When most people think of home care nursing, they think of a nurse visiting their grandparents for two hours after a surgery, which is called a Skilled Nurse Visit. While that is a common and necessary type of home care, Communities of Care fills a different need; we provide Extended Hours Home Care Nursing.
Communities of Care specializes in long-term, extended-hours nursing for clients with long-term complexities. These complexities can include long-term ventilator dependency, severe seizures, 24/7 IV and nutrition therapies, and many others. We typically care for pediatric patients, but we will also provide care for medically complex adults. In working with pediatric clients, we work to support their whole family and include them in care planning.
The nurses who work with these clients typically work 8-12 hour shifts in the client’s home with the family present. It’s a slower-paced environment and the nurses have a higher responsibility since they are the only available medical professional. Because of this higher responsibility and long-term care, clients and nurses develop a close bond that allows the nurses to better care for the clients. For instance, nurses can be quicker to notice changes in the client’s health because they know their baseline very well. Often our nurses stay with the same client for years, which provides stable professional care.
Although Skilled Nurse Visits comprise the majority of home care in the US, Extended Hours Home Care Nursing is a vital service that allows medically complex individuals to live at home with their families and be active in their communities.
