- Over 40% of U.S. primary care physicians think they
don’t have enough time to spend with patients.
Source: The Commonwealth Fund Quarterly Report, Volume 6, Issue 3, Fall 2000 and 15 Schulz, R. and Beach, S. R., Caregiving as a Risk Factor for Mortality: The Caregiver Health Effects Study. Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 282, No. 23, December 15, 1999.
- Family caregivers provide the overwhelming majority of long
term-care services in the U.S., approximately 80%. Over
three-quarters (78%) of adults living in the community and in
need of long-term care depend on family and friends as their only
source of help; 14% receive a combination of family and purchased
assistance, and only 8% used paid help only.
Source: Thompson, L., Long-term care: Support for family caregivers [Issue Brief]. Washington, DC: Georgetown University, 2004 and Long-Term Care Financing Project, Long-term Care Users Range in Age and Most Do Not Live in Nursing Homes. U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, November 8, 2000.
- In 2000, 50% of caregivers reported that different providers
gave different diagnoses for the same set of symptoms and 62 %
reported that different providers gave other conflicting
information. Another recent survey found that 44% of physicians
believe that poor care coordination leads to unnecessary
hospitalization, and 24% stated it can lead to otherwise
unnecessary nursing home stays.
Source: Partnership for Solutions, Chronic Conditions: Making the Case for Ongoing Care. Johns Hopkins University, December 2002.
- 22% of family caregivers say they need help communicating
with physicians.
Source: National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP, Caregiving in the U.S., 2004.
- Over 40% of family caregivers provide some type of
“nursing care” for their loved ones, such as giving
medications, changing bandages, managing machinery and monitoring
vital signs.
Source: National Family Caregivers Association, Random Sample Survey of Family Caregivers, Summer 2000 and Levine, C., Rough Crossings: Family Caregivers’ Odysseys through the Health Care System. New York: United Hospital Fund, 1998.
- One-third of family caregivers who change dressings and
manage machines receive no instructions.
Source: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Wide Circle of Caregiving, 1998.
Reprinted from Statistics on Family Caregivers and Family Caregiving 2006 with permission of the National Family Caregivers Association, Kensington, MD, the nation’s only organization for all family caregivers.
1 800 896 3650
National Family Caregivers
Association.
