Caregivers are vital for helping people with daily living tasks and supporting them to be comfortable and safe. There are limits, however, that every caregiver or caretaker has to follow in the interest of the profession, the client’s safety and for the sake of legality and ethics. Caregivers need to understand what is not permitted, so they know how to carry out their tasks effectively without getting into trouble.

Things You Cannot Do

Medical Tasks Outside Your Scope

One of the most critical limitations for caregivers is completing medical tasks that can only be performed by a licensed professional, such as:

• Giving out medications, including injections or IV treatments, without certification or direction from a healthcare professional.
• Diagnosing medical health conditions or offering medical advice.
• Changing sterile dressings, or replacing complex wounds.
• Using specialized medical equipment, such as ventilators.

Caregivers have to defer these duties to qualified medical staff, such as RNs, LPNs, or another medical professional.

Financial and Legal Matters

Such caregivers should avoid any role in the client’s financial or legal matters unless specifically directed to do so. Activities that are prohibited include:

• The custody of the client’s bank accounts or investments.
• And you are literally signing the legal paperwork for this person.
• Taking on large gifts or loans, which may raise ethical issues.

Such boundaries exist to avoid possible conflicts of interest or accusations of financial exploitation.

Inappropriate Relationships

In caregiving, it is vital to maintain professional boundaries. This means:

• Not getting too close to anyone so they lose sight of our objectivity.”
• Not entering into any physical or sexual relationship with the client.
• Avoiding favoritism between clients in multi-care settings.

It creates healthy boundaries between the caregiver and the client to prevent emotional complexities or ethical problems.

Abandoning or endangering the client

Caregivers must never:

• If the client requires supervision, leave them unsupervised.
• Neglect the client’s requirements or requests in the course of their responsibilities.
• Mishandle or use equipment that isn’t properly outfitted that can potentially hurt the client physically or emotionally.

Above all, caregivers are responsible for ensuring a client’s safety and dignity.

Unethical Behavior

What else you’re not allowed to do:

• Sharing the client’s private information without the client’s consent.
• Unacceptable or inappropriate language towards the client.
• Not showing up for scheduled duties or being late to the job without prior notice to the client or employer.

Providing care requires a high degree of professionalism and integrity.

Conclusion

As such, caregivers should function within the scope of their practice, maintain boundaries, and respect the dignity, confidentiality, and rights of care recipients. Learning what is not permitted provides caregivers with the means to furnish high quality, ethical care while safeguarding themselves from legal or ethical infractions.