Home care nursing is one of the many settings where a nurse provides patient care. It is unique in a way because the patient is in his/her natural surrounding whereas the nurse is the stranger coming in to the place where the patient resides. This could be in the home, assisted living facility or senior housing. Research shows that patients have faster recovery from acute medical conditions if they are in their familiar surroundings. Being able to receive medical care in the home is a wonderful benefit from Medicare and other health care insurance (private, med-advantage, etc.).
Home care nursing has several advantages over hospital nursing. First, is flexibility with work schedule. You can, for the most part schedule visits around your home obligations. Being able to send children off to school and be home at the same time the kids come home from school is a wonderful benefit. You can choose days and hours you want to work as well as choose not to work on weekends except for occasional weekend on-call rotation. Second, is the ability to focus on one patient at a time. At each patient visit, you have an undivided attention thus giving the patient the opportunity to receive thorough assessment, teaching and emotional support. Third, autonomy and the ability to use critical thinking skills and good decisions in carrying out best practice in nursing. Autonomy however can be scary for those who are new in nursing or new in home health. Whereas in the hospital you have all the equipments and other clinicians to assist you with questions and during emergencies, home health has none. None in the sense that these are not physically there at the patient's home. However, support from other home health staff and supervisor is just a phone call away. In an emergency, 911 is also a phone call away. Doctors are also a phone call away but because of their busy practice it might take 24-48 hours before your call is returned. Again being able to make good decisions based on clinical knowledge and evidence-based practice is critical in the success of a home care nurse.
