Treating a client with dignity and respect is one of the most important aspects of caregiving.
Among the most important human needs is the desire for respect and dignity. That need doesn’t change when a person becomes ill or disabled. Indeed, it may grow even stronger.
There are many things you can do to make sure the person in your care receives the respect and dignity that is every person’s basic human right.
Respect His or Her Privacy, Physically And Emotionally.
- Close the door when you help a person dress or use the bathroom.
- Knock before opening a closed door.
- Don’t discuss confidential information with other people, even family members, without the person’s permission. (Before engaging in a caregiving arrangement have the “patient” sign a HIPPA form stating who you may and may not discuss his or her care and information with.)
Respect His or Her Right To Make Choices.
- By making choices we have a sense of control over our life. Let your client decide what and when to eat.
- If your client has cognitive problems, offer two or three choices of what to eat, when to eat, what to wear. If he or she insists on wearing the same shirt every day, use a protective towel when he or she eats and wash clothes in the evening.
- If a choice seems silly or unimportant to you, try to see why it may be important to your client. Don’t discount it simply because you don’t understand it.
- If he or she refuses to take medication or makes other choices that would be dangerous, try to negotiate possible solutions. Offer pills with a favorite snack (if the prescription allows), agree to give baths only as often as necessary, arrange for someone to take walks with him or her if he or she is unsafe alone.
Treat Him or Her With Dignity.
- Listen to his or her concerns.
- Ask for his or her opinions and let him or her know they are important to you.
- Involve him or her in as many decisions as possible.
- Include him or her in the conversation. Don’t talk about him or her as though he or she is not there.
- Speak to your client as an adult, even if you’re not sure how much he or she understands.
- Don’t violate his or her pet peeves. Again, even if they seem silly or unreasonable to you. You have your own pet peeves that may seem silly or unreasonable to others. Do you want others to violate them? No! Don’t do the same to your client.
