Caregivers of Patients at the End of Life
Caregivers often feel they have little time to be attentive to their own needs. This is especially true in end of life care - care that carries additional burdens of anticipated loss and grieving.
It is critical that you avoid neglecting your own physical health, connecting with family and friends, and emotional well-being. Ignoring your needs can lead you to developing your own health problems, becoming physically and mentally exhausted, and feeling isolated from important supports. The added stress will negatively affect your ability to care for your loved one at this important time for both of you.
We are providing a number of suggestions and resources to help you. Some may be more helpful to you than others. Choose what fits your needs and those of your family. You may have additional responsibilities beyond providing care for your loved one so we offer information on many types of support available to you in the community.
We thank the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City for their support of this project and permission to use material from their publication The Caregiver Resource Directory: A Practical Guide for Family Caregivers, 2nd Edition. Read more about their palliative care program.
To begin, we have included a brief assessment tool in English and Spanish that was developed by the American Medical Association and used here with their permission. The tool will help you examine some of the common stressors associated with care giving and how they may affect you. Your score will provide you with some suggestions on seeking relief. We have outlined some solutions in the text that follows the tool.