Behind many patients is a family member, friend or neighbour playing an essential role in their care.

They may be coordinating appointments, managing medications, preparing meals, providing transportation or helping someone navigate an increasingly complex healthcare system. Yet many do not identify themselves as caregivers, and their own needs can easily remain outside the clinical conversation.

That matters because caregiving is not a peripheral issue in healthcare. One in four Canadians is currently a caregiver and, among those who are not, half will become one at some point in their lives.

As healthcare increasingly extends beyond hospitals and clinics into homes and communities, recognizing and supporting caregivers is an important part of supporting patients too.

The person behind the patient

Caregiving can be rewarding, but it can also be isolating and overwhelming.

Caregivers may be balancing another person’s health needs with employment, family responsibilities, financial pressures and their own physical and mental health. They may also be trying to navigate services and supports they have never had to access before.

For clinicians, these realities may surface in different ways.

A family member may appear exhausted or overwhelmed during an appointment. Someone may be struggling to understand or carry out a complex care plan at home. A caregiver may simply say that they are “fine” because the focus of the encounter is understandably on the patient.

Taking a moment to recognize the caregiver and ask how they are managing can help bring that person into the circle of care.

But identifying a need is only part of the challenge. Clinicians also need practical resources they can offer.

Turning caregiver needs into practical support

Experts and researchers at Baycrest’s Koschitzky Centre for Innovations in Caregiving developed the Canadian Caregiver Assessment & Resource Tool (C-CART®) to help address that gap.

The free online tool helps caregivers identify their individual needs and connects them with personalized, evidence-based information, resources and supports.

After completing a brief questionnaire, caregivers receive recommendations based on their circumstances. These may include health information, financial resources, community supports, translation services and other forms of assistance.

The assessment also considers factors that can make accessing help more difficult, including geography and language, cultural or financial barriers.

C-CART is available in English and French and includes a chatbot to help caregivers navigate and better understand the resources recommended to them.

Rather than asking caregivers to search through multiple programs and services on their own, the tool helps them identify what they may need and where they can begin looking for support.

A tool clinicians can share

For healthcare professionals, C-CART can provide a simple next step when a caregiver’s needs become apparent.

Clinicians do not need to become experts in every community service available to caregivers. They can help by recognizing the person providing care, asking about their experience and directing them to a resource that can help them explore their needs more fully.

That might begin with a straightforward question:

How are you managing?

Do you have the support you need?

Those questions can be particularly important because people who provide substantial support to a family member or friend may still not see themselves as caregivers – and therefore may not seek out caregiver-specific resources.

Supporting the caregiver can support the patient

Caregiver well-being has implications beyond the individual caregiver.

Family and friends often play an important role in helping patients follow treatment plans, attend appointments, manage medications and remain safely in their homes and communities.

When caregivers are struggling, the sustainability of that support can also be affected.

Recognizing caregiver needs is therefore consistent with a broader approach to person- and family-centred care: seeing not only the patient’s clinical needs, but also the circumstances and people that make their care possible.

C-CART was developed to translate Baycrest’s caregiving research and expertise into a practical resource that people can use in their everyday lives.

For clinicians, it offers an equally practical opportunity: see the caregiver, ask how they are doing and give them somewhere to turn.

The Canadian Caregiver Assessment & Resource Tool is free and available at c-cart.baycrest.org.

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