The unprepared caregiver

Abstract

Years of studying health care financing and delivery does not prepare you for the actuality of dealing with a serious health event. The practical challenges of our extremely fragmented and complex health care system make it difficult to navigate this world—even when someone is there to help the patient. And, being a caregiver is a far cry from being a health care analyst. There are many lessons to be learned for improving our system: the need for skilled co-ordination support, the need for simplifying and re-orienting the various silos of postacute care, the importance of generating ways to support caregivers, and not least, promoting simple lessons in civility for providers of services.