Respiratory care: a demanding but rewarding profession
Ordinary everyday life at home can function despite respiratory difficulties. Our caregivers not only take care of their clients’ basic needs but also enable everyone to have a daily life that suits them – whether it’s outdoor activities, going to the movies, or a trip abroad.
A respiratory paralysis patient typically needs a ventilator. For those suffering from breathing difficulties, it can provide additional support, but for some patients, breathing is not possible on their own at all, in which case the machine completely handles the breathing work.
However, just the machine is not enough – a team of respiratory paralysis caregivers is also needed to take care of the patient’s wellbeing. This demanding work is a respected profession among caregivers, although not enough is known about it even within the healthcare field.
“We have patients ranging from a few weeks old babies to 80-year-olds. With some clients, we have years-long care relationships, which of course creates attachment between the client and the caregiver,” says Susanna Lehtimäki, the Service manager for emergency care and respiratory paralysis patient rings at 9Lives.
Normal everyday life, individually
“The causes behind respiratory difficulties can be varied. They may be due to trauma or illness, such as a progressive muscle weakness disease. In children, the condition can also be congenital. However, a ventilator is not an obstacle to continuing everyday life, and many are able to return home from the hospital with the help of a caregiver and care team.
“Many still have the misconception that the patient lies in bed and the caregiver sits by the bedside. This is not true. We implement care according to the care plan, but alongside it, we enable individual, as normal a life as possible, just like before the ventilator,” Lehtimäki explains.
9Lives caregivers take care of all daily basic needs according to the care plan. Our caregivers also perform clinical procedures that would be done in the hospital. The difference is that the client lives at home and the caregiver is responsible for the patient’s comprehensive care. At the same time, they listen to the client’s wishes.
“Our clients live normal lives, and our caregivers help make that possible. Our caregivers accompany them to movies, walks in the marketplace, and Christmas church services. There have even been trips abroad. When a client goes abroad, our care team goes along.”
The ventilator is taken into account in all situations, and caregivers know how to react to changes in weather conditions or the patient’s condition, for example.
Team of 100 top experts
Lehtimäki reminds that breathing is essential for human life. When a person’s breathing depends on a machine and the caregiver’s expertise, it requires special skills.
9Lives has about one hundred practical nurses or registered nurses trained in respiratory paralysis care, making the company self-sufficient as a service provider. Some clients need help and supervision around the clock. In such cases, the care team consists of up to five caregivers who alternate shifts.
“Some of our caregivers have recently graduated, while others have been doing this work for almost 30 years. I am extremely proud of all of them. They are very committed and professional. They have a strong desire to take care of clients’ wellbeing, pay attention to them, listen to their wishes, and find solutions together with the client and their family,” Lehtimäki says.
Expertise is transferred between caregivers from the more experienced to the younger ones.
“We always orient people to their tasks, but I prefer to talk about lifelong learning. One should always ask for and receive support from colleagues,” Lehtimäki reminds.
In total, 9Lives has about 20 care teams for respiratory paralysis patients. Each of our caregivers is trained so that they can participate in multiple care teams.
“This provides flexibility options for our employees. For example, if an employee moves to another location to pursue studies, they can transfer to another care team and continue working alongside their studies if they wish.”
Additionally, employees’ time-off requests are more easily accommodated when substitutes can be found more readily. Caregivers participate in shift planning because at 9Lives we want to balance their work and free time as well as possible.
Demanding work without a sense of inadequacy
9Lives caregivers may build long careers in respiratory paralysis care.
According to Lehtimäki, many appreciate the independent approach to the work, as they can influence how the work is organized. While the important principles in the care plan, such as medication and meal times, must be adhered to, outside of these, work can be organized as agreed with the client and their family.
Caregivers also appreciate that in respiratory paralysis patient care, they get to stay with primarily one patient throughout their entire shift.
“Caregivers enjoy being able to work thoroughly with one client. We receive nice feedback about this from both caregivers and clients. Caregivers don’t have to experience a sense of inadequacy perhaps in the same way as sometimes when there are more patients during the day.”
This challenging work that requires expertise and responsibility has been acknowledged at 9Lives in many ways. Working in a respiratory paralysis care team comes with a task-specific bonus, which is a monetary compensation on top of the monthly salary. It’s possible to influence the appropriate amount and time of work, as the shift schedules being planned are available for our caregivers to view, and various time-off requests are considered according to our employees’ wishes.
Lehtimäki sends greetings and thanks to the caregivers: “Thank you for existing. Thanks to you, our clients can live their own kind of life at home.”
Interested in a practical nurse position in a respiratory paralysis team? We have several positions open; you can learn more about the roles on our recruitment website.