Home Health Care Nurse
Home health care is one of the fastest growing sectors of health care in the nation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are numerous job openings for registered nurses and LPN’s looking for an autonomous nursing career in home health care. Salaries in home health care nursing are very competitive as a result of the great need for home health nurses.
As a home health care nurse you will provide in home care for patients that are acute or chronically ill, elderly, recovering from surgery, recovering from child birth, recovering from an injury or one of a number of other medical conditions. Because of the nature of a home health care nurse job, many of the public and private home health care agencies require their registered nurses to have had some hospital based work experience preferably in an acute or critical care environment. Some like to see actual home health experience and depending on the nature of the home health visits some may even want their nurses to have previous medical/surgical nursing experience. A geriatric care management certificate for registered nurses is also desirable for employment and specialization. Those registered nurses with a BSN or MSN will make significantly more money in this position than those with lesser education.
Home Health Nurses must be autonomous, have excellent communication skills, possess excellent clinical skills, be able to teach and communicate to patients and caregivers how to self-care and perform certain procedures such as changing wound care materials. Nurses in home health must be astute in their patient assessment in order to detect any potential health problems and to also be able to communicate any changes in patient well-being to the attending provider. Home health nurses are on-call many weekends and nights and the work can be very demanding, but for the right individual this can be a very flexible, independent and lucrative career.
Advancing Your Career in Home Health Care
Many home health care nurses advance their career by moving into a home health care nurse district manager or regional manager position with responsibilities for overseeing a geographical area and the home health care nurses working there. Earning a master’s degree in health care management or health care administration can open more career opportunities in public and private home health companies, including executive type, high-paying positions.
Salary for Home Health Care Nurses
According to indeed.com, as of 8/12/2007 the average annual salary for home health nurse job postings nationwide was $53,000. Salaries for home health nurses vary depending on location, education and experience. Research the degree and certificate programs below that can help you begin are advance your career in home health care.
Request free, no obligation information from the programs that interest you. We suggest requesting information from more than one program so that you can compare and make your best decision.