The Role of the Home Nurse in Home Healthcare

Home healthcare encompasses a wide range of services performed by many different professionals in the comfort and privacy of the patient’s home or assisted living facility. Services include wound care, disease management, therapy, medical equipment utilization, safety audits, and patient education. These services are performed by a wide variety of professionals including therapists, medical social workers, home health aides, patient coordinators, and most importantly, the home health nurse or ‘home nurse’.

A home nurse is a Registered Nurse (RN) who specializes in providing home healthcare to sick individuals or those recovering from an illness or injury. The duties of a home nurse involve a wide range of services such as IV therapy, wound care, help controlling disease, or drug monitoring. Additionally, the home health nurse consults with doctors on the status of the patient’s condition and, based off of the patient’s response to treatments, makes recommendations to the doctor about any potential changes to the home care plan. In many situations, a home health nurse will also supervise the certified home health aides and any other non-licensed caregivers for the agency.

The Private Duty Home Nurse

Certain subsets of home healthcare nurses are employed to provide Private Duty Care. Private Duty nurses are Registered Nurses (RNs) or Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) who provide one-on-one care to patients at a variety of institutions, such as clients’ homes, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, or hospitals. Private Duty Care is utilized for both short-term and long-term patient care. In addition, Private Duty nurses can be utilized for Respite Care which provides relief for another caregiver ranging from brief personal visits to twenty-four hour care. Private Duty nurses provide the same range of services as other home healthcare nurses; however, they typically have only one patient receiving their nursing care.

The Home Nurse Provides a Unique Level of Care

The decision to hire a home healthcare worker can be a difficult decision for many families. It takes a certain level of trust to allow someone into a patient’s home and provide medical care to an ailing, injured, or recovering family member, especially if there are no other family members around to supervise the care or check in on the individual receiving care. Thankfully, many home healthcare agencies hire exceptionally caring and compassionate professional staff. Additionally, these staff members have also undergone extensive background and reference checks, in order to provide extra peace of mind to the patient and family members who are allowing an individual into their homes. Working to establish that special level of trust between the home nurse, the patient, and the family is something unique to home healthcare.

In addition to trust, another unique aspect of the home healthcare provided by a home health or Private Duty nurse is the bond established between patient and caregiver. Nurses provide a form of companionship to the patient which, in turn, helps to lessen the effects that loss of independence and social isolation can have on the sick or injured individual. In many cases, the home nurse helps to boost the morale of the patient which aids in the healing process. Patients feel the comfort of being able to recover at home while still receiving medical care, and in many cases, start to see the home nurse or private duty nurse as an important visitor in their routine. Some patients even begin to feel that their nurse is a friend or “another one of the family” due to the comfort and level of care received.