Nurses provide medical care in various settings, including emergency rooms and private clinics. What are nursing home care facilities? Home care nursing has grown in popularity in recent years as more people choose to age in place or recover from surgery in the comfort of their own homes.
Home health nursing has advantages and disadvantages like any other healthcare profession. While the challenges nurses face in home health care differ from those they encounter in skilled nursing facilities, this same career is no less rewarding. In fact, many nurses enjoy using their skills in this one-of-a-kind setting to help patients reside their lives to the fullest.
What are the advantages of in-home care?
Every year, millions of patients seek home health care, eager to reap the advantages of this multi–faceted healthcare service. Receiving home care allows these patients to:
1. They must maintain their privacy
Nursing homes and skilled nursing centers (SNFs) can be overcrowded, and patients may sometimes be asked to share a space with other residents. Patients can move around freely and proceed with their daily routines while receiving care in their homes.
2. Reduce stress levels
Nursing homes and skilled nursing facilities are frequently bustling with activity, making it more difficult for many clients to rest and relax. For some, the stress of these environments can aggravate pre-existing mental and physical conditions, wreaking havoc on their overall health and the well.
3. Reduce their hospital readmission rate
Home health care can help reduce hospital readmission rates by providing individuals with high-quality, one-on-one care in a familiar and comfortable environment. For some patients, simply sleeping in their beds can give them more energy, allowing them to recover faster.
Importance of nursing homes in nursing care
A home health nurse’s specific role differs significantly depending on the patient and their own particular needs. Patients could benefit from wound care and IV administration medications, catheter modifications, and bathing assistance from home health nurses. They also assess the patient’s housing arrangements to identify potential unsafe conditions and determine if any changes are required.
Home health nurses can work with many patients, including those recovering from an acute illness or injury, those managing chronic conditions such as congestive heart failure, and those suffering from progressive diseases such as dementia. Home health nurses must continue their education and training to ensure they are prepared to meet the needs of such a diverse patient population.
What are the difficulties facing home health nurses?
Nurses, especially new ones, must be prepared for several common issues and difficulties in home health care. Among the most common challenges are the following:
· Dissatisfied patients
Some people may object to the presence of a home health nurse. These people frequently perceive home care nursing as a threat to their independence or an invasion of their privacy. While these patients can be uncommon, they may violently lash out at their nurses, mainly if triggered by a horrible experience, such as a blood draw.
· Dangerous situations
Home health nurses have little influence over the living conditions of the homes they visit. Unsanitary conditions, diseased pets, and dangerous chemicals can all endanger the safety of a home health nurse.
· Inadequate medical supplies
Nurses are working in homes without a sharps container run the risk of sustaining a needle-stick injury after administering medication. Home health care nurses are always advised to carry their disposal solutions to help prevent these incidents.
· Domestic violence
Violence in a patient’s home environment may endanger a nurse’s safety. Home health care nurses must be constantly aware of their surroundings and alert officials to potentially dangerous situations.
· Inadequate assistance
All nurses, especially new ones, require a strong support network to whom they can turn with concerns and questions. Because of the more solitary nature of the home health care profession, some nurses may believe that this is lacking.
Nursing home vs. assisted living care
Home health nursing is frequently stressful and challenging, resulting in a high turnover among home health care professionals. While home health agencies cannot eliminate all the challenges their staff may face, they can take a few steps to ensure that their teams feel reassured.
1. Provide opportunities for professional development
According to a Glassdoor survey, 79% of employees would rather have additional or new advantages than a pay raise. Employee training programs were a top priority for many of these respondents. Home health agencies enable nurses to confidently improve their skills and face challenges by providing professional development opportunities. This contributes to higher job satisfaction and retention rates in home healthcare.
2. Promote interaction
Many home health nurses do not have the peer relationships and mentorship interconnection they would have in a medical facility. This can give them the impression that they are working alone and that their contributions have gone unnoticed. Making efforts to foster a sense of belonging makes nurses feel less isolated and more valued. Managers, in particular, should strive to establish more meaningful relationships with nurses through staff and one-on-one meetings.
3. Invest in onboarding
Home health agencies will assess each nurse’s unique skills, identify knowledge gaps, and create a tailored strategy to better prepare new employees for the home healthcare environment as part of an effective onboarding program. Administrators are also encouraged to distribute agency policies as soon as possible, including policy initiatives on dealing with dangerous home situations, to ensure that all staff members are up to date on best practices.
Common nursing home issues
1. Cost increases
Nursing homes are typically more expensive than in-home care or assisted living communities. While some costs may be covered by individual insurance, Health care, or Medicaid, monthly fees may be out of reach. If your parents live in their own home and do not require more attentive medical care, having a caregiver come by to provide daily aid and other services may be a better option.
2. More compact living quarters
Nursing homes try to provide different areas for residents to move around in. Still, your aging parents will likely move from their residence to smaller living quarters than they are accustomed to. Such abrupt changes can make the transition more difficult for your aging parents, who must now become acquainted with their new surroundings.
3. Coexistence with other residents
One of the benefits of nursing homes is that your elderly parents will be among other residents in their age group, allowing them to interact and make friends. This benefit is not always well received. You may be able to make room changes if your loved one does not get along with other inhabitants or prefers to spend time alone. Not all care facilities can accommodate everyone’s preferences.
4. Fewer opportunities to socialize
Nursing homes typically offer social activities in which your parent can participate inside and outside the care facility. In most nursing homes, residents have less freedom to go out and do their own activities. Rather than being able to visit a museum or see a movie on their own time, they will usually have to adhere to the nursing home’s social activities.
5. Isolation and boredom
While nursing homes make every effort to provide a time of life activities, they might not be individuals your parents have done or liked in the past. If your loved ones cannot participate in the activities, they enjoyed before entering the nursing home, they may isolate themselves in their rooms. Due to the changes in their living environment, your loved one also may feel depressed or overwhelmed. Simply put, they might want to return home.
6. Ignoring preferences
They say not to sweat the small stuff, but what if that small stuff is crucial to your loved one? They might have a favorite chair, cup, or newspaper. More importantly, they might have a suitable day to wake up and sleep. Many of these wishes are unattainable in a nursing home setting.
7. Less involvement in the care plan
Nursing homes frequently follow a set procedure when running their program, health care systems, and compassion for their residents. While you may express your thoughts or desires for your loved one, the treatment plan will be implemented based on what the nursing home staff deems appropriate.
8. Limited visiting hours
Friends and family may struggle to find time to visit loved ones in care homes, especially if visiting hours are limited. Keeping your loved ones at home allows them to receive visitors whenever possible.
9. Inadequate food quality
It isn’t easy to provide nutritious food to people with diverse tastes. Nursing homes do their best, but with a limited budget, the food may sometimes be bland or unappealing. Your loved one will have more meal options if they are at home.
10. Sleep disruptions
Anyone who has given birth knows that just as you and your baby fall asleep, a medical assistant may check your vitals and perform additional tests. The same can be said for a nursing home. Your loved one may favor hours – or even weeks – without care, but they frequently do not have a choice due to established protocols.
11. Incorrect application of restraints, medicines, or feeding tubes
Nursing home residents may face additional challenges in more serious cases. Your loved one may be constrained, given medications to change their behavior, or forced to eat through a tube. Those decisions will be made at home by you and your loved one.
12. Staffing problems and slow reaction times
Staffing levels are part of a larger economic and social picture, and a nursing home may not always be able to attract the same personnel it requires. This may result in slower reaction times and a decrease in care quality. Inadequate care may result in your loved one developing bedsore or an infection due to a missed verification, whereas in-home care will be on time.
13. Medicaid complications
Most nursing homes accept Medicaid, but getting approval for specific services and treatments can be difficult. For example, if your adored one does not show enough improvement, a provider may be halted and coverage revoked.
14. Eviction concerns
When your loved one is not living at home, eviction is always possible. Being “difficult,” whining too much, refusing medical care, or being related to non-payment or even the end of Medicare are all reasons for eviction.
How to resolve common nursing home problems
1. Establish a positive working relationship with your staff
Take the time to establish trust and friendship between loved ones, the nursing home staff, citizens, and family members. Let the aides know you appreciate their efforts, and they may appreciate your input on the most critical issues for your loved one.
2. Be an involved and active visitor
Volunteer for special events and spend time inside the community visiting beds so your loved one can see you interacting with aides and other residents. This could imply that they are more likely to participate in group activities.
3. Attend meetings and express your concerns
Attend nursing home administrative meetings, such as quarterly or annual meetings. Find out just how things work and give your feedback. Don’t be afraid to bring up problems; try to balance them with positive feedback whenever possible.
4. Keep track of any gaps
Keep detailed records of everything that bothers you at the nursing home. Maybe you don’t think a lapse is significant enough to mention the first time, but after the second or third time, you’ll want to bring it up. Keep a record of any losing weight or signs of neglect.
5. Gather all of the facts before complaining
Before filing a complaint, speak with your loved one’s immediate caregivers and gather as much information as possible. Then work your way up the chain, all the way to your ombudsman, until you get a favorable reception and see results.
Bottom line
Nursing home services are typically designed for seniors with debilitating health issues and severe conditions requiring frequent medical supervision and 24-hour care. To be admitted, a senior must meet the state’s criteria for nursing home care, and any health issues must be substantiated and confirmed by a physician. At nursingpapersmarket.com, we can help you complete any nursing home care topic.
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