Nursing offers people incredible flexibility and variety in where and how they work. This is especially true for nurses who decide to pursue home health nursing. It can certainly be said that no two days are the same for nurses who work in hospitals or other healthcare facilities; home health nurses add to that variety by working in different settings, going directly to their patients’ homes at times that work for both the patient and the nurse.
In home health nursing, patients need a certain level of care that can be handled within their private homes, and the nurse facilitates that care. While we think of these patients as mainly elderly, young patients with developmental or mobility issues can also make use of home health nursing.
In some cases, home healthcare providers help patients with chronic illnesses or other long-term needs. In other cases, home healthcare provides a bridge for patients who still need medical care but don’t need it at the level found at (or at the cost of) a hospital or a nursing home.
Advantages of Home Health Nursing
An article from RN Central touting the advantages of home health nursing points out that it’s a position that offers “lots of autonomy” and “the opportunity to create your own schedule.” The article also notes that the ideal home health nurse should like driving from appointment to appointment, and should be prepared to spend as long as it takes with each patient; in other words, there’s a different workflow to a home health nurse’s day than you’ll find in a hospital or a doctor’s office.
As the article points out, “You need to have a good sense of humor, be open minded, and be flexible. Your day will never go the way you plan; whether it’s traffic slowing you down, or the need to jury-rig an IV pole out of a broomstick and vacuum cleaner for a rolling base, it’s probably not what you had planned when you first got in the car.”
Home Health Nurse Salary
The average salary for a home health nurse, according to employment information website Glassdoor, is nearly $66,000 across the nation, putting it in on par with nursing jobs in other settings.
As healthcare continues to change in the coming years, the home health nurse is poised to play a larger role. A New York Times article looking at a home healthcare industry that involves nursing aides notes, “By 2040, there will be more than 50 million disabled people in the United States needing some form of long-term care, 12 million more than today. Most will be cared for by family members, but the demand for care workers will explode.”
Home Health Nurses Provide Education
Home health nursing obviously includes an educational component, as patients look to their nurses to help them navigate new developments in their overall health, so RNs with BSN degrees are best positioned to take on this essential component of home health nursing.
Educated home health nurses will be poised to serve the growing need for health services in the home, and even has the potential to reduce the potential burden that a growing, aging population could have on emergency rooms and hospitals in the years to come.
Learn more about the A-State online RN to BSN program.
Sources:
RN Central: Get Out of the Hospital and Into Home Health Nursing
Glassdoor: Home Health RN Salaries
The New York Times: Home Health Care: Shouldn’t It Be Work Worth Doing?