Role of the Infusion Nurse: Caring for the Family/Lay Caregiver of Older Adults

Abstract

Approximately 43 500 000 family caregivers provide unpaid care to an adult or child. Most caregivers provide care to older adults, most often parents. Caregivers are often ill-prepared to assist their loved ones, creating or increasing caregiving burden and/or risk of compassion fatigue, potentially leading to critical "caregiving tipping points." Identifying families who are experiencing increased burden or risk of compassion fatigue is a skill that nurses, including infusion nurses, who have unique entree into the caregiving situation, should develop. The purpose of this article is to describe "impending" tipping points before they occur and to offer solutions for how nurses can help caregiving families identify them and access additional supportive services.