of care. Joint activities with both the nursing staff and other people in need of care in the facility are part of the daily program. Above all, the exchange with like-minded people and creative work should bring routine and encourage people as well as maintain or regain their everyday skills and ability to help themselves.

Despite the increased need for care, people in semi-residential care can continue to live and reside at home and only go into residential care for certain treatments for a predefined period of time. Transport from home to the relevant care facility and vice versa is usually organized and provided by the care facility.

Short-term care

This type of inpatient care is virtually the exceptional situation of the care state. In the event of the carer or family member providing care being unavailable, this form of care can be used. As the name suggests, short-term care is therefore not a permanent solution, but allows care to be provided on a temporary basis. Short-term care is ideal as a vacation replacement or for spontaneous absences due to illness.

Erna also had experience with short-term care before she went into full inpatient care. "It was a good opportunity for me to see how I would cope with the situation in the facility. My relatives were on vacation at the time - giving it up just because of me was out of the question for me. A week in short-term care showed me how much I can and can expect from my stay here - I'm glad that I was able to experience a "trial phase", so to speak, through short-term care."

The different facilities

With the different types of residential care facilities, a distinction is made between classic nursing homes, retirement homes and residential homes for the elderly. You might think that there is no difference in the latter, but the little word "residential" more or less changes the entire principle of the facility. In a retirement home, elderly people who are unable to manage their daily lives and households independently are provided with round-the-clock nursing care and domestic support. In a retirement home, on the other hand, residents live relatively independently and usually even have their own kitchen in their room or apartment.

In nursing homes, residents live in single or double rooms that they can usually furnish themselves. Most people in need of care simply take the furniture from their home with them to their new room. Social support and nursing care are provided by professional nursing staff at the facility.

Often, a care facility cannot necessarily be classified into one of the categories - there are many homes that are a hybrid of a combination of two or three descriptions. Hospices are another, separate type of care facility. These are primarily specialized in palliative care, or end-of-life care or care for the seriously ill.

Inpatient care offers an ideal solution for relieving the burden on relatives who are unable to fully support those in need of care as they would like to. When choosing a facility and the type of inpatient accommodation, attention should be paid to the needs of the person being cared for. Sometimes other options and care services make more sense, or a combination may seem more appropriate. If you don't want to make a hasty decision, you can

also fall back on care support. At noracares the needs of the registered persons are always analyzed and compared, so a suitable match between care recipients and caregivers can be created. Click here to registration.