Rural Family Caregiving: When Resources Are Scarce

Homecare nursing encompasses all domains of holistic nursing care: physical, psychosocial, social, and spiritual. The homecare nurse often works as part of a multidisciplinary team under a managed care model with a social worker and other healthcare providers (HCPs) available to assist with all aspects of a care plan—lots of resources. However, in rural areas, resources are not always readily available. Regardless, the homecare nurse holistically assesses the home environment to include the family caregiver (FC) and all available resources. Facilitating conversations and encouraging upstream thinking regarding complex decisions for older adults and their FCs is a significant aspect of homecare nursing. Gaining knowledge about local resources and respite options for FCs is vital for the homecare nurse. Coaching patients and FCs to those services to best support desired outcomes are essential. Getting needed resources is a major self-care need of FCs. This chapter is about my experiences in homecare where resources are scarce and how the RN can coach patients and their FCs on self-care practices when resources are not available.