Safety in home care for unpaid caregivers

In Canada, over 4 million caregivers provide assistance to spouses, children, parents and other extended family members who are in need of support due to age, debilitating medical conditions, injuries, chronic illnesses, and disabilities. Unpaid caregivers are an invaluable component of the health sector that allows individuals to return or remain at home, but if their needs are not clearly understood and supported, home care clients will end up institutionalized at an earlier point in the illness trajectory, thus costing Canadian healthcare the billions of dollars it is currently saving in unpaid labour. Attention needs to be given to fully acknowledge the caregiver role, including the supports necessary to improve the financial, emotional, and psychological conditions for both clients and caregivers in order to develop the ergonomics contribution to patient safety.