Teach staff to use this quick checklist to assess whether a resident is "getting to them" - and if so, to ask for help in coping and/or learning new behavioral management skills (or an assignment change).
1. Are you taking longer to answer the call light or not answering it at all (asking someone else to do it) or neglecting the resident?
2. Do you dread coming to work because of a particular resident?
3. Do you feel irritation or anger just at the sound of a resident's voice?
4. Do you finding yourself speaking to the person in a terse, irritated or angry tone of voice?
5. Are you taking the problem home with you where you think about various things the person said and becoming upset all over again?
Source: Don Ashmann, MEd