Assessing the patient's caregiver

Elderly patients tend to have one or more family-based caregivers who also suffer from some type of chronic illness or financial limitation. These caregivers usually have clear, but sometimes unrealistic, expectations about what type of care their family member should be receiving. Nurses must assess the situations under which the patient is being admitted, as well as indirectly assess the family caregiver. A three-phase assessment approach-Preproblem, Problem and Solution/Evaluation-can be used.