Home Health Nurse Jobs

Home health nursing is a nursing specialty that’s open to RNs, LPNs, or LVNs, depending on the position. Home health nurses visit patients in their homes to provide one-on-one medical care. Home health patients may be elderly, physically disabled, mentally handicapped, suffering from a chronic disease, terminally ill, or recovering from an injury or accident. Home health nurses practice in a non-traditional work environment and often care for the same patients long-term, which may appeal to those looking for a change of pace.

The duties of home health nurses vary based on the patient’s needs. Home Health RNs provide basic patient care with various duties, including:

Home health nurses typically work in their patients’ homes, but they may care for patients who reside in an assisted living facility. Nurses typically work for home health agencies, which match them to patients, but they may also be employed by retirement communities, medical centers, insurance companies, government organizations, or travel nursing agencies. Home health nurses may work with a single patient full-time or visit multiple patients every day.

Because home health nurses work with patients of all ages and perform a wide variety of tasks, they must have well-rounded nursing skills. They must also possess solid documentation and recordkeeping skills, especially if they’re responsible for multiple patients’ charts. Effective communication, problem-solving, and detail-oriented rank high among beneficial skills for a good home health nurse. Because they work in a more intimate environment, home health nurses should have strong interpersonal skills to build trust, rapport, and a healthy nurse-patient relationship and deliver compassionate care with a friendly, yet professional demeanor.

Home Health RNs must earn an ADN or BSN from an accredited nursing program, pass the NCLEX-RN, complete state licensing requirements, and obtain Basic Life Support certification. Generally, nurses must have at least one year of home health experience to transition to travel home health nursing.

Home Health nurses may hold BLS - Basic Life Support, COS-C - Certificate for OASIS Specialist - Clinical (COS-C), HCS-D - Home Care Coding Specialist - Diagnosis or HCS-O - Home Care Clinical Specialist - OASIS among others.