Within the nursing profession, home care nursing is one of the career options. Home care nursing is an option for registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and nurse assistants (NAs). Furthermore, educational nursing certifications required for this profession are;

• Complete RNs approved nursing program and an associate degree in nursing (AND) or a BS in nursing. They should also pass the NCLEX exam to obtain a license.
• Complete LPNs approved nursing program and test for licensure
• Nurse assistants (NAs) are unlicensed but can get a certification.

What is home care nursing?

Home care nursing is a nursing specialty in which nurses serve multi-directional home care to the patient of all ages. It is a cost beneficent way to deliver quality care in the comfort of the patient’s home. However, home care nurses made care strategies to achieve goals based on the patient’s diagnosis.

Moreover, home nursing services include preventive, therapeutic, and rehabilitative actions.

Roles and responsibilities of home care nurses:

Home nursing services have a vast range of services that are performed by many different professionals. These services include such as;

• Wound care,
• Disease management,
• Medical equipment,
• Therapy,
• Medical social services,
• And, patient education.

Home care nurses have a vast range of duties and services to be performed. Moreover, they also consult with doctors on the status of the patient. Also, these nurses give potential changes that require to be made to the care plan.

The responsibilities of home care nursing include;

• Health and disease prevention,
• Medication administration,
• Educating patients on their current diagnosis,
• Providing emotional support,
• And, giving basic care such as personal hygiene.

Above all, nurses can also step into the role of case managers. This means they correlate services from different disciplines for the patient. So, this can involve such as Rehabilitation, Pharmacy, Community resources, and more.

Giving the most up-to-date and efficient care for a patient is also a very crucial part of the home care nurse’s job. The nurses do this by continually remaining up-to-date on the latest research.

What are the benefits of home care nursing for patients?

Following are the benefits that home care nursing services to the patients;

• Cost savings: Sometimes a patient is placed in a long-term care facility. Hence, home care nursing can significantly reduce the cost of care. Also, it reduces the burden for patients and taxpayers.
• Maintains dignity: Long-term care facilities focus to provide the best experience possible. Many features of care in those facilities are private. For example, sharing personal spaces, having help with toileting and bathing, etc.
  Hence, home care nursing develops trusting relationships with consistent nurses. In this way, they can get care in the privacy of their home.
• Soothes the soul: Growing older comes with a variety of challenges and obstacles. This includes losing loved ones, losing the privilege to drive, and losing independence. Thus, home care nursing enables people to hang on to the things that mean the most to them.
• Helps in eating routine and nourishment: Patients require constant monitoring and feeding of the right nutrition to survive well. Long term stays in bed, aging, and injury affects the body mass of an individual. Hence, nurses help in guiding making diet chart. They also assist in way of cooking in a home that will surely help in the fast recovery of an individual.
• Drug management: Home care nurses help in drug management. In the case of various prescriptions, the home nurse can guide in taking the right medication at the right time.

In conclusion, home care nursing plays a key role in the long term care system. Home care nurses give home-based care for patients. They achieve to be self-directed and practice efficient time management. Furthermore, they interact with the patient’s family to the aim of patient care. Home care nursing is the key for patients to get the highest quality of life possible.