Live In Caregiver

 

How Live-In Care Works

There are two types of live in caregiver situations. Those in which the caregiver must be provided a space (and bed) to sleep and those that do not require that a caregiver be given a bed and a sleep break. This difference impacts both the amount of, and type of care provided, as well as the cost of care. In either situation, the care recipient must be available to provide care even during nighttime hours. Commonly, persons use the terms “live-in” and “24-hour” care to mean the same thing. However, while both types of care essentially are live-in caregiver situations, there are distinct differences between the two types of care. Which will be covered below. In addition to “live in” and “24-hour” care, a third option of live in caregiving is available and is “overnight” / “daytime” care.

•  “Live-in” Caregiving

With “live in” caregiving, there is generally a main caregiver who works between 4 and 5 days each week, providing 24-hour care during this time. The caregiver is given an 8-hour period to sleep at night (with this type of care a bed must be provided). Although his / her sleep may be disrupted to provide care throughout the night. In addition, the caregiver is given a 4-hour break during daytime hours. During this break, another caregiver may or may not cover for the primary caregiver, depending on the care recipient, his / her needs, and the decision of the family. An alternative caregiver works the days the primary caregiver is off.

• “24-hour” Caregiving

With “24-hour” caregiving, there will be two or three caregivers who work 8-12 hour shifts in the care recipient’s home, providing “round the clock” care. This type of live in care is more appropriate for individuals who have higher care needs. With this type of care, sleeping breaks are not provided, unless a family chooses to allow the caregiver to sleep. 

• Overnight / Daytime Caregiving

With overnight caregiving, the caregiver generally provides care a couple of hours before the care recipient goes to bed, during the night (if needed), and a couple of hours in the morning when the care recipient wakes up. In most cases, the caregiver is able to sleep during the night, as long as the needs of the care recipient allow it. In some cases, the caregiver may live in the home with the care recipient. Alternately, a caregiver may provide daytime assistance, live in the home, and provide nighttime assistance on an “as needed” basis. In this case, the caregiver’s presence in the home at night is thought of more as a safety measure, or as an “on call caregiver”.  It is not expected their help will be required every night.

Types of Care Provided by Live In Caregivers

Live in caregivers provide all the same types of care and have all the same duties as other home care or home health care workers. In addition to supervision, they can provide:

• Personal care
• Assistance with the activities of daily living
• Companionship
• If trained, nursing services

Care is (or can be) on par with that provided in assisted living or nursing homes. It is very common for live-in caregivers to also prepare meals, do light housecleaning, give medication reminders, do the shopping, and provide transportation assistance for recreational activities or medical appointments. Live in caregivers are especially common when assisting persons with Alzheimer’s. This is because they require supervision, but not necessarily constant care. Persons with Parkinson’s relateusetia also utilize live in care, as they require assistance with mobility, but not necessarily higher level nursing skills.  

Live In vs. Residential Care Comparison Table

Live In Care vs. Residential Care (Assisted Living or Nursing Homes)
LIVE IN CARE	RESIDENTIAL CARE
Offers one to one care	Less than one to one care
Few social and recreational opportunities	Frequent social and recreational opportunities
Control over timing and type of meals	Scheduled meal times and limited options
No doctors or emergency care	Immediate doctors and emergency care available
Maintain familiar living environment	Move to unfamiliar living environment
Can keep pets	Most residences prohibit pets

Costs and Compensation

Did You Know?

 Seniors and disabled individuals can receive free assistance locating live-in caregivers.  Get help here. 

Get help here

Unlike other types of aging care, it is very difficult to estimate what live in caregivers cost.  Estimates range from as low as $1,000 / month to as high as $5,000 / month.  There are many reasons for the dramatic range. The most significant ones are the geographic area in which the care recipient resides, the amount of care required and whether the caregiver maintains a separate residence.  If one works as a live in caregiver in exchange for room and board, this will obviously offset the cost.  One should look to the cost of renting a single room in one’s geographic area to get an idea of this part of the compensation.  Other factors include if a caregiver will provide a vehicle. Or vice versa, if the care recipient provides the caregiver with access to a vehicle and if it can be used for personal use.  Finally, the expected frequency of sleep disruption during night-time hours is an area of great sensitivity to the caregiver and sometimes undervalued by the care recipient’s family. 

Viewed another way, for persons requiring full-time care or supervision, the cost of a live-in caregiver is typically less expensive than full-time home care or nursing home care. But it is financially similar when considered as an alternative to assisted living.   Of course, home ownership, mortgages, rents and other utilities play into the equation. So everyone’s situation is different. 

Live In Caregiver Agreements / Checklist

It is very common and strongly advised that for both parties’ benefit and protection, live in caregivers and their clients (the homeowners / care recipients) make a Live In Care Agreement or Contract. This is especially important considering the lack of live in caregiver laws and regulations in most states.

For persons hiring a live in caregiver through a home care agency, it is almost certain the agency will provide the agreement. However, for those hiring private individuals as live in caregivers, not through an agency, they should make certain their agreements include the points from the following checklist in addition to the usual contractual information.

• Estimated monthly hours of active care to be provided by the caregiver
• Estimated number of hours the caregiver will be “on-call” during the month
• Total payment due to the caregiver
• Portion of payment due to the caregiver which is offset by room, board and other expenses.
• Overtime expectations and compensation
• Expected usage of caregiver’s vehicle for work purposes and the form and amount of reimbursement for such usage
• Areas and rooms of the home to which both the caregiver and the care recipient will have access and those which are deemed off limit
• Contract termination rights of each party (to prevent forced, immediate move-outs or leaving the care recipient without assistance)
• Other house rules and conditions of the agreement; for example, guest and pet policies

Payment Options for Live In Care

Payment for live in care, for the most part, comes out-of-pocket.  Providing room and board and possibly a vehicle, is a smart way for an elderly person to maximize the underutilized assets at their disposal.  Offering these to caregivers at no cost offsets the dollar amount they would otherwise be required to pay.  When financial assistance is available, it is typically not designated specifically for live in help, rather for home care in general.  Read more on that subject here.

Caregiver Questions

 Being a caregiver requires skills like having technical medical abilities and being a highly organized and detail-oriented worker. Because of the wide range of attributes needed for success in this role, candidates should be prepared to address many behavior and activity-related questions. 

Additionally, those seeking a career as a caregiver should be able to speak eloquently about their background and, in some cases, need to be prepared to show certifications and pass checks that confirm eligibility. In this article, you’ll learn what to expect in a caregiver interview and how to answer five common interview questions.

What to expect in a caregiver interview

A caregiver is someone who typically works with adults that have special needs and frequently requires attendance from a medical professional. This includes the elderly, those in hospice care and people with other impactful medical conditions. Those looking for caregivers might seek out honesty, thoughtfulness and compassionate care when selecting someone to offer medical services to their loved one or a patient in their care.

For this reason, a caregiver interview might include questions that test your knowledge of healthcare principles, but will also likely present questions geared at learning more about you and your values. After all, if hired, you’ll likely be spending considerable time with patients, and possibly even in someone’s home, so it’s important to make sure you’re both a fit because of your skills and your overall demeanor.

Caregivers work in home health care, but also in clinics, hospitals, nonprofit shelters, group homes and other agencies that provide adult care.

Related: Learn About Being a Caregiver

Common caregiver interview questions

Caregiver interview questions are geared toward getting to know you better, including your work style, bedside manner, and of course, your medical skills and experience.

Interviewers will likely mix behavioral questions with technical ones, so you need to be comfortable discussing your competencies, soft skills, hard skills and core values. Here are some examples of caregiver interview questions with sample answers, using the STAR method of answering interview questions where applicable, so you can better understand how to tailor it to your experience:

• Explain what qualities make you a good caregiver.

• Describe your work history.

• What are important skills for a caregiver to have?

• How do you respond to difficult clients?

• What would you do if it’s after your shift but your replacement has not arrived?

Related: How to Use the STAR Interview Response Method

Explain what qualities make you a good caregiver.

There’s a nuanced difference between what qualities someone embodies and what skills they may have. Instead, imagine the question is asking about what “attributes” make you a good caregiver. 

This goes back to a common job search practice of understanding your skills versus your attributes. Qualities or attributes are intrinsic personality traits, and they speak to your overall demeanor and behaviors. While skills—both hard and soft—can be learned, developed and worked on until competency is reached, attributes are qualities you exude. Some examples of qualities that might be useful in a caregiver profession include:

• Positivity

• Engagement

• Motivation

• Honesty

• Reliability

• Flexibility

• Patience

• Kindness

Example: “I believe my most useful qualities in this role are patience and kindness. In my role as a caregiver in a group home for the elderly, I was frequently the only attending caregiver on my floor overnight. I had one gentleman who would always buzz me to attend to him, but because he was experiencing memory loss and dementia, when I arrived he would forget he just buzzed me for the same thing. I always showed him kindness and patience, and as a result, he requested me as his caregiver when he left the group home to live with a family member. They hired me for in-home care.”

Describe your work history

In a caregiver role, someone’s background can be vitally important. This question asks about previous work experience, which is a good indicator of success in the role. That said, questions about background might include some with binary answers like, “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?”  or “Would you consent to a background check?” 

If your job as a caregiver includes driving people from place to place, an employer may ask about your driving record. They will likely conduct a reference check and could even reserve the right to pull a credit check.

The idea behind background questions and checks is to get a full picture of your skills, values and abilities, so use questions like these to display you’re a right fit for the interviewer.

Example: “I’ve worked in many healthcare roles. I started my career as a medical assistant for Emexee Health after receiving a vocational degree in medical assisting and achieving certification. During that time, I worked primarily in home health, traveling from client to client.

After a few years of experience, the Fort Hampton Group Home hired me__ as an overnight caregiver. I worked as the sole attendee for the elderly ward. Later, I was hired to work independently as a caregiver to one of my clients. I feel most comfortable in home health care, since that’s where I started my career journey, and it brings me a lot of joy and fulfillment knowing I’m doing good things as I see people through some of their most difficult years and life transitions.”

Related: Caregiver Resume Samples

What are important skills for a caregiver to have?

While a question like this might arise toward the beginning of the interview, it still requires a good degree of thoughtful consideration to answer thoroughly. If you’re being asked this question, you need to focus on measurable skills. 

There are several skills you can choose from that a caregiver should have, but you’re being asked to determine the most important. Consider, for a moment, all the important skills displayed by caregivers. In this instance, it might be a good practice to prioritize skills that encourage the patient’s mental and physical well-being, including:

• Practical application of medical knowledge or education

• Communication and interpersonal skills

• Problem-solving skills

Example: “Caregivers must be good listeners and empathetic conversationalists. They should be detail-oriented, diligent problem solvers and have technical medical skills to apply to patients as needed. __In my last role as a home health aid, my client was feeling depressed. After a long, heartfelt talk with him, I learned he missed going outside.

I assisted his family in moving him into a room with a South-facing window so he could get more sunlight, even when he was on bed rest. I was able to use my problem-solving and communication skills to bring my client more peace, and I realized how important those soft skills are to the role. I also used my medical skills to help him get set back up with all the equipment he needed to thrive.”

Related: Caregiver Cover Letter

How do you respond to difficult clients?

Questions with negative posturing can be tricky to navigate because you always want to speak positively about previous work experiences. This is a good opportunity to not only answer this question respectfully but display a calm demeanor and show how you handle stressful situations diplomatically.

You’re less likely to get stuck on this question by going into your interview with few examples that you’re ready to talk about, and you can retake control of the conversation by steering it toward your past experiences and successes.

Example: “To answer this question, I’d like to give you an example that comes from my personal experience as a home health caregiver early in my career.

I was just out of college at my first job when a client in my care became very agitated. I took a few steps back, making sure my demeanor was calm and nonthreatening, and brought family members in to assist. When my client was relaxed, I knelt to his level, took his hand, looked him in the eye and explained why I was there in a calm, quiet voice.

This became common practice for me when I entered the room. I would meet the client at his level, take his hand, and explain who I was and what I would be doing that day. It helped him feel less stressed, and eventually he began to recognize me as his caregiver.”

What would you do if it’s after your shift but your replacement has not arrived?

Some qualities that caregivers should display are patience, loyalty and reliability. These are traits vital to the role because you can’t ever leave your charge without care. This question provides the opportunity to explain how you use these traits in daily operations.