AMDA - The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine

Objectives: To estimate the proportion of family caregivers assisting older adults during Medicare home health who have an identified need for activity-specific training and identify characteristics associated with caregiver training needs. Design: Nationally representative retrospective cohort study. Setting and Participants: 1758 (weighted n = 8,477,990) Medicare beneficiaries who participated in the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) and received Medicare-funded home health care between 2011 and 2016.

During the first few months of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Canadian nursing homes implemented strict no-visitor policies to reduce the risk of introducing COVID-19 in these settings. There are now growing concerns that the risks associated with restricted access to family caregivers and visitors have started to outweigh the potential benefits associated with preventing COVID-19 infections. Many residents have sustained severe and potentially irreversible physical, functional, cognitive, and mental health declines.

Four decades ago, my parents were not permitted to hold their dying infant because they were “visitors” to the intensive care unit. I learned from them that our health care policies sometimes carry huge human costs. As a geriatrician and medical director of a long-term care (LTC) facility, I have learned that family members are not merely visitors; family members are critical partners in our care.