What no-one tells you about being a care worker

Early starts for the dedicated carers & support workers from Lavoro Care : Specialist Agency for the Care Sector

Being a care worker can be the most rewarding job in the world, even if demanding at times. But if you are new to care working, what can you expect the job to be like?

Do you like early mornings? If so, this will help as you may need to assist the person you help with getting out of bed, washed and dressed. Preparing and supervising them taking the correct medication can also be a vital task.

How are you at cooking? We are talking simple meals as you may need to prepare breakfast, lunch, make hot and cold drinks and generally make sure that the person you are there to help is comfortable and not hungry. Hot meals may be delivered by a door-to-door service so you will need to adapt to fit in with this.

Do you have experience of personal care? Trips to the toilet and bathroom and getting the person bathed and into their nightwear is a regular occurrence. Be prepared to help in any way possible to assist with their daily routine; if they have limited movement, then you need to know the right way to lift and support them.

Travelling between the people you help. Depending upon your contract, you may use your own transport to do this or a company vehicle. Make sure you know where you are going and if you have a Sat. Nav., all the better!

Understand and read Personal Care Plans. Each person you help will have a Personal Care Plan that details their needs and how they are to be met. When you are introduced to a new person, make sure that you take the time to study this before you start looking after them. This way, errors will be avoided and you will know exactly what you should be doing.

Never feel alone. You may be working solo a lot of the time but don’t feel alone; other care workers within your team will be carrying out the same job and you should keep in touch with the office regularly. By getting to know the people you help, you will find that gradually problems become easier to deal with as you understand them fully and build productive person-care worker relationships.

Your role as a care worker is a very special one; you are helping others every day and they will welcome the assistance. By enjoying what you do, you will soon realise that you would not exchange your job for any other.

What would you have found helpful to know when you were thinking of becoming a care worker? Let us know on our Facebook https://facebook.com/lavorocare or Tweet at us https://twitter.com/joblavoro .

Are you currently looking for a job as a care worker? Take a look at our current positions http://lavoro.com/jobs .