Whether you’re looking for a temporary change of pace or something bigger, many home health options are available for those nurses who are thinking about leaving bedside nursing.
As the average age of Americans increases, home health services continue to expand. This is because of the potential for cost savings and the ability to provide a more personalized form of care than many traditional long-term care settings. For the nurse leaving the bedside, home health offers an opportunity to build meaningful relationships with patients in ways that help the patients to live a more satisfying life. And because the work takes place apart from a hospital or facility, it often provides more flexibility and control in scheduling.
Explore the Role of Home Health RNs:
The Home Health RN is responsible for providing many of the same types of care as an inpatient nurse, but in a one-on-one setting wherever the patient calls “home.” They perform tasks such as physical assessments, medication reconciliation, administration, and wound care. Some also provide IV medications when necessary.
The nurse will often see 4-5 patients per day, though the numbers may vary. Scheduling is controlled by the nurse, and charting can be done onsite or remotely. Although some patients receive long-term home care, the relationship is usually short-term and based on recovery goals. This type of nurse does not typically continue their visits during other encounters with the healthcare system such as unexpected hospital stays or nursing home admissions.
Explore the Role of Hospice RNs:
The Hospice RN is like the home health nurse, but with a few key differences. Hospice, which is reserved for patients expected to live less than six months, does not focus on recovery or extending the life. Instead, the nurse and patient emphasize comfort, maintaining dignity, and providing emotional and spiritual support to the patient and caregivers. While seeing and dealing with the end-of-life process can be emotionally draining, hospice nurses often relay a deep sense of satisfaction from this unique, holistic type of care.
Hospice nurses, unlike other home health nurses, follow their patients throughout their end-of-life journey including admissions to healthcare facilities.
Explore the Role of Case Management RNs:
The Case Manager RN is another type of home health nurse who focuses on coordination of care. While some case manager positions involve direct patient care, many are non-direct care roles that involve setting the patient up with the appropriate resources. Their multidisciplinary approach involves connecting patients not only with their care team of doctors, pharmacists, nurses and nursing assistants, psychologists, etc. but also with ancillary services like transportation, social services, and medical equipment.
This role is great for the nurse who sees the “big picture” for their patients and wants to help them to navigate a complex healthcare system to get the resources that they need to live a healthy life.
Lots of choices are available for nurses that are looking to leave the bedside and find their next role, including many that we did not talk about here.
If you are an RN tired of what you've been doing lately, explore all potential options with a GHR Search specialized recruiter whose personal success and goal rely on your success, and your career goals so they can make the perfect fit, every time!
